Want to know the love of Christ?

John Bunyan gives two pieces of advice:

1) "Know thyself, what a vile, horrible, abominable sinner thou art: for thous canst not know the love of Christ, before thou knowest the badness of thy nature... he that sees himself but little, will hardly know much of the love of Christ: he that sees himself as nothing at all, will hardly ever see anything of the love of Christ. But he that sees most of what an abominable wretch he is, he is like to see most of what is the love of Christ."

2) Labour to see the emptiness, shortness, and the pollution that cleaveth to a man's own righteousness. This also must in some measure be known, before a man can know the nature of the love of Christ... There is shortness, there is hypocrisy, there is a desire of vain glory, there is pride, there is presumption in man's own righteousness."

The point is: if we want to better understand the love of Christ toward Christians, we must spend some time thinking about: 1) how despicably sinful we are and 2) how wholly inadequate and tainted by sin our "righteousness" is. As we ponder these things, we are on the right track to better understand the love of God in Christ. The more we see how desperately in need of saviour we are, the more we will rejoice in the greatness of the saviour!