People want to know why Jesus died for us, and it's our job as Christians to proclaim the truth that Jesus freely chose to die for us because of His unconditional love.
Not many of us are familiar with unconditional love. While there will be many people in our lives who will never love us or proclaim to love us, the unconditional love of Jesus always remains. His love for us is not based on what we do or don't do.
What is different about the love which drove Jesus to die for us?
Jesus' love is based on Him. God is love (1 John 4:8). God loves us because that is who He is. He isn't made of hate, judgment, or shadows. The very existence of love comes from God. When we see this in our lives, we can see how much God truly loves us. The ultimate form of the Father's love is realized in how He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die for our sins (John 3:16-17).
Paul describes real love for us by writing, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres" (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
What is the redemptive power of Jesus' death on our behalf?
If we believe in Jesus, we are now given salvation through the Lord's death. Believers in Jesus are given the blessing of forgiveness and eternal life (John 17:3), which is a crucial reason why Jesus died for us. The only way for salvation to be offered to the world was through Jesus' death to cover our sins.
As fallen sinners, none of us can "earn" our salvation. Our goodwill never outweighs our bad. From the moment we are conceived, we are drenched in sin (Psalm 51:5). All humans have a sin debt—one which we cannot pay on our own. We had to have someone to die for our sins, and this person was Jesus. The Lord came down from Heaven, took on the form of a man, lived a sinless life, and died the death we deserved.
Through Jesus' death on the cross, He has eradicated our sin debt. From the time we place faith in Jesus, we are no longer defined by our past, nor are our sins held against us. Through the Lord, we embrace forgiveness. Nothing we can do can negate His unconditional love for us or reverse the redemptive power of the cross.
Jesus did the hard part of dying on the cross; all we must do is place faith in Him. This shows us Jesus' love and the beauty of His redemption. Salvation is open to all people, but we must make the personal decision to place faith in Him. Without faith in Jesus, we will never be able to experience the power of redemption found in our Savior.
How can Jesus' death on the cross repair our broken relationship with God?
Since Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit, human beings have had a broken relationship with the Father. This caused us to be separated from God, unable to go to Him in prayer, and distant from His love. The broken relationship we caused with the Father was not repaired until Jesus completed work on the cross.
We could do nothing to repair our broken relationship with the Father. Jesus died to restore it. A Band-Aid does not fix this relationship but rather by the complete healing power of the Lord. One day in Heaven, we will be able to walk with the Father and have the relationship He always wanted to have with us.
By believing in Jesus, we are given the Holy Spirit, through whom we have access to the Father (Ephesians 2:18). The Holy Spirit also gives us direction, guidance, and hope. Without Jesus' death on the cross, His resurrection, and His return to Heaven, we would not have the beautiful gift of the Holy Spirit. We never need to overlook the many blessings of the Lord, many of which have already been given to us in this present life.
How does Jesus give us new life through His death on the cross?
Jesus died for us to have a new, abundant life (John 10:10). We receive abundant life at the moment of our salvation as we profess our faith in Christ Jesus. We do not have to wait until after we pass away. Right now, we have an abundant life. It might not always feel that way, depending on what we are going through, but Jesus died for us to have an abundant life found in Him as our personal Savior. We are forgiven, and we have the promise of eternal life.
At the moment of death, we do not have to worry about everything ending. Despite the world teaching an evolutionary stance on the afterlife, which advocates there is no life after death, we know that there is life after death because of Jesus. Through Jesus' death, we can pass from death to eternal life.
The Lord has given us eternal life with Him in Heaven. One day, He will establish the New Heaven and New Earth, the home of righteousness (2 Peter 3:13). This will be our final home and is only possible because of Jesus dying for us. None of these blessings we deserve, yet we are given them out of Jesus' great love for us.
The Lord tells us plainly that there is no greater love than to lay down your life for your friends (John 15:13). This is precisely what the Lord did for us. He died the death we should have died for us to be declared righteous before the Father. Jesus went to these extreme measures because He loves us. He is the sinless lamb who was sacrificed for our sins.
The Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit all love us. We never need to think they don't love or care about us. Each member of the Trinity is involved in our salvation, redemption, and sanctification. Out of God's love for us, we have the promise of forgiveness, a new start, redemption, life after death, and eternity with the Lord.
Jesus didn't die for us to receive praise. Many people die for causes to receive honor or recognition. Jesus freely chose to lay down His life (John 10:18). It's our job as believers to make every effort to live for the Lord and help others know the reason behind His death.
Bible Verses that Explain the Love Jesus Has for Us
"But God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him" (1 John 3:1).
"'He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; 'by his wounds, you have been healed'" (1 Peter 2:24)
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