Steven A. Bush - June 6, 2021
Love Flows Down and Love Flows Out
1 John 4:9-11 says: "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." (ESV) Propitiation; [prō-pi-shē-ā-shun] (Gk. hilasmos) is a potent word which means a sacrifice of atonement for our sins. It's the total extinguishing of God's fiery wrath against our sinful selves, achieved by our Holy God through the sacrifice of His Son who absorbed the wrath we deserved. Our perfectly just God did this to bring about the full restoration of unhindered and everlasting fellowship with Himself, broken since our original parents rebelled in the Garden. That's the magnitude of God's love for us! But the potency and fierceness of such great love flowing down should have an effect, an impact, seismic ramifications. What might they be? God's love flowing out from us to others! "Make it so, O Lord, make it so!"