Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

October 25
Friday


LOVING AND
KNOWING

READ:
Romans 5:6-11
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God demonstrates His
own love toward us, in
that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for
us. __Romans 5:8
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In a novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, one of the characters, speaking of New York's Empire State Building, said, "I know this building because I love this building."

That statement caused me to think about the relationship between love and knowledge. Whenever we love something, we want to know everything about it. When we love a place, we want to explore every inch of it. When we love a person, we want to know every detail of his or her life. We want to know what he likes, how she spends her time, where he grew up, who her friends are, what he believes. The list is endless. But some of us want to be loved without allowing ourselves to be known. We're afraid that we won't be loved if we are truly known.

We don't have to worry about that with God. His love is far superior to ours: "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). Furthermore, He makes Himself known to us. through creation, Scripture, and Christ, God reveals His character and His love. Because God loves us in spirt of our imperfections, we can safely confess our faults to Him. With God, we need not fear being known. That's why to know God is to love Him. __Julie Ackerman Link

```````````````````````````Be still and know that He is God````````````````````````
`````````````````````````````For pathways steep and rough,````````````````````````
``````````````````````````Not what He brings, but what he is```````````````````````
````````````````````````````Will always be enough. __Anon.````````````````````````
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There is no greater joy
than to know that God loves us.

******************************Today's Bible Reading __ Romans 5:6-11**************************

6 For when we were still
without strength, in due time
Christ died for the ungodly.

7 For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die; yet
perhaps for a good man
someone would even dare to
die. 8 But God demonstrates
His own love toward us, in
that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Much more then, having
now been justified by His
blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through Him.

10 For if when we were
enemies we were reconciled
to God through the death of
His Son, much more, having
been reconciled, we shall be
saved by His life. 11 And not
only that, but we also rejoice
in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, through whom
we have now received the
reconciliation.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote about the universal
sinfulness of man (1:18-3:23). Because of sin, we die (5:12), face
God's wrath (1:18; 2:5; 5:9), and are God's enemies (5:10). Yet
despite our rebellion and sin, God demonstrated His great love for
us by giving His Son "to be the propitiation [appeasing sacrifice] for
our sins" (1 John 4:9-10), "that while we were still sinners" (Rom.
5:8), "Christ died for the ungodly" (v.6). Christ's blood justified
(made us right with Him) and saved us from God's anger and
condemnation (v.9). When we by faith believe in Jesus, we are no
longer His enemies. We have new life through Him (v.10).