A friend of mine was wrestling with these thoughts a few weeks ago to the point where he blogged about them. There is no doubt in my mind that Alexander Scott will become one of this generation’s greatest theologians before his life is through. Here is what he had to say about God’s love for us and the crucifiction of Christ.
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“It begins and ends with Christ. Christ crucified and alive.
That, while we were dead in sin, helpless, hopeless, and broken, God still loved us. He loved us enough to send Himself to a murderer’s death so that we could live. He showed His love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
Christ died for us.
There is utterly nothing, but nothing, within me that is able to possibly even slightly deserve this. That’s the thing. All I’d ever done is ignore God, walk away from Him, revile Him in my life, disobey Him, give Him the scraps, the crumbs from my table. And yet, He gave everything – His very life – for me. For me! That’s a terrible shot at whatever scrap of pride is in me. But it’s true – I’m not good enough to receive anything God gives me. No amount of community service or church attendance can gain that for me. But Christ can. And He did.
And now I am in such a privileged position of knowing God, of taking part in the eternal life that He gives, of being reconciled to Him. But how? How did I find myself here? Entirely by the free gift of God, Jesus Christ, who died for me.
He died for me.
Talk about amazing grace.
So my life begins in Christ. The one who died so that death may die, so that I may live, and live for Him. The one who loved me with a love that cost so much, but loved me so that I might love Him back. The one who loved me so that I could go out and love others. To show them His love. To show them Christ crucified.
Christ crucified. He died. He gave so much. That’s a thought that literally brings me to tears, because He did it, so that I, even I, a sinful human being, could know God and bring Him glory forever.
What then shall we do in response?”
–Alexander Scott…Although he likes to go by “Alec” (Check out his blog here)
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Alec poses an interesting question at the end. What do we give back to God who gave us everything? …Even his own son. The death and resurrection of Christ paid for our sins, and because of that our lives are not our own anymore, as much as we may think otherwise. God loved us enough to send his son (whom he also loved) to die in our place. In return we must strive to love God in a similar way. Luke 10:27 says this: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” God loves us with everything he’s got…we must strive to do the same.