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THREE THINGS ABOUT THE LOVE OF GOD
One thing God has made known to
us is that He loves. But that is only one
facet of His character. We also read, “For
the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God,”
(Deuteronomy 4:24).
The love of God is not infatuation. It is
not based upon anything attractive or desirable in those He loves. God's
love is His determination to do good to its object, regardless of what it
costs Him. Because of this Paul wrote to one church:
“But God commendeth his love toward us
[His children], in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us,” (Romans
5:8). God did not wait until sinners repented or reformed or did anything to
love them.
Three things need to be remembered about
God's love. First: it is an everlasting love and that love causes God to
draw lost sinners to Himself. Proof: “The
LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee,”
(Jeremiah 31:3). This never-ending love results in men and women being drawn
by God's power to Christ for Jesus said,
“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I
will raise him up at the last day,” (John
6:44). In other words, those whom God loves He saves by bringing them to
Christ.
The second thing is that nothing can
separate those He loves from that love. Paul wrote:
“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 creature, shall be able
to separate us [God's children]
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord,” (Romans 8:38-39). God
“...hath said, I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee,” (Hebrews 13:5). If God is
always with you you cannot get away from Him!
The third thing about God's love is that
it results in the rebuke and chastening of those whom He loves. The message
of Jesus to one of His churches was, “As
many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent,”
(Revelation 3:19). Nothing here about God rebuking and chastening everyone.
Nothing here about God loving everyone, but rather that those whom He loves
He continues to deal with, rebuking and child-training them, even “spanking”
them when they sin. The words of Hebrews 12:6-8 are plain:
“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth
with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye
bastards [illegitimate children not cared
for by their father], and not sons.”
The people who are loved by God are
continually dealt with by Him. God's children are ever His and He never
ceases to deal with them as Sons. |