True Love

The Wittenberg Nightingale

"Luther teaches that we all

Are involved in Adam's fall.

If man beholds himself within,

He feels the bite and curse of sin.
When dread, despair, and terror seize,

Contrite he falls upon his knees.

Then breaks for him the light of day.

Then the gospel may have sway.

Then sees he Christ of God the Son,

Who for us all things has done.

The law fulfilled, the debt is paid,

Death overcome, the curse allayed,

Hell destroyed, the devil bound,

Grace for us with God has found.

Christ, the Lamb, removes all sin.

By faith alone in Christ WE WIN."

--Hans Sachs, shoemaker poet of Nurnberg, Germany

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV)

The word "righteousness" here comes from the Greek word "dikaiosyne", meaning "the state of being in proper relationship with God." Whoa! As we celebrated (or mourned...however you chose to look at it!) Valentine's Day this week, I was reminded of the great love that God has for me. The kind of love that God had the prophet Hosea portray to the prostitute Gomer. The kind of love that forgives even when forgiveness seems out of the question. A love that is unheard of.

We enter into this perfect love by Christ, the Lamb, who removes all sin. You don't deserve it. I don't deserve it. In of myself, I'm just in the line of Adam that beholds the bite and curse of sin. It is on my knees at the Cross that I find such love and grace, that was freely given for me. For you!

And yep, I'd say that's a win!