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WHY THE LORD LOVES US
By
Christian Belyea
It is written: “God is love” (1 John 4:8).
Which means everything He does or allows in a believer’s life is out of love.
But God doesn’t love us because theologically He must love us. No. He loves us because He wants to love us, no matter how contrary or moody or sinful we can be at times. Truly, if God didn’t love us, He never would have brought us forth into being…He never would have moved heavenly mountains and this precious planet to reconcile us to Him, in the first place.
Yes, He loves our character, our personalities, and even our quirks; in short, our entire beings. In fact, He loves us so much that He couldn’t bear the thought of us not sharing eternity with Him. That’s right. He couldn’t bear the thought of us choosing hell over Him. And so, He sent His own sinless Son to pay the penalty for our sins, so we wouldn’t have to know the horrors hiding in hell.
Not only that, but God loves us just the way we are, warts and all. But He also loves us way too much to leave us like this. Yes, He wants to whack those warts away. And so, He is constantly chiselling our characters and honing our hearts so that we will shine like the stars blazing in the heavens in character and integrity (Romans 8:29). In short, He wants us to have characters that are just like His Son’s character (Romans 8:29). No, He doesn’t want us to be clones of Jesus, for He loves our unique personalities: He just wants our characters to be like Christ’s: loving, compassionate, honest, forgiving, gracious, and kind…
Therefore, as God’s adoptive children, we are being transformed moment by moment by the sufferings and tests God allows to come our way, so we can have the kind of characters we can live with for all eternity when we depart this planet and head to our heavenly homes. And don’t fret about the suffering part, either, for God’s Word proclaims that “All things work together for good to those who love God” (Romans 8:28).
And yet, God’s love goes even deeper than that. That’s right. God actually engineers the circumstances of our lives, just as it is written: “…for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). He does this so that He can give us His good graces and lead us to pleasant pastures, things that will bring us much happiness, just as the psalmist promised: “Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalms 37:4).
No, God is not some cosmic cop out there, just waiting for the chance to clobber us over the head each time we mess up. Rather, He is a doting Dad who woos us to repentance when we do or say something wicked. As the Apostle Paul proclaimed it is “…the goodness of God (that) leads you to repentance” (Romans 2:4). In fact, Jesus is the God of a zillion second chances! For it is also written: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Which means if we sin the same sin 70 times 7 in a single day, God will forgive and restore us every single time. Count on it! (Matthew 18:22).
And we can be sure that when we do miss the mark because of sin, all God wants is for us to ‘fess up and be right with Him again, for sin cuts off our phone line connection with Him. In other words, He can hear us, but we can’t hear Him. And our precious Savior cannot bear it when we aren’t walking hand in hand in righteousness. Now, don’t get me wrong! To be sure, sin cuts off our connection with God, but God never leaves us or forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5)! It’s just that our unconfessed sins sever the blessings God wants to bestow on us.
Moreover, the LORD loves to listen to the lilt in our voices. Truly Jesus is just a whisper away. In fact, Christ misses it terribly when we don’t call home regularly. And when we do so, we don’t have to kneel and moan and be all religious with Him. No. He doesn’t want our religion: He wants a relationship with us, and for us to just be our true selves…as one friend talking with another Friend; for that’s what Jesus said we are now—friends of God (John 15:14,15). And true friends are their real selves with each other, don’t you think? Not only that, but our heavenly Friend simply adores us! In fact, God loves us so much, He is constantly hovering over us, protecting us, guiding us, preserving us, and maturing us, just as a loving earthly father would do for His children (Proverbs 3:12; Psalms 103:13).
Yes, God is love, my friend.
But just as importantly, God is in love with you and me!
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