Pastor John Granchie.

I think all of us remember our first-grade school love or crush. Maybe some of you went on to marry that person. The idea of first love has different meanings to different people. Of course, those who profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior know it to have a special kind of meaning. A meaning more personal, and one that lasts for all eternity.

As Christians we understand the principle of 1 John 4:19, “We love because He first loved us.” John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” It is a love that outlasts all other love, a love so genuine and pure we can’t comprehend why someone would love us so much.

John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Jesus not only loved us enough to die for us, He calls us his friend. Friends may claim they would take a bullet for you, but would they really? Would you really die for a friend?

In the book of Romans, Chapter 5, verses 7-8 says, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Did you catch that? He died for you and me and did it without asking us to do anything to make ourselves better in His eyes. This love He displays is an Agape kind of love, an unconditional love. He loves the unlovable and the unloving, not because we deserve to be loved or because of anything we did or possess, but because it is His nature to love and He must be true to His nature.

Please understand this Easter season that Jesus Loves you! He loved you enough to take the spikes in His hands and thorns in His skull. He loved you enough to hang on the cross and get mocked and laughed at. Most importantly He loved you enough to show you the way to His Father.

John 14:6 says, “Jesus answered, ”I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Have you taken the time to Thank Him? Most importantly have you asked Him to come into your life and accept Him as Lord and Savior? It is NOT TOO LATE, but tomorrow it may be.

I wish you all a Happy Easter.