Hi there! You’re reading this because you’ve read "A Little Love Note," a brief description of the incredible and lavish love God has for every one of us. Because the story wouldn’t fit on a single page, we hoped you’d find your way here. Of course, the whole story won’t fit here either, but we wanted to give you the chance to discover more of it.
Picking up where we left off, more or less...
In the greatest act of love of all time, the infinite Creator became a baby, who grew into a boy, then a man, then a Savior: He lived perfectly because we couldn’t, then died so that we wouldn’t. He’s ready, waiting to love you. Here and now.
The boy who grew to be Savior is Jesus. His coming was foretold in the ancient Hebrew Scriptures as the Messiah who would restore humanity’s relationship with the Creator. The Messiah – “Christ” in Greek – would bring us to a new level of experience of God’s love, which is exactly what Jesus Christ is hoping He can do for you.
What He’s already done for you started with the part where He shrank from being Infinite to become human. As He lived out His human life, with every step he took and every hour he passed, He built His great treasure for you to possess: His righteousness. You see, Jesus never made a mistake in God’s eyes – never sinned. Perfect. He lived that perfect life that you and I are incapable of. He has made it possible to transfer His righteousness onto us in a way that wipes out our sin so that we can be back in relationship with the Father. His righteousness becomes ours. Wow.
So, the way Jesus lived was part of His gift to you. The way Jesus died is another part of that gift. We’re all familiar with the concepts of crime, justice, punishment and the like from the avalanche of courtroom and forensic dramas that have dominated television broadcast schedules for years. Justice must be served. Crime must be punished. There must be atonement in order to make things right, right? And the ultimate punishment – the ultimate atonement for crime – is the death penalty. This is what the cross of Jesus Christ adds up to for you. A death penalty that pays the ultimate price for your crimes, your sins, all the mistakes you’ve ever made – the sins of all humanity added up throughout the ages. The infinite God made flesh becomes the infinite sacrifice for His beloved people, and He atones for them all as He dies on the cross.
So far, so good. Your sins are gone – all of them, forever (wow!) – and you also have a righteous scorecard that indicates perfection in all categories. Awesome! There’s just one thing left that has to be dealt with. A minor detail, really, but an important one.
You see, you can be forgiven of your sins and still feel their effects. Suppose you’ve been irresponsible with your drinking and driving, posing a significant threat to yourself and to innocent strangers, and lost your driver’s license as a result. If you enter into relationship with Jesus Christ, all those mistakes – those sins – are washed away and forgiven (not to mention a change in your behavior). However, you still feel the effects of those sins, because you still don’t have your driver’s license, even though you’ve quit and been forgiven.
That’s kind of the boat we’re all in at this point. We’re forgiven and righteous, but haven’t been able to get rid of that leftover consequence from all our sin: we’re dead. Not yet, but one of these days, you’re going to be pushing up daisies. As they say, the mortality rate for humans is still 100%
Or is it? Because another gift that comes your way through the love of Jesus Christ is Life. Life that starts in a dark tomb to the west of Jerusalem in the early hours one Sunday morning, that courses through veins that have been emptied of blood and lain dormant for days. Life that bursts the chains of death and resurrects in Power and Light - Light that shines across the centuries into your life right here, right now. Jesus has transformed death from a terrible fate to be feared into a temporary nuisance we all have to go through to get to the good stuff on the other side. Like taking a driver’s test, only better. Way.
There’s lots more to the story – the part where Jesus puts a piece of Himself in you when you belong to Him (a/k/a the Holy Spirit); the part where other people who have found the Love of their lives are there to be more than friends – a family – for you; the part where things that used to really get to you now seem insignificant in comparison to this Love that you’ve found and is going to last forever...
Where to go from here? Start talking to the great Lover who’s been waiting for this moment all your life. He’d love to hear from you, and He doesn’t care if you use fancy words or know what to say. Say what you feel – He can take it. Ask Him to show you the way, and He will. If you know the person that handed you A Little Love Note, ask them how they fell in love with Love. That’s a good place to start. If they’re a stranger to you and you’d like some help getting things rolling, drop us an email at oakhavenchurch@gmail.com. If you’re not in our neighborhood, someone in the family is bound to be in yours, even if you’re on the other side of the planet – His love is everywhere!
Congratulations! Just listening to the Word is a big part of building relationship. You can find out amazing things about the Greatest Lover of All Time – the one who wants to love your socks off – in the Scriptures. You can dust off Grandma’s old copy, or better yet, grab a more contemporary translation down at the bookstore. Pick one of the 4 Gospels in the 2nd part of the Bible (New Testament) – Mark, for example – and dig in. And while you read, be sure to remember that you’re already a part of the story.
Right here, right now.