Love: the response to God’s grace

“‘Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.’ Then He said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven’” (Luke 7: 47–48). This was the Bible text which the Chief Apostle used for the divine service in Gramado (Brazil) on 24 September 2016.

The woman referred to in this text is the sinful woman who anointed the feet of Jesus as He was having dinner at the Pharisee’s house. Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider summed up Jesus’ reaction to the woman’s remorse as follows: “Jesus meant to say: we should love God because He forgives us.”

Also today believers have every reason to respond to and return the love of God.

• “The fact that Jesus Christ died for you is the greatest proof of His love!”
• “The first sin He forgave is original sin. Through baptism it has become possible for us poor humans to have fellowship with God.”
• “Then He forgives us our personal sins. Every time we act contrary to the will of God we sin, and every sin bars our way to fellowship with God.”
• “God never forgets anything. But when He forgives us He takes everything away. The sin no longer exists. It is as though we had never sinned.”
• “God is always willing to forgive the small as well as the big sins—a hundred times if it has to be.”

And how can we respond to this love?

• “We remain faithful to Him even if we do not understand Him and He does not give us what we have asked of Him.”
• “By serving Him. We know that our work consists of helping along so that everyone can find Him.”
• “Already out of love I do what He expects of me and forgive my neighbour.”

In order to obtain the forgiveness of our sins we have to testify of this love.

• “Without faith in Jesus Christ no one can be saved. What is more, we believe that the Apostles have the divine authority to proclaim forgiveness of sins.”
• “Is He pleased with me? Or is there still something that bothers Him about me? This self-examination is very important in order to have one’s sins forgiven.”
• “Because we love the Lord we suffer from our sins.” Because: “I can no longer come to Him.”
• “Because we love the Lord, we promise: this has to change; I want to mend my ways.”
• “Out of love for the Lord we are also prepared to forgive our neighbour. We ask ourselves: what is more important for me? Fellowship with Christ or being in the right?”

“Let us occupy ourselves with these thoughts a little more, and with the grace that the Lord has given us,” the Chief Apostle asked. “I can assure you that the more we think about these things, the more God will bless us.”