What is the greatest love, you ask? The question isn’t what, it’s who, and the answer is quite simple really, it’s Jesus. Jesus, Son of God. He is without a doubt the greatest love you will ever experience. Why? Because it is through Him that we are saved from our sin and are able to have a relationship with God our Father. It is through Jesus that we have eternal life in heaven. Jesus, true man. Jesus, true God. Jesus. Jesus is the answer. Jesus is love. 

The Triune God + His Holy Word

Before delving into the story of the good news and God’s love for all people, I must make one thing clear. There is only one true God. The Triune God. Three in one. Three parts, yet one whole. Different in role, equal in value. The one true God is the God of love, truth, forgiveness, grace, and mercy. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Father is the creator of the universe. He dwells in heaven and all believers will one day be united with him in heaven through his son Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only son of God, whom the Father sent to earth to save us from our sin through his death on the cross. Jesus is both true God and true man. Through him we have salvation and the assurance of life with the Father in heaven. It is through the Holy Spirit, and His work in our heart, that we are able to have faith in God. We know all these things through God’s gift of the Bible, which is His authoritative word, written down by man, but inspired by Him and is without error. 

The Perfect World + Its Fall

At the beginning of time, God the Father created the heavens and the earth in the time-span of only seven days. He did this simply by his Word alone. He simply spoke, and it was so.  During this seven-day period God also created mankind; a man named Adam and a woman, his wife, named Eve. They were created in His own image and were given the breath of life. That, in and of itself, is truly amazing. God, our Father, who made all of creation simply by his word, made us perfect, in His own image, and then breathed into us His breath of life. You see, the world wasn’t always meant to be the way it is today. In the beginning, the world was without sin. Adam and Eve were able to walk with and talk to God face to face. God’s plan was always to have a personal, intimate relationship with us, his people, here on earth.  

Unfortunately, however, that plan was disrupted, and the perfect world came crashing down the moment sin entered the world. In the midst of the Garden of Eden, in which Adam and Eve lived, God placed a tree. The tree was the “Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil” and was the only tree in the garden of which they were commanded not eat from. The devil, with his trickery and deceit, came to Eve one day while she was alone, in the form of a serpent. He cast doubt in her mind and made her question God’s command that was given to her and Adam. She ate of the fruit of the tree, and then gave some to Adam, which he ate as well. It was at this exact moment that their eyes were opened, sin entered into existence, and the perfect world became imperfect. Because of this sin, a curtain was put up, alienating mankind from God the Father, sentencing us to death and a life in eternal damnation, hell. 

God’s Plan to Redeem His People

Fortunately for us, we need not fear because the story is far from over and, most certainly, does not end there. God has a love for his people that is like no other. His plan to save the world from the consequences of sin is by far the greatest love story ever told and is beautifully summed up in one verse in the bible, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” You see, when we fast forward the story hundreds of years, we find out that the Father sent his son, Jesus, to earth to save us from sin. He became true man and was born of the virgin Mary, led a perfect, sinless life here on the earth, all while experiencing the same temptations you and I face every single day. He remained faithful to his Father’s plan for our salvation to the end. He was taken, beaten, and hung on the cross to die a brutal death. He was blameless, yet willingly bore the burden of the Father’s wrath in our place. When he died, the curtain between God and man was torn forever. On the third day, after Jesus died on the cross, he rose again from the tomb. He rose from the dead. It was through his resurrection that he overcame sin, death, and the power of the devil. It is through these events that we are made holy in God’s sight once more and are able to once again have an intimate relationship with our Father, like he intended from the beginning.  We are cleansed in the blood of Christ and now have the hope and assurance of life with God in heaven when our time on earth is finished. 

More Than Just a Story

Whether reading this today was your first time hearing the good news, or you’ve heard it a thousand times, I encourage you to sit with it this week. If you are a believer reading this, allow yourself to once again be awestruck as you sit before your God. Stop taking it all for granted and live in the truth of being His child. If you are reading this today, and have doubt, have believed once and turned away, or have never believed at all, I encourage you just the same. Pick up a Bible. Read the pages between its covers. Tell yourself, just this once, it is more than a story. Question what it says. Mull it over in your mind. Wrestle with it in your heart. Allow yourself to ponder what it would mean for your life if it were really true. And lastly my friend, know that whether we are old friends or have never even met, I am here for you. Whether you accept Jesus in your heart today or not, I love you. I am praying for the Spirit to be at work within you. I am praying that one day you may believe for yourself that it is all more than just a story. I am praying that one day you will let yourself fully experience the greatest love of all, Jesus.

Until next time, 

~Kirsten~