OUR SAVIOR'S LOVE

Who could really love us? I mean the real us, the us that nobody sees, the selfish, judgmental, lustful us. The us that thinks we're better than we really are. Who wants to love that? Paul tells us that God's love,"passes knowledge". Why? We cannot understand love that has no reason in its object.
It is strange when a woman visits a serial killer in prison and for no apparent reason falls in love with him. There are a number of possible reasons- the excitement, his charm, her need, and a thousand other human reasons. But God has no needs, and we are somewhat less than charming! God has no blinders on, and He sees how vile we are against His holiness. In the natural we have no redeeming value, but seen through God's unconditional love, He desires us. Wow. Unthinkable. We can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but never can we fool God, ever.
We stood before our Creator horribly lost, fully permeated with sin both inherent and practiced. Without hope in this world, in other words - HOPELESS. There is only one place for people like us - Gehenna. What is that, you ask. Jesus turns to the Valley of Hinnon outside Jerusalem which is called Gehenna and calls it the eternal fires of hell. Gehenna was the place where Jerusalem burned all their refuse, and they kept it always burning to avoid the spread of bacteria. Our Lord uses that visible metaphor to imprint the reality and awfulness of the place called hell.
If Jesus had just paid for us to avoid hell, it would have been incredible. To fully understand what we missed when Jesus saved us is impossible in the natural. It is the bottomless pit guarded by Appollyon; it is a place of pure darkness; it is a place of intense burning; it is a place of the shrieks of the damned; it is a place of death, yet never dead.
Imagining visiting a dying man. He lies on his bed in excruciating pain. You leave and return in a month, and there lies that same man, still dying. A year later he still is in the unbelievable throws of death, and yet he still lives. Ten years later and that man still cannot die. One hundred, one thousand, one million years and still that poor man writhes in pain but still cannot die. The universe rolls up like a scroll and there remains that same man, dying. That is just a poor picture of the second death called hell. That would have been you or me had it not been for Jesus!
Now imagine that man is someone you loved. A father, a brother, a son, a husband. Or suppose it was a woman; a mother, a sister, a daughter, a wife. One day we stand before our Lord and ask,"Wasn't there anything we could have done?". What if the Lord says,"Yes, there was. I kept the Holy Spirit speaking to the hearts of my people, but you would not hear. You were interested in the things of the world. How often did I hear you pray? Were you concerned enough that it altered your life? The treasures you stored up, what good are they now? Yes, there are people like this man that could have been reached if only you had harkened unto my voice and received the revival I wanted to send".
If the illustration of that man is anywhere near a representation of the truth, what are we doing? In many ways we are serious about this present life and only half-hearted about the life to come. Pray for revival. Millions of souls hang in the balance!!
PTL-Rick