by Dennis Stackhouse<\/p>\n
God’s love for mankind; what does that mean to you?\u00a0 How has God’s love for you affected the choices you have made and the way you have chosen to live your life?\u00a0 Many will respond in obedient faithfulness as they seek to please God in all they do.\u00a0 For others, God’s love will mean nothing to them in terms of what they do in preparing for eternity.\u00a0 In any event, it’s worth taking just a few moments to consider a really amazing aspect of the love God has for all mankind.<\/p>\n
Romans 5:6 reads as follows:\u00a0“For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0As if that were not startling enough, add what we have in Romans 5:8:\u00a0“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”<\/em>\u00a0 But even more follows in Romans 5:10: “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”<\/em>\u00a0 From these verses, we should understand that God did not love us and send Christ to die for us because we deserved it or because we were living such righteous lives.\u00a0 On the contrary, we were ungodly, sinful, and living as enemies of God.\u00a0 Nothing other than God’s amazing love would send Jesus Christ to die for people like that.<\/p>\n After Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant he was planning to send her away secretly, but an angel spoke to him, saying:\u00a0“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins”<\/em>\u00a0(Matthew 1:21).\u00a0 John the immerser stated it very clearly while referring to Jesus in John 1:29:\u00a0“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”<\/em>\u00a0 Paul added this in 1 Corinthians 15:3:\u00a0“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.”<\/em>\u00a0 In all of this, it’s critical to realize that Christ came to die for our<\/u>\u00a0sins.\u00a0 His love for us was so incredibly far-reaching that our sinful condition did not deter Him from that mission.<\/p>\n A couple more references should be noted before we close.\u00a0 In Hebrews 9:28 we are told:\u00a0“So Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”<\/em>\u00a0 When a person fully understands that Jesus died for their own individual sins, it should be a life-changing moment that causes them to be obediently committed to Christ from that point forward.\u00a0 Peter added this in I Peter 2:24:\u00a0“And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by Hs wounds you were healed.”<\/em>\u00a0 Peter plainly speaks of the transition that Christian people should be able to grasp: dying to sin so that he or she may live to righteousness.\u00a0 Because Christ did die for\u00a0our<\/strong>\u00a0sins, bearing them in His body on the cross, our obedient faithfulness becomes a response of gratitude for God’s amazing love. \u00a0This love made it possible for us to be rescued from the bondage of sin:\u00a0“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son”<\/em>\u00a0(Colossians 1:13).<\/p>\n God’s love truly is amazing!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Dennis Stackhouse God’s love for mankind; what does that mean to you?\u00a0 How has God’s love for you affected the choices you have made and the way you have chosen to live your life?\u00a0 Many will respond in obedient faithfulness as they seek to please God in all they do.\u00a0 For others, God’s love…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[90,65],"class_list":["post-46544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-god","tag-love"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":58748,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-there-be-love-in-heaven-when-sinners-are-in-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":46544,"position":0},"title":"How can there be love in heaven when sinners are in hell?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 6, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good Evening, Thank you so much for all the resources included on the La Vista Church of Christ website.\u00a0 My son and I have been using these articles for years.\u00a0Unfortunately, my son is now a wayward Christian, and he asked me the following questions in a recent Bible study\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":84910,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/without-christ-all-are-lost\/","url_meta":{"origin":46544,"position":1},"title":"Without Christ, All Are Lost","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Floyd Chappalear via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 13, No. 4, 1987 \"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends\" (John 15:13). That love was shown by Jesus Christ when he willingly died for all mankind, even those who participated in his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40103,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/unconditional-love-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":46544,"position":2},"title":"Unconditional Love?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Benton in Answering Religious Error, April 15, 2015 That God's love is \"unconditional\" means one thing to one person and a different thing to someone else. The Bible does not use the expression \"unconditional love\" but does imply it. God \"so loved\" the world (John 3:16). That would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24457,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-jesus-die-to-remove-gods-wrath-against-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":46544,"position":3},"title":"Did Jesus die to remove God’s wrath against sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, Is there Scripture that says God's wrath was removed for sin after Jesus died on the cross? Answer: \"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87853,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/he-died-for-my-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":46544,"position":4},"title":"He Died for My Sins","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Allen Dvorak via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 15 No. 2, February 2015 What would you be willing to do for your enemy? To the Romans, Paul wrote that God demonstrated His love for us \"in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us\" (Romans 5:8). We (men in general)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58884,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-truth-about-gods-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":46544,"position":5},"title":"The Truth About God’s Love","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalms 5 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The world is filled with varying and confusing ideas about how God loves us. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Typically the emphasis is placed so heavily on God\u2019s love that many think that God is incapable of a negative thought against anyone. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Others see God as so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46544\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}