Love Liberates

Anthon Houtsma graduated from Calvin College in 1967 and from Calvin Seminary in 1970 with the intention of becoming a pastor in the Christian Reformed Church. Unforeseen circumstances forced his life in a very different direction, however, to a career in the US Postal Service. Anthon is a Calvinist with an existential point of view. He desperately wants you to know that God loves every person in this world. The question is: How can the love of God offered in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ save us; how can that love of God redeem the soul of any man, woman, or child, giving them a desire to serve God with their hearts and minds and strength? It is only by the grace of God and through the existential exercise of our faith that we can be saved. "God is Love" (1 John 4:8). The attribute of love defines the purpose and goal of God with regard to all of humanity. God may hate sin, but He loves the sinner. God loves every single one of us, and He vows to raise us out of our selfish, quarrelsome lives of sin into a loving, brotherly, peaceful life of righteousness, if only we will believe. Out of love, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to live among us, to die for our sins, and to be raised for our justification and sanctification. The birth of Christ was God's promise of love to you and me-that He would freely give us the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ if only we would sincerely ask Him for it. Jesus is the love of God that can redeem humanity. Because of God's love and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, heaven can now be yours if you will only put your trust in the salvation of the cross and resurrection. Through faith in Jesus Christ, you can now have a new and glorious future in heaven. God's love liberates! You can win!