Jesus cannot be drained of his patience towards you, anymore than you can drain the Pacific Ocean with a teaspoon. Puritan Thomas Goodwin said that Jesus extends “acts of grace, and from his continual doing good unto and for his members…from his filling them with all mercy, grace, comfort, and felicity, himself becoming yet more full, by filling them.” Jesus pours out to us; pours out and gives, and bears with us.

Trials and sorrows have not been in short commodity in these recent days. Many across our nation feel as if they have reached their breaking point, and beyond. People are in need of love. Not sappy, empty, “All we need is love…” But the greatest, most tangible love this world will ever see.

Jesus Christ has a great love for sinners. It’s a tangible love that dissolves the most barnacled heart and softens the most calloused soul. We’ll look at two astounding realities of his love.

He saves sinners despite their sin.

Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

God’s moral law is toweringly high. It includes things like, love him perfectly in thought, word, and deed. Never lie. Never dishonor one’s parents. Never violate sexual purity in thought or deed. Be perfectly content with what we have.

Not one of us has kept God’s loving law flawlessly (Rom. 3:19-20). We have been less than lovely before God. We have repeatedly offended our Creator.

How do you respond to people when they are not lovely; when they offend and violate you; disdain you? If someone disregards you over and over again, do you naturally think, “I love them, and I want a deeper relationship with them. I want to draw near to them”?When someone ignores and inconveniences you, do you respond with, “I want to open up and invite you into my life. You are someone who I want to have full disclosure to my heart; to share life with”?

If someone lies to you or breaks their word, do you think, “I want to give my best to them and I want to spend eternity with them”? This is how God the Father and Christ have responded toward sinners.

Not one soul on the planet has kept his commands. We have offended and violated our Creator. And yet, God responds, in effect, “I want to be generous towards you. I want to give my Son in gruesome death for you, because I want you to be forgiven. I want you to be part of my family and spend eternity with me.”

Christ died long before you were alive. He knew the repeated ways that we would violate those good commands.

Read More