THE WILL TO LOVE - Vital Christianity

67“What?” cried Washington. “You’ve walked seventy miles to save the life of an enemy?That puts the matter in a different light. I’ll grant you your pardon.” And he did!Peter Miller took Michael Wittman back home to Ephrata--no longer an enemy but afriend.6It was this same kind of love that enabled Abraham Lincoln to speak a kind word aboutthe South during the Civil War when feelings were most bitter. Asked by a shocked bystanderhow he could do this, Lincoln said, “Madam, do I not destroy my enemies when I make them myfriends?”The awesome power of redemptive love!SEEN AT THE CROSSAnd God’s selfless, sacrificial, impartial love is seen most clearly at the cross. There ishardly a verse in the New Testament that speaks of God’s love without an immediate referenceto the cross.“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son . . .” (Jn 3:16).“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. Thelife I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gaveHimself for me” (Gal 2:20).“This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as anatoning sacrifice for our sins: (1 Jn 4:10).“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners,Christ died for us” (Ro 5:8).The cross, Christ’s death, is made the measure of God’s love in each case.Jesus died for sinners—people who were in themselves naturally repugnant to Him.Many of us would not risk our lives for our friends or for good people. Much less for repugnantpeople, our enemies!That is why the Bible states:“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someonemight possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this:While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Ro 5:7-8).