As I am writing this, it is 50 years to the day that man first stepped foot on the moon. I remember watching as Neil Armstrong stepped out of Apollo 11 and made his famous remark, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Yet with just one Google search I was able to find this headline in USA Today, “Conspiracy theorist punched by Buzz Aldrin still insists moon landing was fake.” The article says that “a poll conducted by Ipsos on behalf of C-SPAN in June 2019 revealed that 6% of Americans believe the moon landing was staged — and even more respondents, 15%, said they don’t know if it was real or fake.”1 Conspiracy theories are popular because people are so cynical and eager to believe the worst about each other. Many people in positions of authority have proven worthy of this distrust. Our skeptical generation finds it hard to trust in any good news, especially the good news that God loves us. He loves us although we don't deserve it. He loves us even when we hate Him. Now that's hard to believe. UFO's landing in Cleveland seems much more credible that. Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction.
Yes, God loves us even though we've used His name as a curse word, blamed Him for all our problems, spit on Him and stabbed Him in the back. God loves us in spite of ourselves. His love emanates from His character, not from our merit.
As you read the following passages, once again circle or highlight the words love, loves or loved every time you come to them. As you read, think about these questions:
- When did Christ die for us?
- What was our situation before we met Christ?
- What did we do to deserve God's love?
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God's judgment. For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of His Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by His life. (Romans 5:8-10, NLT)
But God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so very much, that even while we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's special favor that you have been saved!) For He raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with Him in the heavenly realms--all because we are one with Christ Jesus. And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of His favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus. God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. (Ephesians 2:4-8, NLT)
Before we knew Christ, we were utterly helpless. We couldn't do anything to lift ourselves out of the pit that our sins had dug for us. In fact, we could do nothing that God would consider valuable. Why not? Because we were spiritually dead. Trying harder to be good is a waste of time when you're dead. At the university where I work, we used to have a funeral service major. Suppose I had gone over to the lab where the cadavers used to practice embalming were kept. What if I said to the corpses, “Ok, you guys, get up, come on back with me to the library and get to work.” Everyone would think I was nuts. However, it is just as crazy to say to spiritually dead people, “Get to work and make God proud of you.” Dead people don’t need a pep talk. They don’t need help. Dead people need life. And life is just what we got in Christ. We were brought back from the dead and given new life and a seat in the heavenly realm to boot.
Christ didn’t wait for us to clean up our acts before He took action. He died for us at the perfect time. While we were still sinners. While we could care less about Him. While there was nothing especially good about us that could justify such a sacrifice. Jesus’ death reconciles us completely to God. We’re no longer enemies. God now counts us among his friends. Our friendship with God, established by the blood of Christ, guarantees His love will cover all our sin.
What have we done to earn this love? What have we done to gain God's acceptance? Nothing! Zero! Zip! Nada! God's love and acceptance is an invaluable present bought with the incredible wealth of His favor and kindness. God's grace, the gift of forgiveness purchased at the cost of Jesus' life, is the divine non-conspiracy theory. Since we did not conspire to make God love us, there is nothing we can do to prevent him from continuing to love us. This undeserved kindness is the ultimate proof that we can depend on God's love.
Learning the Lesson
Write a list of all the people that you are sure would include you on their list of friends:
Did you include Jesus on your list? Remember we have been restored to friendship with God. Jesus said, “Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father has told me.” (John 15:15b, NLT)
- How do you think God treats His friends?
- What kind of friend have you been to God lately?
[1] McKelvey,
O. (2019, July 20). Conspiracy theorist
punched by Buzz Aldrin still insists moon landing was fake. USA Today. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/07/20/man-punched-buzz-aldrin-still-says-moon-landing-fake/1784847001/
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