“Can anything separate us
from the love of Christ? Can trouble, pain or persecution? Can lack of clothes
and food, danger to life and limb, the threat of force of arms? Indeed some of
us know the truth of the ancient text: ‘For your sake we are killed all day
long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter’. No, in all these things we win an
overwhelming victory through him who has proved his love for us. I have become absolutely convinced that
neither death nor life, neither messenger of Heaven nor monarch of earth,
neither what happens today nor what may happen tomorrow, neither a power from
on high nor a power from below, nor anything else in God’s whole world has any
power to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord!” - Romans 8:35-39 PHILLIPS
The word “passion”
means a strong, barely controllable emotion, intense enthusiasm towards or
compelling desire for someone or something.
This helps us understand why we call what Jesus did, suffering then dying
on the cross, The Passion of Christ.
Last night I watched
the movie, The Passion, which starred Jim Caviezl. I like to watch it every year at Easter to be
reminded to what great lengths Jesus went through to win my soul. I know it is just a movie but, like every
year, I wept deeply as I watched. I
remember praying last night after the movie, “Lord Jesus, thank You for what You
went through just to win my heart, but I am still humbled that You would do it
all just for me. What kind of love is it
that would drive you to die for me? I
cannot fathom it.” Just thinking about
this love caused me to cry some more. “Father
God, how can it be that You would allow Your Son to suffer such pain and
humility? What would drive you to allow
it?”
“This is how much God loved
the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no
one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting
life.” – John 3:16 MSG
God’s love for us
propelled Him to allow Jesus to suffer and die; Jesus, the perfect example of
God’s Father-heart, drove Him. Both
share the same Passion.
“Philip said to him, ‘Lord,
show us the Father. That is all we need.’
Jesus answered, ‘Philip, I have been with you for a long time. So you
should know me. Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father too. So why do you
say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the
Father is in me? The things I have told you don’t come from me. The Father
lives in me, and he is doing his own work.’” - John 14:8-10 ERV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD9-omLKwWI
“God told them, ‘I’ve never
quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love, and more love!’” – Jeremiah 31:3 MSG
What will YOU do
with this love?
