LFC Blog

This Sunday we're going to be learning a new song called "By This We Know Love". Here's the chorus:

By this we know love that He laid down His life
God's very own Son, came from Heaven to die
Suspended He hung, as he shed His own blood
What grace in His pardon, by this
We know love. *

The chorus of the song is taken, at least in part, from this verse in 1 John: "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10). It's an amazing verse! The apostle John calls us to turn from measuring God's love for us by our own love for Him, and instead measure His love by what He has done: sending Jesus as a "wrath-bearing sacrifice" (i.e., a "propitiation").

Imagine you've been given the task of painting someone's portrait, a fully colored, finely detailed portrayal of your subject's features. You gather your paints, assemble your brushes, purchase a canvas, and arrange for the person to meet you at a nearby wooded pond, a perfect setting to create your painting. When you arrive, the person greets you and asks, "Where shall I sit?" You respond, "Actually, I prefer not to paint the portrait by looking at you, but at your reflection. If you could lean over the edge of the pond here, I'll just paint what I see in the water." Your subject obeys, and you begin painting. The task is difficult. Leaves and branches occasionally fall into the water, marring the surface; the wind causes ripples that obscure the likeness. Once a rainstorm even passes by, the droplets completely obliterating any hint of a reflection in the water. Undaunted, you press on, and soon the painting is done. "What do you think?" you ask.

"It's terrible!" your client responds. "It doesn't look anything like me! It's distorted, the colors aren't right, the proportions are all wrong - I don't even recognize myself! How could you have ever expected to paint an accurate portrait by looking at a distorted reflection?"

How often do you paint a portrait of God's love for you by gazing at the reflection of your own love for Him? When we look at how much love we feel in our hearts towards God, we'll never get the full picture of His love for us! The image we paint will always be distorted, partial, and incomplete - our love for God, even on our best days, can never compare to the eternal love of an infinite God. Praise be to God that His love is the standard in our relationship with Him, not ours! And that love was displayed for us most clearly in the death of God's Son on our behalf.

By this we know love that He laid down His life
God's very own Son, came from Heaven to die
Suspended He hung, as he shed His own blood
What grace in His pardon, by this
We know love. *

Longing to gaze more clearly at the cross, the perfect picture of God's love,

Josh

• "By This We Know Love", music and words by Judah Groveman © 2009 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP).