This love is seen in the real-life story of Jesus being crucified on the cross. Again we know that this was all in God’s plans from the very beginning. In Psalm 22, it details the crucifixion of Jesus, and yet the psalms were written approximately 600 years before Jesus was crucified.
How could Jesus know this unless He was the Son of God? And yet Jesus was willing to go through this pain because He knew that He would be raised up on the 3rd day to take the keys of death and Hades and pay the price for the sin of the world. In John 3:16-21, it says “For God so loved the world (this means all of the world – every colour, every race, every orientation, everyone) that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life”.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
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So how do we love Him?
So how do we accept Jesus and start to love Him? In the past, so many have concentrated on getting people to say the words “I love you Jesus, and I accept your payment on the Cross for my sins. You are my saviour”, but it has to be far more than this. It’s not just saying a few words; it’s the start of a relationship. If you get married to someone, there is so much more that happens before those beautiful words “I do” in the wedding ceremony. You see the special person from a distance. You start asking questions and finding out about them. You ask your friends how you can be introduced or be near the person. It’s all about building relationships with that special person and finding out more about them.
It’s the same with Jesus and most of the time, it’s your friends or family who introduce you to Him. And this is just the beginning of a lifelong friendship and love, but we have to work at it. It’s a journey and He likes to help us grow. When the disciples first got to know Jesus I wouldn’t doubt that there were many issues, also known as discussions, also known as arguments, between the disciples. They were such a mixed bunch of people with different attitudes, tempers and capabilities.
Today we believe that training comes from accumulating knowledge, but Jesus was more action-oriented; His disciples learned by doing as He did. In doing this they combined the right set of beliefs with changed behaviour and attitudes. It is all a process.
