What is Real Love?

I heard today that the number one question googled by the mankind is “What is real love?”

In the world where everybody is tending for themselves and their own, where celebrated lifestyle aims for instant satisfaction, can we really find real love?

Real love is patient, real love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Real love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, it always trusts, it always hopes and always perseveres (see 1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

If real love is great love, we know that none has greater love than this: to give up his own life for his friends (see John 15:13). We’ve seen many examples of such great love throughout the history—many heroes displayed this kind of love. But have you heard of the greatest hero, who gladly gave his life for the benefit of ALL of his enemies?

No? Let me tell you then about Jesus Christ. He died for us while we were yet the enemies of God, so that we would be made friends with God (Romans 5:8-10). Because of His sacrifice, God has even adopted us as His own children (Ephesians 1:5) and, as His heirs, we have access to everything that God has (Ephesians 1:3, Romans 8:17), which is so huge that we can’t even imagine what is available to us through our faith (Ephesians 3:20).

But Jesus didn’t just die for us, He has risen from the dead, and that’s what we celebrate on Easter. By overcoming death, He overcame the only power devil had—the power of death (see Hebrews 2:14). By His resurrection power, Jesus rendered devil powerless (Colossians 2:15) and gained all power and authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18).

Knowing that He gives this same power and authority to everyone that accepts Him as their Lord and Saviour (Luke 10:19), i.e. becomes His disciple, my question to you this Easter is: are you living an abundant life? Are you using the power and authority that Jesus gave to you? Are you living in the fullness of what God has in store for you?

Christ is risen! Happy Easter!

PS: If you want to become a disciple of Jesus and gain the power and authority to live an abundant life, say the following prayer and mean it:

Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins. I believe that you died on the cross to take my punishment. I believe that you rose from the dead and will come again to rule the world. Come into my heart, I make you my Lord and Saviour.

Why God “Doesn’t” Punish Evil, … Until the Judgement Day

People say if God exists He should fix things up, punish the bad people for doing evil things and reward good people for doing good things. When the same people can’t see God action this, they conclude that God does not exist. When you look at this simple and “strong” argument you might agree with them, but…

Imagine, if God wants to judge person A for being evil, He will have to (because He is fair and just) also look into which people and situations contributed to person A becoming a wrongdoer. If these people and situations did not happen in A’s life, he might have become a good and noble citizen instead of a criminal. Now imagine that persons B, C and D had a strong bad influence on A and person E failed to provide a positive influence at the opportune moment, when A was looking desperately for anyone to help him battle the surge of evil in his life.

God, being just, has to judge B, C, D and E as well. But, like in the case of person A, He has to look into who made a bad influence on these people as well. Do you see where this is going? Obviously, there is a whole pile of people that made bad influences on B, C, D and E; and you can also imagine that there will be even a bigger pile of bad influencers behind those baddies. Pretty soon everybody on the earth needs to be judged, and not just that, those that died without being properly punished have to be judged as well. Otherwise, God wound be mocked and the Bible tells us that He is not (Galatians 6:7).

So, to be fair and just, God has to do all this judgement (of the living and the dead) at the same time—on the Judgement Day. I mean, what’s the use of judging A and then letting B, C, D and E off the hook to tarry a little while longer in their own wrong ways. They would just continue to do damage and spread the wrong influence. When God judges He will judge everybody at the same time, in a single day. So, we should be able to agree that such Judgement Day is the only fair and just thing that God can do to “fix things up”.

Conclusion is that you cannot ask God to judge one person without Him judging you as well.

But who could possibly stay standing on their own on the Judgement Day? Who will be able to say I’m righteous and I fully complied with God’s standard every second of my life? The only way to escape punishment on that day is to either:

a) become perfect and blameless or

b) get someone else to pay for your sins.

If you can’t do ‘a’, the only viable option is ‘b’, which is to accept Lord Jesus as your Savior. Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice on the cross is the provision God made for everybody who believes in Jesus and trusts God to be made blameless and righteous (see John 1:29, Matthew 26:28, Romans 4:3-8).

Jesus is called the Savior because He will save you from God’s judgement. If you want to receive this grace for free, just say this simple prayer (and mean it!):

Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come into my heart, I make you my Lord and Savior.

PS: See also “The Big Picture” page, which gives an overview of God’s strategy to remove all evil from His creation.