“Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”—I
John 4:7
One of the first principles that a
Christian learns is that God loves them.
As a Christian we soon become able to quote Bible verses on the subject
of love. Sometimes as Christians, we
even become indignant, if someone were to suggest, that we did not love
everyone who did not share our view points.
Yet for the most part, do Christians really grasp what it means to be
loved by the Creator of the Universe?
Today we will look at three aspects
of God’s love. My prayer is that you will really think about them.
First, God’s love is uninfluenced by
anything within us or around us. We know
that even while we were still living in sin, Christ died for us. “But
God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). There
is no greater sacrifice, and there is nothing we do that can hinder God’s love
for us. Realizing this depth of love
that God has for us should lift a burden off of your shoulders. “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” (Romans 8:38-39).
Second, divine love is eternal and believers
will never be separated from it. The
Father chose us before the foundation of the world. “Just
as He chose us in Him before the foundations of the world, that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love” (Ephesians 1:4). Therefore, we know that His care for us has
always been a fact, and will always continue to be.
Third, we know that God’s love is
part of His character. “He who does not love does not know God, for
God is love (I John 4:8). His love
is directed towards all people “that you
may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and
on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (John 3:16).
Believers experience God’s love
differently from those who do not follow Jesus.
Consider what would happen if an umbrella would shield part of a garden. When it rains, the flowers covered by the
umbrella would not get wet although they might be surrounded by water. Similarly, a person who does not have a
relationship with God is not impacted by His love, although it exists and is
available.
Today I want to encourage you that
you can trust the One who loves you intensely and completely. Jesus proved this by dying in our place to
spare us the consequences of our sin. He
promises to stay with us always and redirects us when we stray. Although we may not always feel His love, it continuously surrounds and protects us
forever.
Prayer—Father
I thank you for your love impacting my life even when I do not feel like it, in
Jesus Name. Amen.
