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)

If we look back at who we used to be when Jesus died for us, before we knew Him, we can see His love. Such love. Even if we were moral, good people, without Jesus, we were headed for hell and an eternity apart from God. Salvation is not about goodness, it is about justification. God is so good in that He sent His only begotten Son for us. He came to rescue us and save us. His Word also tells us that Jesus was manifested to destroy the works of the devil.

God has done it all and in Him we live and move and have our being. What we learn as we become closer and closer to Jesus is that it is all about a love relationship, not one out of duty. God works with us and when we decide to follow Him, we do it out of knowing it is the right thing to do, but it becomes a relationship of love over time. He did so much for us on the cross when He said,”it is finished.”

When Jesus said,”it is finished”, He did not mean that we can do anything we desire in this life and inherit eternal life. He meant that the separation between us and God was now torn down. We now have access to the Father because of what He has done. Jesus brought us to the starting point of our race, but we have to run the race to the finish line. This is why we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Jesus started what we could never start and with His Spirit’s help, we will finish to get to the destination to meet up with Him. This walk of salvation is not for the weak or cowardly, it is for those who recieve their strength from on high.

As we start to obey God, something wonderful happens. We start to do things because we want to, not because we are supposed to. The freedom that we have in Jesus is like none other and the love He constantly pours out on us is pure, healing and powerful.

Oh taste and see that the Lord, He is good!

TMMC-The Teaching Ministry of Michael Cannatello