God’s Great Love…

For the last 3 weeks of the term, we have been doing a series on the breaking news of the Easter story. The Easter story is massive news for us all.

Not only is it massive news that Jesus died on the cross for us…its massive news that it was all planned by God. God’s plan had always been that Jesus would die on the cross

Jesus was born at Christmas, but really Christmas is all about Easter.  Because at Easter, Jesus changed the fate of the world.

Jesus whole reason, the sole purpose of His life was that he would come to bridge the gap between us and God, a gap that we created through our bad choices, our mistakes, our turning our back on God.

A quote by Roy Lessin states “If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent a teacher.  If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.  If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent a banker.  But since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a Saviour.”     

Romans 3:23-24 lays it out well:

For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 

YET now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty.  He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. 

As a teacher, I love a good dictionary definition…

Sac-ri-fice. verb.  1. An act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy. 

What a great definition!

Since becoming a parent, I have come to better understand the sacrifice made by Jesus’ father. God chose His son to be the sacrifice for my sins!

I love my job, and I care about the students at Good Shepherd.

In the case of an emergency, I would willingly put myself in danger to protect any of them.

As a dad, I would certainly put myself in danger to protect Lyla.

But I promise you this, I would not be willing to risk Lyla’s life or put her in danger for anyone else.  That’s my instinct as a Dad. To know then that God went further and gave His son’s life for me…as a sacrifice.  That takes on a whole new meaning now that I realise the size of that promise and that sacrifice.

1 John 4:9-10 

This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God. 

Jason Wain