April 3 devotion

You can watch today's devotion here.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. Because next week is Holy Week and we intend to record Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter services I will not be doing daily devotions.  They will resume the week following Easter.
2.  Maundy Thursday worship will be posted by 6:00 PM.
3. Good Friday worship will be posted by Noon.
4.  Easter worship will be posted by 9:00 AM.

The Father loves the Son because…

John 10:17

4/3/20

Pastor John C. Berg

¹⁷ This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again.

This is your daily devotion for April 3^rd.   This week we’ve been talking about love. We’ve covered God’s love for us, our love for him, our love for others, including our love for family and even those we might call our enemies.  Today we’re discussing a love that most of us probably don’t think about very often-God the Father’s love for his Son Jesus Christ.

Love for family is something we all intuitively understand.  We all get how powerful a father’s love for his son is.  Consider God the Father and God the Son.  That relationship has existed forever, without beginning and without end.  That gives you a little idea how strong that love must be.  We certainly have examples in Scripture of that love being expressed.  On two very important occasions in Jesus’ life God the Father expressed his love for his Son.  At Jesus’ baptism and at his transfiguration the Father announced to those who could hear, “This is my Son, whom I love.”

The passage before us today from John 10 is Jesus giving us a reason why his Father loves him.  ¹⁷ This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again.  The reason the Father loves the Son is because the Son laid down his life for you and for me.  Even when the topic is the Father loving the Son it’s really about how much God loves us.  What powerful evidence for God’s love for us!  The Father’s love for the Son is based on Jesus being will to do what was needed to save us.

We can’t hear this too much-God’s love for us.  It’s what we need to hear because our world is often so lacking in love.  It’s what need to hear because deep down we know we don’t deserve God’s love.  It’s what we need to hear because God’s love is the only thing that can save us, the only thing that HAS saved us.  That love is so powerful that it even causes the Father to love the Son.

Let’s pray:   Father you have told us that you love your Son because he offered himself as a sacrifice for us.  Help us to see what powerful evidence this is of your love for us. Amen.