Articles
A Transforming Love
One of the greatest characteristics about God — and one of the most humanly incomprehensible — is His love. We are likely familiar with what Jesus said when He spoke with Nicodemus about being born again (John 3:1-9); it was in that context Jesus told him that this was possible because the Son of Man would be lifted up “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:15, 16). Let us note here that it was the love of God for a sin-filled world that moved Him to send His Son that we might have salvation.
The love of God, demonstrated by acting to provide mankind a means of salvation — though mankind was overwhelmingly and unquestionably undeserving of this amazing love — gives us a hint as to its measure, but I believe it is still not fully understood, even by this. Just this one statement about God loving the world and acting to provide our salvation is very revealing, for it tells us it is not a love that ceases simply because we turn against Him. If we were to consider the magnitude of mankind’s sins, I am not sure it could be measured in any meaningful way, but I think we could understand it is extensive and ever-expanding in its volume. Despite this, God loved the world anyway.
It is His love for us that is sometimes beyond belief for many; we measure and compare His love by what we have experienced in this world, from others, and we just find it hard to believe God would love us at all, much less to the degree He does love us!
Maybe now would be a good time for us to consider how God defines and describes love; maybe that will help us better understand His love for us.
The apostle Paul wrote by the inspiration of God, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Cor. 13:4-8). That last sentence is the one we have a hard time believing, at least when to comes to God’s love for us. We think that when we sin or are displeasing to Him, He ceases loving us, or maybe just loves us less. Not so. God says, “Love never fails.” That necessarily includes His love for us!
This love of God is also demonstrated in the parable of the Prodigal Son. In that story (Luke 15:11-32), one son comes to his father and demands his portion of the inheritance, and when he had received it, went into a far country. It was in this far country the young man “wasted his possessions with prodigal living” and when “there arose a severe famine in that land,” and he had nothing, he “joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.” In that lowly position, “he came to himself” and realized he had it better back with his father’s house, so decided to return and simply ask to be one of his servants.
When the young man returned, “when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” And the father did not take him back as a servant, but as his son, and called for a feast to celebrate his return. The reaction of the father upon seeing his son return illustrates the love of God: I would imagine the love of that father for his son did not diminish one bit, though he was far from him and though he likely knew what he would be doing. God’s love does not end when we abandon him for the pleasures of this world.
Now, here is where many have been deceived by The Great Deceiver into thinking ‘love’ means giving you whatever you want and/or allowing you to do whatever you want. As parents, we know that is not the case, so why would we think this would be true with God and us? If your four-year-old came up to you and said, “Mommy, I really want to play in the street,” would you let her because that is what she really wants? If your 10-year-old son said, “Wow! That hot stove looks awesome! I want to put my hand over the fire,” would you say, “Oh, sure! Go right ahead”? Of course, not; and we would tell them “No” because we know those things are harmful — dangerous, even. Though they may not understand fully why they cannot do what they really want to do, we demonstrate love by telling them, “No.” The same will be true as they get older, and want to do things that are morally and spiritually harmful and outright dangerous. Just remember this, and remember it well: Saying “No” does not mean you don’t love them; forbidding or discouraging certain behavior and actions does not mean you don’t love them.
In the same way, when God calls something “sin” or warns that it brings condemnation [effectively, God saying “No”], that doesn’t mean He doesn’t love you. Conversely, because He loves you, that doesn’t mean He is going to approve of everything you do. The devil has convinced a lot of people God really doesn’t love them because He forbids certain actions or calls them “sin,” but that is a lie coming from the father of all lies (John 8:44). God — more than anyone else, and certainly more than the devil — loves you and wants what is best for you spiritually. He desires your salvation (1 Tim. 3:4) and does not want you or anyone else to be lost (2 Pet. 3:9). It is the devil who seeks your destruction, and he will say anything to get you to doubt God, to hate God, and to turn away from God. He knows nothing of what true love is; he does not love — you or me or anyone.
The apostle Paul wrote of God’s love in his letter to the Romans, asking, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:31, 32). In other words, if God loved us so much He gave His Son to die for us, why would we think He would not provide for us any spiritual need? His love is such that He already had everything in place for our spiritual need before we were created!
Paul continues: “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38, 39). Now, here is the love of God in its greatest degree: Nothing can separate us from it! I don’t care what scenario you come up with, you cannot cause God to stop loving you! No, He may not like what you’re doing, but He still loves you and wants what is best for you — even when you don’t realize it is for your good, and even when you don’t want to do what is for your good.
Now, some may say, “We can separate ourselves from His love!” No, we cannot. Nothing can separate us from the love of God! Yes, we may separate ourselves from Him spiritually when we sin (Isa. 59:1, 2), but He still loves us! Just as He did with Israel, just as He did with those who crucified His Son, and just like the father of the Prodigal Son when he left for the far country, our heavenly Father will still love us, and He will patiently await our return.
When we ‘get’ that, it will transform us from that day forward. — Steven Harper
