We celebrate the answer to that very question every Christmas. Paul tells us in Titus that “the kindness of God and His love appeared” in the person of Jesus Christ — the One who came humbly as a baby and lived among us. Then, in love, He went to the cross and died the death justice demanded and rose again, conquering sin and death once and for all. The cross is where God’s justice and mercy meet. We are saved according to His mercy, washed and renewed by the Holy Spirit, and justified by His grace. The Lord has been faithful to provide in Christ a means of escaping the consequences of justice, and that it would be enough. His merciful love saves us from what we deserve: death. But He doesn’t stop there. Titus 3:7 says that we are also made heirs. God not only withholds the punishment we earned, but the Lord provides abundantly more than we can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). He adopts us into His family and gives us the full rights of sons and daughters. We now relate to God as Father and share in Christ’s inheritance. (Romans 8:15-17). (If you want to reflect even more on what we have been given in Christ, check out Ephesians 1.) So, how are we to respond to the Lord’s merciful and gracious love? In worship and action.
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