I trust you have all been having a great day. I have had a great day and it causes me to sing His praises. We should all sing to the Lord a new song every day. The choruses of praise should rise up out of our hearts toward heaven morning, noon, and evening. Can anyone think of a better time to praise God than now? Can anyone think of a better day to Praise God than today?
What better time is there to praise the Lord than now? What better day is there to sing His praises than today? We praise the Lord each and every day because of His great love for us, a love shown at Calvary so long ago. Christ became a man and died on the cross as a substitute for us. Then, on that first Easter morning His death gave way to resurrection and victory.
John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” This refers to the birth of Jesus, the incarnation. In reference to this, 1 John 4:9 says, “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.” Christ was born to give us life. And so He died and rose again to accomplish that feat.
1 John 4 talks a great deal about love and how the love of God is manifested in us. Everything centers around the truth that “God is love” (v. 8). His very nature and character is love. Jesus Christ is the perfect manifestation of God’s love. He is God’s “only begotten Son” (His unique Son) who came to earth in the flesh to die and rise again, in order to manifest Himself “in us” by our faith. The whole purpose was to bring us back into fellowship with God “so that we might live through Him,” or by His power.
All of this is made clear in 1 John 4:10. “In this is love” (v. 10a) refers to Christ’s death on the cross. There is no greater love. It was “not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (v. 10b). “Propitiation” refers to a covering for sin. Romans 3:23-26 explains: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
The bottom line is that Christ died as a covering for sin; our sin. He died in our place as our substitute. He “passed over” our sins, having paid the penalty, and He “justified” us, or saved us, “as a gift by His grace” through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ Jesus took our sin upon Himself so that by faith in Him we would be forgiven and we would have new life in Him, a life that will be eternal.
Saved by grace alone, through faith alone. What greater reason to praise the Lord God each and every day. Amen.
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