God's Unrequited Love

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God's Unrequited Love

"And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in

Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4 v 19). The Christian God is a God who

loves His people and provides for their needs within the context of a

close personal relationship. His incarnation as Jesus Christ is an

integral part of this provision. "All have sinned and fall short of

the glory of God" (Romans 3 v 23) and it is, therefore, only by God's

grace and through sanctification that a believer may be in

relationship with God. The Holy Spirit is seen as the person of God

present and is therefore essential to the concept of having

relationship and communication with God.

The very idea that a once sinful believer may have a relationship with

the transcendent and perfect God brings us to explore the idea of

God's grace. Guthrie draws our attention to the Biblical concept that

we may have faith only because God first called us and drew us to

Himself. It is God who extends His love to us that we might receive

salvation and provision of our needs. A characteristic of grace is

that the recipient may be undeserving yet the gift is abundant. If we

see Jesus' life on earth as a gift of the Father God, as indeed

Christianity doe, then this is a clear manifestation of God's grace.

Jesus came to earth because of the sinful nature of man, not, as

Guthrie points out, because of man's meritous behaviour. Jesus came to

serve a people considerably inferior to Himself as a light to dispel

darkness. The Bible tells us that we do not have to live as slaves but

as sons of God and heirs to the Father's kingdom. This simply means

that despite our undeserving we may turn...

... middle of paper ...

...liever now has assurance that his every sin will be forgiven

dependent not on the sacrifice of an animal but on sincere repentance.

God loves His people and has provided them with a way by which they

can be cleansed and sanctified, making them acceptable to him. The new

covenant, therefore, leads to a desire to do what is right.

Righteousness comes from an inner obligation, not an external set of

laws. Guthrie points out that the Old Testament sacrifice had

weaknesses, one of them being, that sacrifices atoned only sins of the

past so new sacrifices had to be made for new sins. Jesus became the

new and ultimate sacrifice able to redeem all sin- past present and

future. The forgiveness of God allows us to have a clear conscience

and prompts us to forgive others. God's forgiveness is unearned and a

true sign of His love.

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