Daily Devotional

-February 15, 2021-

Good morning, happy Monday, happy President’s Day,

-God’s Love Brought About The Propitiation For Our Sins-

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

God’s love is eternal just as He is eternal. He chose to love us and initiated His love toward us, even when we were still sinners. We can never explain why He would love us. God knew that left to ourselves we would not have chosen Him nor loved Him. Thus, He loved us first and took action to deliver us and forgive us for our sins.

The word propitiation means the appeasement or satisfaction, specifically toward God. It is a two-part act that involves appeasing the wrath of an offended person and being reconciled to him. Thus propitiation is reconciliation, atonement, and redemption. It comes through the sacrifice of Christ and His shed blood on the cross. It is a term that is connected to the mercy seat in the OT.

Romans 3:24-25 says, “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance passed over the sins that were previously committed.” God is holy and righteous; in order for Him to forgive our sins, Christ had to bear them in His own body on the cross. He paid our sin debt in full, once for all time and eternity.

We are all sinners, but now we are sinners saved by grace. We deserved God’s wrath and judgment but instead He showed us His mercy. We deserved hell but He has given us an eternal home in heaven. We deserved nothing from God, but He has given us everything through His grace. Mercy and grace are intrinsically linked: His mercy does not give us what we deserve, and His grace gives us what we did not deserve.

There is a beautiful song by Kurt Kaiser that says, “O, how He loves you and me, O, how He loves you and me; He gave His life, what more could He give: O, how He loves you, O, how He loves me, O, how He loves you and me. Jesus to Calvary did go, His love for mankind to show; What He did there brought hope from despair: O, how He loves you, O, how He loves me, O, how He loves you and me.” Christ demonstrated His love for us in a personal and practical way.

Let us thank the Lord that He loved us, came down from heaven to earth to save us, and showed His mercy and grace to us. Oh what a love! O what a Savior! O what a sacrifice! The doctrine of propitiation is beautiful, and once we understand it, we realize how incredibly blessed we are as children of God.

Have a blessed day appreciating His love and mercy that has been shown to us through death and resurrection of Christ. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean

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