In the world that we live in, generally the consensus is that in order to GAIN something, you must first GIVE something.  It is all about the “give & take”.

However, that is not completely the way the Christian life works.  The Bible tells us that “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)  The “he” that John is referring to is Jesus.

The distorted view that many people have about Jesus and Christianity, is that they believe they must be “good enough” or do enough good things in order to earn His love.  OH MY GOODNESS, I am so glad that is not true!

I don’t know about you, but I know that if I had to earn the love of Jesus, I still would not be there.  But what we need to see is that Jesus is GREATER than the ways of this world!  Jesus does not make us earn His love, rather He already loves us!

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13) Christian or not, I think that we could all agree with this verse from John chapter 15.  If you truly love someone, you are will to give everything (life included) for that person.  Well this is exactly what Jesus did for us!  He stepped down and took our place on the cross, to pay for our sins.  He was willing to give His life up, so that through our faith in Him and His resurrection, we may have eternal life with Him!

You see, it is not about what you can give in order to receive love and forgiveness from Jesus, but rather, it is about believing in what He gave because He first loved, so that you can receive life.