Salvation is a gift from God. This daily devotional looks at how the cross was the gift that — when we accept the gift — restores our relationship with God.
Nuggets
- Because of His love for us, God gave the best gift He could — part of Himself.
- Because God wanted our relationships restored, He gave Jesus freely and willingly to die to be our Sacrifice.
- We can only gain salvation through God’s gift, secured by Jesus.
Devotions in the Love Led to the Cross series
When we love someone, we want to give them things. Broad categories include shiny stuff, support, and time. The most important gifts are gifts of ourselves.
God gave a very important gift to us — the gift of Jesus. He did what is less common — giving up Someone we love for the benefits of others.
Let’s see what we can find out.
Let's Put It into Context
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3: 16 ESV)
Nuggets from previous devotions in the series:
• God’s character is love.
• God does not discriminate on who He loves.
God Gave Part of Himself
“… that he gave his only Son …” (Jn. 3: 16 ESV)
Because of His love for us, God gave the best gift He could — part of Himself.
God has an immense amount of love for us. That is the reason He did not turn His back on mankind when Adam and Eve chose to disobey Him.
Glossary
Our relationship with Him was broken, however because we were no longer upright. “For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face” (Ps. 11: 7 NIV).
So, God had to come up with a way to fix our relationships. He designed the Plan of Salvation with Jesus as the Sacrifice. Beith noted, “The origin of Christ’s mission was the love of God.”
Resource
God sent His most valuable gift to accomplish the Plan of Salvation because restoring those relationships meant that much to Him. We know the gift was valuable to Him because Jesus was His “… one and only Son …” (Jn. 3: 16 CSB).
Peter put it this way. “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God” (I Pet. 1: 18-19 NLT).
It had to be a valuable gift to make reparation for the crimes committed. Our disobeying God was a big deal. The restitution had to be a big deal, also.
We recently talked about the fact that Jesus and God are One in the Trinity but separate in personality. The Trinity is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three distinct Persons within one indivisible Divine nature.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
God the Father and God the Son have the same attributes, but They have different functions. God the Father is the Creator. God the Son is the Redeemer.
God Wants the Relationship Restored
Because God wanted our relationships restored, He gave Jesus freely and willingly to die to be our Sacrifice.
Yes, God sent Jesus down to earth knowing full well that He was sending Him to die. Barnes thought there couldn’t be a higher sacrifice.
Resource
Not only did God know Jesus was going to die, He knew that the death would be for someone considered an enemy. Let’s face it. Unsaved mankind is not God’s friend.
Enter Jesus. He came, as Spurgeon said, “… as an exile to be born in a manger, to toil as a carpenter, and to die as a felon.”
Resource
I know. That seems the direct opposite of the righteous, just, and upright we just talked about.
Well, it is. But it is like us. Jesus became just like us — except He didn’t sin.
Jesus was still righteous, just, and upright. He took on our sins so He could pay the penalty for them.
Why? Why did Jesus have to die?
Jesus needed to shed His blood. The sacrifice had to be a blood sacrifice.
Glossary
It was all in God’s plan that Jesus was to die. “This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross” (Ac. 2: 23 NIV).
God’s gift stemmed from His love. It was not selfishness. It was us.
We Can’t Save Ourselves
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2: 8 NIV)
We can only gain salvation through God’s gift, secured by Jesus.
God told Adam and Eve not to bite. They said they didn’t have to listen to Him. They rejected that He had any say in their being.
Enter sin. All of mankind are now spiritually dead.
What? Is the independent person in you asking why God didn’t just make forgiveness as an achievement that we accomplish rather than having Someone accomplish it for us?
- Forgiveness is, when we ask, God pardons us because we have broken His laws and commandments and restores our relationship with Him.
- Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from evil and the consequences of sins to replace them with good and eternal life.
- The consequences of sin are spiritual death and physical separation from God.
- Spiritual death is the spiritual separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin. The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
• Eternal life is the promise of living eternally – even if we have died in this life – because we have admitted our sins, believed Jesus as Savior and Redeemer, and confessed God as Sovereign Lord.
Isn’t that the point? It isn’t about us — it is about God and Jesus and what They have done for us — what we can’t do for ourselves.
If God would have our forgiveness based on something we could accomplish, then our salvation would be on us, not Him.
Yeah, there is the bit about we aren’t worthy to make/be the sacrifice. But let’s focus on God.
We know that we cannot rely on works for salvation. “Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it” (Eph. 2: 9 NLT).
We can’t do anything that would be good enough to merit the atonement for sin. Besides, it does not fit the bill for being the sacrifice.
Remember, payment for our sins needed a blood sacrifice. Anything we normally try to argue should fit the bill has nothing to do with blood.
Besides, our blood would not be acceptable for a sacrifice. Our blood is tainted with sin.
Only Jesus can save us. God wants us to keep the focus on Him.
God wants us to realize all that He does for us. He wants us to acknowledge what we can’t do that He can.
Making the Connections
God wanted our relationships with Him restored. He wanted us to be His children again.
Glossary
Think of it this way. God used to walk with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Now God — in the form of Jesus — got to walk with His disciples along the Sea of Galilee.
More than anything, God wanted that connection again.
We have to remember that dying on the cross was Jesus’ idea, too. “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father” (Jn. 10: 18 NIV). God may have designed the Plan of Salvation, but Jesus was all in.
How Do We Apply This?
The only way we can get back to being children of God and in a restored relationship with Him is through belief that Jesus is Savior and Redeemer. “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence” (Eph. 3: 12 NIV).
Resource
We do this by ABCDing.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
We have to do more than just a single act of ABCDing. Newton wrote, “Nor is this one act merely; it is an act repeated till a habit is formed, a habit which gives a distinctive denomination to the person — ‘believer.’”
Resource
Elaine-speak — we have to believe enough so that we change our lifestyles to reflect God’s laws and commandments. When we do that, we gain His character.
How do we do that?
- Strive to gain His character.
- Work to grow our faith.
- Love as God loves.
Resource
Jesus was the gift of salvation God gave to us to restore our relationships with Him. In the next devotion, we will specifically look at what the Plan of Salvation is.
Loving Heavenly Father. Thank You that You did not turn Your backs on mankind when we disobeyed You. Thank You for loving us enough to send Your Son to accomplish the Plan of Salvation. We admit that we cannot save ourselves. We need Jesus’ blood to cleanse us of our sins. We need You. Amen.
What do you think?
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