I honestly had no confidence in God’s love when I preached the Word of God. When it comes to loving a girlfriend or boyfriend, we constantly think of that person day and night, but I could not feel God’s love as I could feel the love of the world.
When I stood before the cross, sometimes I would really feel God’s love and sometimes I was left cold-hearted. So I wondered “what can I do so that God’s love will not waver or grow cold?” My concern for the stability of the love of God was completely resolved when it became clear who Jesus Christ is through the resurrection. Usually we weep when we see Jesus’ terrible death on the cross. However, rather than “how did he suffer and die?” what is more important is “who was it that died?”. If we do not know who died on the cross, the cross can only be the death of one man and this death is meaningless to us.
But when, through the resurrection, Jesus Christ is declared to be the Son of God (Romans 1:4), we realize that the one who died on the cross is God. The cross in light of the resurrection is the death of the Almighty God.
For me, this fact was a huge shock. All doubts and uncertainties I had about the Bible were solved all at once. The cross in light of the resurrection is the Almighty’s death for my sake, and in this way, God’s love is confirmed. Therefore, the cross of Jesus Christ is the climax of the love of God.
What kind of sinners are we? We forsook God in our hearts just like the devil who envied His throne (Romans 1:28). We are children of the devil (John 8:44), enemies of God (Romans 5:10), objects of wrath (Ephesians 2:3), and a brood of vipers (Matthew 23:33). I lived for myself as my own Lord and knew nothing but my life, my possessions, me, me, me. For someone like me, the Almighty God died on the cross. This love does not exist in this world, and it is only through the resurrection that this love can be confirmed.
This love of the cross confirmed through the resurrection, this love that God gave his life for a sinner like me - ever since this love was poured onto the church community, there was an astounding work of the Holy Spirit in which 1 John 3:16 became the confession of every member: “Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers”.
Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:34-35). A disciple of Jesus is not someone who is well-trained, nor someone who knows a lot about the Word, but the one who loves with the love of Him who died on the cross for us. And through the church community that loves one another in this way, the people of this world will come to believe in Jesus (John 17:21).
And now two thousand years after Jesus’ ascension, we have come to a heartbreaking point in time in which the church receives the ridicule of this world. This is because the resurrection is hidden from this generation. Like the early church, when we love one another by giving our lives in the love of the cross, I am certain that the whole world will come back to Jesus.
Disclaimer:
The content is originally written in Korean and included in The Kukmin Daily newspaper. Only The Resurrection translated this for limited distribution. We have attempted to provide an accurate translation of the original material in English, but due to the difficulties of translation slight differences may exist.
Source:
www.hmuchurch.com
www.kmib.co.kr
