CHRIST’S LOVE CANNOT BE MEASURED
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38, 39
MOMENTS OF PRAYER
☐ Pray for the items listed in your Prayer Journal
☐ Pray for the five individuals/families you chose
☐ Pray for Adventist Prison Ministries in Canada
☐ Pray for your spiritual life
Christ might, because of our guilt, have moved far from us. But instead of moving farther away from us, He came and dwelt among us, filled with all the fullness of the Godhead, to be one with us, that through His grace we might attain to perfection. By a death of shame and suffering He paid man’s ransom. What self-sacrificing love is this! From the highest excellency He came, His divinity clothed with humanity, descending step by step to the very depths of humiliation. No line can measure the depth of this love. Christ has shown us how much God can love and our Redeemer suffer in order to secure our complete restoration. He desires His children to reveal His character, to exert His influence, that other minds may be drawn into harmony with His mind.
Christ, our Saviour, in whom dwelt absolute perfection, became sin for the fallen race. He did not know sin by the experience of sinning, but He bore the terrible weight of the guilt of the whole world. He became our propitiation, that all who receive Him may become sons of God. The cross was erected to save man. Christ lifted on the cross was the means devised in heaven for awakening in the repenting soul a sense of the sinfulness of sin. By the cross Christ sought to draw all to Himself. He died as the only hope of saving those who, because of sin, were in the gall of bitterness. Through the agency of the Holy Spirit, a new principle of mental and spiritual power was to be brought to man, who, through association with divinity, was to become one with God.
To break down the barriers that Satan had erected between God and man, Christ made a full and complete sacrifice, revealing unexampled self-denial. He revealed to the world the amazing spectacle of God living in human flesh, and sacrificing Himself to save fallen man. What wonderful love! As I consider it, I weep to think that so many of those who claim to believe the truth are encrusted with selfishness….
I marvel that professing Christians do not grasp the divine resources; that they do not see the cross more clearly as the medium of forgiveness and pardon, the means of bringing the proud, selfish heart of man into direct contact with the Holy Spirit, that the riches of Christ may be poured into the mind, and the human agent be adorned with the graces of the Spirit, that Christ may be commended to those who know Him not.
Ellen Gold White, The Upward Look, pg. 191 – June 26
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Beloved, surrender wholeheartedly to Jesus Christ, who loves you. As you drink from the deep well of Scripture, the Lord will refresh you and cleanse you, mold you and re-create you through His Living Word. For the Bible is the very breath of God, giving life eternal to those who seek Him.” Francine Rivers, Writer
DID YOU KNOW?
The sixteenth-century Anabaptists were a people who suffered much for their faith. They saw themselves as co-sufferers with Christ, and went to their deaths with confidence and hope. They took great comfort from the assurance that nothing would separate them from the love of God.
GOING DEEPER
It is important to see that the love that is the basis for our unshakable assurance is “the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God’s love is expressed toward human beings in many different ways, especially in His gifts of creation and providence (Matt 5:43–48). But in the experience of many, these expressions of love are often overshadowed by such things as disease, poverty and natural disasters. But the love of God embodied in the cross of Christ (John 3:16; 1 John 4:10) is different. It is not affected by contrary circumstances. It alone endures as the solid rock upon which our hope and assurance can safely rest.
Cottrell, J. (1996). Romans (Vol. 1, Ro 8:38–39). Joplin, MO: College Press Pub. Co.
QUESTION…
What does the Psalmist affirm about God’s Word? Psalm 33:4
IN LETTERS OF GOLD
“Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.” James 5:7, 8
THIS WEEK’S HOMEWORK