"In this the love of God is made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we may live through Him." - 1 John 4:9
February is a special month for me. From Groundhog Day to Ferris Wheel Day, there is a lot to celebrate! 😉 Just kidding: as Russell Stover and your local florist gladly remind us, Valentine’s Day is this month! For me, February has an even greater significance, because this month Michael and I celebrate both our wedding anniversary and the anniversary of our first date.
With the inescapable appearance of all things heart-shaped and love-related, I figured February would be a good month to spend some time talking about love. Christians have good reason to focus on this topic, since the Bible has so much to say about it. In fact, when comparing the many spiritual gifts and virtues God has given His church, the Apostle Paul declared love to be the “more excellent way.” This month, we’re going to examine a few of the many facets of Christian love, but today, I want to look at the foundation of it all: God's love for us. There are three principles of God’s love that I want to share with you.
"But God shows His love for us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans 5:8
For those of us who have been Christians for a while—or many of us in the “Bible Belt” of the country, I think it’s easy to forget just what it meant for us to be lost. Ephesians 2:12 reminds us that before salvation, we were “without God" and had “no hope.” Eternal life could not be gained in and of ourselves, and worse, we were downright enemies of God! How many people would die for a friend, let alone an enemy? And yet, that is exactly what Christ’s love for us compelled Him to do! As He was being spat upon and nailed to a cross, He loved the very ones who were killing Him (and that includes you and me!) and begged God to forgive them. This kind of unconditional love can only come from God Himself, and I am so thankful that He loves us in this way!
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever." - Psalm 136:1
This psalm is one of my favorites. A call-and-response type of poetry, literally every verse of this song reminds the worshiper that God's love is everlasting. What does this mean for us? Well, we all know that "eternal" means without end, but we often forget the fact that it also means no beginning. In Jeremiah 31:3, God says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you." The word continued can be translated (and has been, in the King James Version) "drawn." To think of God faithfully drawing us to Himself from before the dawn of time should give us great security in our position as His beloved children. His love, which we will enjoy forever in glory, was established before the foundation of the world.
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?…I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:35, 38-39
Honestly, there's not much I want to add to this. These are some of the best-loved verses in God's Word for a reason: for those of us who tend toward insecurity, this is another beautiful reminder that we are indeed secure in the love of God. No matter what our feelings may tell us, no matter what sins we may have committed, the love of the Father through His Son is available to us the moment we return to Him. Though He does not turn a blind eye to our sins, His forgiveness, like that of the father in Luke 15, is immediate and complete. His love is rock solid.
There are so many more facets of God's love we could talk about, but I am out of space. I hope that as you search the Scriptures, you will allow the Holy Spirit to deepen your understanding of the great love that He has for you. For now, I leave with you the words of the Apostle Paul:
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
- Ephesians 3:16-19
Unless otherwise noted, all scripture used in "Joy in the Morning" is taken from the English Standard Version.
