February 23 – Because of Love We Live

“By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”  1 John 4:9-10 (NASB)

We can learn from this verse today one of the most important truths recorded in our Bible.  We recognize that we are living here on this earth as the result of God's will and as a part of His plan.  One of the important aspects of God's plan for us is that we might become a part of His family and might benefit by His great love for us.  But there was the problem of sin which separated God's creatures from Him and from really belonging to His family.  There was a need for a Savior to make a Way for bringing us into His family.  Our verse tells us how through His great love, God sent His Son to become our Savior.  And now through Jesus we have eternal  life.  We continue on living by faith in His Word, His Promises.  It truly is because God loved us first that Jesus came to take the consequences of our rebellion, our sins, upon Himself.  Now we can accept that action, done on our behalf, because Jesus did it for us and offers us the opportunity to live forever in Him.  

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In 1 John 2:2 ; 4:10 , Christ is called the "propitiation for our sins." Here a different Greek word is used (hilasmos). Christ is "the propitiation," because by his becoming our substitute and assuming our obligations he expiated our guilt, covered it, by the vicarious punishment which he endured. 

https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/propitiation/

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