Equally Loved

There has never been any person on earth as misunderstood and slandered, as Jesus… “For My love, they are My adversaries … And they have rewarded Me evil for good, and hatred for My love … I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war … every day they twist My words: all their thoughts are against Me for evil.”

Yet no hostility changed Jesus. He said to His disciples… “If you only love those who love you back, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” (Matt. 5:46).

The Cross proved His equal love for all, for He died for those who hated Him as equally as for those who loved Him. He died for those who mocked, not just those who praised. He died for those who didn’t know Him and those misjudging Him, just as much as He died for those that had been brought up on His prophecies, for God is no respecter of persons.

The Cross is God’s offer to… “come out of darkness into His marvelous light.” He calls us to higher ground than the ways of the world for… “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, says the Lord.” And one day soon, for all who have received the forgiveness and new life offered through the Cross, He will call us upward with a shout of victory… “and we shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Called out, called higher, called upward – this invitation of the Gospel still extends across the globe. For those whose hearts want more than this present evil world, Jesus is still calling… “Whosoever will may come.”

(Devotional by Lisa Cataford)