"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures."
-1 Corinthians 15:3
Throughout the missions trip I read a book (and the bible) named "The Cross of Christ," which I mentioned in a previous post. The book and the bible stress the importance of the cross. As a matter of fact, the cross is central to whatever we do. 1 Corinthians 15:3 says that Christ dying for us is of most importance. Nothing else is as important as the cross. Why is that? The cross is where God really showed His love to us by demonstrating it through His son. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)". During missions we often get caught up in all the different things we are doing, like VBS, praying for healing, distractions, or other things. While not all these things are bad at all, they can take our focus off of what really matters most; the cross. I really like what our leader said to us, that the VBS that matters most is the one about God's love. The cross is where God showed His love for us and therefore should be preached.
As I mentioned in the previous post we encountered many difficulties on the trip. It was easy to doubt God's love for us in that time, but Paul says that "I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39)". To summarize, nothing is able or will be able to change the love that God has for us. Although many things seemed to be against us, God still loved us. Sometimes it's hard to see the love of God, which is why we have to look at the cross. If God would send His son to die an excruciating death on the cross out of love, what wouldn't He do for us?
A parable I came across in Mexico while reading my bible was the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15). In the story, a father has two sons. One son goes away and spends all of his inheritance, but then realizes he has to go back to his father because he is more secure being in the father's house. The father then has a party for his son out of his love. "But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found (Luke 15:32)". All we have to do to receive God's love is to go back to Him. He wants us to go back to Him. We are more secure being in God's love than anywhere else. While the story may make it seem that the father freely accepts us, that is not the case. A price had to be paid for the us to be accepted. In the parable, the father humiliates himself by running after the son that was returning. In those times, it was a disgrace for a man to run, but the father was willing to run after his son to receive the son. Nothing would stop the father from loving his son, not even humiliation. In the case of God and us, the price was the cross. God was willing to come down as the Son and die for us just to love us.
The last thing I want to talk about is what we are supposed to do with this love. God wants us not only to accept His love but to give it to others. "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers (1 John 3:16)". We are supposed to show the love of God to other people, by loving them. Love is not only a word, but love should be demonstrated with action. In Mexico, the main way we wanted to show love is by playing with the kids. It may sound simple, but we wanted to do anything that we could do to show our love to the village. We also got them many gifts and donated money to the village. That wasn't it however; the village also showed love to us as well. They gave us a home to live in for the week we were there and welcomed us. At the end of the trip they held a church service for us and gave us hugs to show their appreciation and love. Love can show itself in many forms, so we are to love others in any way that we can.
-Smart
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