MUCH FORGIVENESS PRODUCES MUCH LOVE
“Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” Luke 7:47
Jesus was eating in the home of a Pharisee. A woman, who was a known sinner, came in weeping and washed His feet with tears, wiping them with her hair, and kissing His feet. The host was critical of the woman’s behavior. Jesus gave the Pharisee an illustration. He told him the reason this woman loved Him so much was because she had been forgiven much.
Why do some people seem to love Jesus so much? Would you want to love Him more? At least part of the answer is provided in our text. MUCH FORGIVENESS PRODUCES MUCH LOVE. Those who are aware of the great sin they bore, who realize how hopelessly lost they were, who know that without Christ an eternity of torment awaited them, and have the assurance that all is forgiven, have a tendency to love Jesus more abundantly. This woman was a notorious sinner. She had a bad reputation in the city. However, being a person widely known for wickedness is not necessary to have much forgiveness.
All of us, whether young or old, were guilty sinners in the eyes of God. We were “by nature the children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). Our sin separated us from God and His holiness. Our destiny was the lake of fire. Nothing we could ever do on our own could change that. Yet Christ, in His love, went to the cross for our sins. He took our sins on His sinless body and bore them on the tree. He loved us when we were still in our sin. By grace, He saved us and accepted us into His forever family, and one day we will be in Heaven with Him. A key to consistently loving Jesus is remembering all that He has done for us. Somehow people tend to forget. They forget what it was like to be lost. They lose the wonder of His love. They begin to lose sight of what they were saved from. If we are not careful, we can begin to take the grace of God for granted. Sincere gratitude for our salvation will generate genuine love for the Lord Jesus Christ. “We love him, because he first loved us” (I John 4:19). The Pharisee did not understand the extravagant love of the woman.
I wonder how many around us do not understand why we love Jesus as we do. They do not know why we worship Him, serve Him, and want everyone to know Him.