Don't Fall for a Cheap Imitation

     While watching television the other night, another commercial for a getaway vacation came on showing beautiful beaches and a couple in a romantic setting.  The invitation was to come and feel what love is like.  Then, I thought to myself, do they even understand what real love is all about?  I wonder how many people do.  Certainly, it is much more than just an emotion.  Love demands commitment not only in words but in deeds as well.  One of the greatest proclamations of love is found in the Bible.
     John 3:16-17 tells us:  "16“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."  There are no more beautiful words in Scripture than these.  This is the demonstration both of what real love is and who God the Father is in His character.  Can any of us imagine being asked to give our sons as a sacrifice for the sins of the world?  We may recall how God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in Genesis 22.  Abraham obeyed trusting God though his heart must certainly have been bursting as he prepared to slay his son.  His act of faith and obedience revealed his commitment to God, and the Lord did provide another sacrifice for him...a ram caught in the thicket.  For Abraham, it was a test, but when the Lord sent His only Son Jesus Christ into the world, He had a greater plan for mankind.
     As my husband frequently says, "It all started in the Garden".  When Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God's command not to eat the fruit of the tree of Good and Evil, they, by their action, allowed sin to enter the world.  From that time forward, all are
born in sin.  In his Psalm of repentance before God, David cried out in verse 5 of Psalm 51 and said, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."  Romans tells us "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (3:23). Finally, in Psalm 14:2-3, we read this:  "The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.
3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one."  Kind of a bleak picture of mankind after the fall in the Garden.  However, this is where the real love story begins.
     God sent His Son into this world to show us how to live righteously, to explain to us what the Law really means in application and to provide for us a perfect sacrifice once for all for our sin.  When we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord and truly repent,  our sins are blotted out by His death on the cross and resurrection from the grave.  Paul in his letter to the believers in Rome wrote this:  "6For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7It is rare indeed for anyone to die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.…"(Romans 5:6-8).  This is the definition of real love.
     We can't earn this kind of love, and we certainly do not deserve it.  To my mind, it is staggering to think about.  All those cheap commercials about love look pretty shabby next to the love of God in Christ His Son.
     When my husband and I committed our lives to following Christ some 49 years ago, it changed both of us.  We became new creations freed from the guilt of sins and able to love others even as God had loved us.  Yes, we still sin and stumble as we are not perfect, but we know we have only to confess our sins and we are forgiven.  I can love others because God first loved me.  That is something I could not do before I met the Lord.  What freedom it brings when we can let go of the heavy burdens of guilt we often carry knowing that God came to earth through His Son for all who will call upon His name.
     So if you see one of those commercials about a beautiful beach and how you will fall in love all over again if you go there, remember John 3:16.  This is a love that will not let you go, let you down or let you fall. This is the real love that lasts for eternity.  If you have never trusted in Christ for your salvation before, I pray you will give your life to Him today.  If you know Him, then my prayer is that you will grow deep in His love for you so you may know the height and depth of His care for you.  Selah!