His Love and Faithfulness

Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for;
    through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided.
    Prov 16:6


Think of that the next time you contemplate your sin—the depths of hell from which Christ redeemed you.  It was His Love and His Faithfulness that made atonement for your sins.

Love and faithfulness meet together;
    righteousness and peace kiss each other.
Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
    and righteousness looks down from heaven.
    Ps. 85:10 - 11

God alone has the love that can completely atone for our sins.  He alone is completely faithful to make it happen.  We had no love at all in ourselves that could accomplish this redemption and atonement.  In fact, we love because He first loved us.  And Christ was completely faithful in His earthly ministry: faithfully He obeyed the Father, faithfully He purchased our redemption, and faithfully He now loves us and prepares mansions for us in glory where we will dwell with Him.  That is partly why the Psalm says that "faithfulness springs forth from the earth."  It is because Christ was faithful here on earth and the Righteous Father looked down from Heaven and saw that it was good: "This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased!"

Truly "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." (Rev. 7:10)

And what then is our role? our response to such a great salvation?

That is the second half of Prov. 16:6.  "Through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided."  Because the Lord saved me and atoned for my sins, I will now avoid sin because of how horrible it is and how much it cost my Lord to rescue me.

And how may I avoid sin?  The fear of the Lord.  It is the fear of the Lord that will be with us to keep us from sinning. (Ex. 20:20)  Thus I lift up the cup of salvation to the Lord (Ps. 116:13) by taking His salvation that He offers me and living a new life for His honor and His glory.  If I don't it means I treasure neither His love nor His faithfulness; and my sin may not be truly atoned for.

A hymn that goes well with this small meditation: Salvation's Hymn
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