The Love of Christ

Richard Thetford

As we live our lives day by day we need to be mindful of the wonderful love of our savior Jesus Christ. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” Jesus wants us to live with Him forever and that is why He went to the cross to die for us. Jesus was deeply loved by His Father and Jesus says in John 15:9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” He went on to prove His love by laying down His life for us. We cannot begin to understand the total love that Christ had for each of us and He is longing for all of us to come to Him and live a life in accordance with the Holy Scriptures. We can see from the scriptures that Jesus loved God (John 14:31), all sinners (Mark 10:21), and the church (Eph 5:25). That would include everyone on this earth.

Jesus manifested His love toward us by giving Himself to die for us. Paul writes: “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Eph 5:2). It was also manifested by saving us (John 14:21,23) and His love will last until the very end of time (John 13:1). We can see also that Jesus’ love constrains us (2 Cor 5:14), causes us to love (1 John 4:19), causes us to obey (John 14:23), and causes us to sacrifice (1 John 3:16). Therefore, we have a responsibility to know Christ’s love (Eph 3:19), abide in His love (John 15:9-10), and to imitate the love of Christ (John 13:34). Christ gave His all for us, what have we given Him?