| But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. |
| —Romans 5:8 |
If I say to you, “Jesus loves you,” I know that won’t surprise you at all will it? As long as you have attended church, or watched church services on television, or streamed church services on the Internet, many different people have told you that “Jesus loves you.” You may have heard it from your Sunday School teachers. You may have heard it from your pastors. You may have even heard it from your mom and dad at home, or from your grandma and grandpa, or from your uncle or aunt, or from some close friend. “Jesus loves you” is a wonderful, wonderful truth.
There are some people in our community who don’t know that Jesus loves them. As sad as it is to realize that, we can take joy from knowing that God has given us the wonderful opportunity of being the ones to tell them that “Jesus loves them,” too.
Writing to the “Christ’s-ones” gathered at Rome, the Apostle Paul penned these words recorded in Romans 5:6-11:
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Sometimes, before we can tell people that Jesus loves them, we have to get their attention. We also have to be very sensitive to needs they might have and try to reach out to them and meet those needs.
Perhaps we should schedule a special event at our churches? I’m talking about the kind of event that invites all different types of people to come to our churches for an occasion where we offer them some food, some entertainment, and a chance to share with them, in a very non-threatening way, that “Jesus loves them.” This kind of an event is really an effective way of getting their attention and trying to meet some needs they might have, so we can have the opportunity of telling them that “Jesus loves them.”
By now I’m sure you’ve noticed the treats in the photo at the beginning of this blog post. In fact, if I could somehow magically watch you as your read this blog post, I imagine that some of you have hardly taken your eyes off that photo from the time you first landed on this post a few minutes ago. They really look good, don’t they? These treats have really captured your attention. I know they certainly have grabbed my attention.
In the same way these treats have captured our attention, a special event at our churches will very likely help capture the attention of people in our neighborhoods. And, as a very special bonus, inside the wrapper of each of the treats in this photo I’ve tucked a note. Can you tell me what you think the note says? That’s right “Jesus loves you.” And, you know, He really does love you and He loves me, too. And that, dear ones, is the best treat of all.
