The Love Letter
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. – John 3:16 NKJV.
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. – 1 John 3:16 NKJV.
My first writing effort was a love letter that I wrote in the second or third grade. The letter was very simple and consisted of Dear ______, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you… filling up the entire page and signing my name at the end. I wrote it and mailed it on a Friday or Saturday. Back then you did not need to know the person’s address to send a letter to them. Just the name, and the name of the town and state would usually work. In our little community, just a person’s name on an envelope would have been enough.
I was very shy and introverted, and the girl that received the letter was likely surprised by it. Now, to those boys and girls contemplating writing a love letter like that, I would not recommend it. Because people will talk about you behind your back, and laugh at you, and make you feel like a fool (Actually it was kind of a foolish thing to do….). So, after that experience I never wrote another letter like that!
The Good News is that God has written us a love letter, and it is called the Bible. God’s love letter is signed with the blood of Jesus Christ who is the Word of God become flesh: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).” Before the foundation of the world God loved us and knew the ultimate cost of that love would be the cross “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…(Ephesians 1:4a).” In 1 Peter 1:19-20a we are told, “but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world….”
God knew before the foundation of the world that His only begotten Son would die a horrific death on a cruel Roman cross. God knew before the foundation of the world that His only begotten Son would be made fun of, would be spit on, would be beaten and hung upon a tree. God knew that the human beings that He loved so much would kill the Prince of Life (Acts 3:15) but God also knew that Jesus would be raised from the dead.
The Prince of Life God’s only begotten Son is knocking at the door of your heart and wants to come in (Revelation 3:20). Will you let Him in, or will you be joined throughout eternity with those shouting “Crucify Him, crucify Him! (John 19:6)?” God loves you, and He has demonstrated that love. God has done all that He can, will you turn from your sins and receive Jesus as your Savior? “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name (John 1:12).”
There is only One only begotten Son of God, but how amazing that God wants to make you His adopted son or daughter! How amazing, beyond anything a human being would do! “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6-8 NKJV).”