“You have bought Me not sweet cane with money, Nor have you filled Me with the fat of your sacrifices; Rather you have burdened Me with your sins, You have wearied Me with your iniquities. “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins. ” (Isaiah 43:24–25, NASB95)

What is it about God’s grace that makes it so special?  What is it about His love for us that makes us want to be in His presence more than anything anywhere else in the world?  It is that His love is UNCONDITIONAL. The world around me loves in conditions. The world constantly says to me, “Tom, if you do your part, then I (we) will do my (our) part.”  The problem with that is I too often don’t live up to my part.  Like the verse above, I don’t bring loving and righteous acts to the table, but I bring my brokenness and sin.  So, what then?  What hope is there when I don’t meet my side of the commitment?  This world will, in self-righteous judgment, leave me in the cold and let me live in the guilt of my failures.  But not so with God!

God’s loving relationship with us is unique because His love for us is UNCONDITIONAL.  He loves us no matter what.  He loves us because it is in His very nature to love, and He cannot deny Himself.  He says, “I, even I, am the One who wipes out your transgressions…and I will not remember your sin.”  He didn’t decide to go to the chalkboard of life and erase our sins.  He took our sins and placed them on His own Son that they might be completely paid for through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross.  This is how much He loves us!  This is what moves us to want to be in His presence more than any other place in all the world.

Today, drink deeply of God’s love and grace for you!

Peace!

Pastor Tom

www.firmlyrooted.church