Jan 24, 2017
We know in human relationships, people’s feelings for one another can fade over time. Sometimes the love between them even disappears altogether. People’s love can change. What about God’s?
Sometimes we enjoy God’s love intensely and feel confident in His love. Other times, we’re not so conscious of His love. And at other times, we may wonder whether He even still loves us, especially after we’ve had a failure in our Christian life.
Will God ever stop loving us?
Let’s look at some Bible verses that show us the extent of God’s love for us.
First, let’s look at what God in His love did before we were saved.
John 3:16 tells us,
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.”
Through the fall, all mankind was polluted with sin and became evil. We were altogether not loveable. Yet God’s heart was full of love for us, not contempt. He would not leave us in our fallen state, separated from Him for all eternity. Because He loved us, He did something. God gave His own Son, Jesus Christ, to be our substitute on the cross for our redemption. Christ died there to remove the obstacle of sin between God and us. God in His love did this for us.
To really understand the depths of this love, we should ask, “What kind of people did God do this for?”
Ephesians 2:1-3 gives us a full description of what we were before we were saved:
“And you, though dead in your offenses and sins, in which you once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit which is now operating in the sons of disobedience; among whom we also all conducted ourselves once in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
In such a pitiful state, we deserved nothing but judgment. Yet Ephesians 2:4-6 continues with a marvelous word:
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up together with Him and seated us together with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.”
God’s love worked out such a rich salvation in Christ for us who had fallen so low, even raising us dead ones together with Christ. How great is God’s love!
Next, let’s consider what God in His love did when we believed.
When we heard the gospel, repented to God, and believed in Jesus Christ, wonderful things happened to us. We were delivered from eternal condemnation, forgiven of all our sins, and reconciled to God. But God didn’t stop there.
First John 3:1 tells us,
“Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and we are.”
God loves us to such an extent that when we believed in Christ, we were not only forgiven; we were also born in our spirit with His divine life and became His children. Our being born of God is the greatest miracle in the universe, and it was accomplished because God loves us.
God sent His Son to die for us, redeemed us, and even made us His own children. We who were fallen sinners without hope are now children of God! As John says, what manner of love is this! His love surpasses our ability to comprehend it fully. Having done so much for us out of His heart of love, would He stop loving us because of some failure on our side? Never!
A few other verses show us still more about the nature of the love of God.
Jeremiah 31:3 says,
“Jehovah appeared to me from afar, saying, Indeed I have loved you with an eternal love, therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”
Anything eternal is unlimited by time. God’s eternal love for us goes beyond time itself. He loves us today, He will love us tomorrow, and He will love us still after many, many years. No amount of time can wear away His love. He will love us now and for all eternity.
Next, John 13:1 says,
“Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come for Him to depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the uttermost.”
To love to the uttermost is to love to the greatest degree—there’s nothing beyond this, nothing withheld. God’s love for us is absolute, complete, and to the farthest extent.
Finally, Romans 8:38-39 tell us,
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
No matter what we’re going through, what troubling circumstances we’re in, or what our condition may be, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!
All these verses assure us that God loved us in the past, God loves us now, and God will love us for all time and into eternity.
We might still wonder, though, What if I fail? Does God still love me when I sin? Why can’t I feel God’s love sometimes?
When we’ve sinned or disobeyed God, God doesn’t stop loving us, nor does He love us less. However, He cannot tolerate sin, and when we sin, our fellowship with Him is interrupted. For the fellowship between the Lord and us to be restored, we should simply confess our sin to Him to be forgiven and washed with the blood of Jesus. This simple practice brings us back to the full enjoyment of fellowship with Him and of His love.
As we go on in our Christian journey, in the midst of everything and no matter what, God loves us. This will never, never change.
We can pray, “Oh God, thank You for Your great love that caused You to give Your own dear Son to die for me. Thank You for loving me even when I was dead in sin and completely unlovable. Your love is inexhaustible, unchanging, and eternal, and nothing can separate me from it. How I thank You, You will always love me. Oh God, I love You!”
A hymn by F. M. Lehman beautifully and poetically expresses the depth and scope of God’s love for us. The chorus of the hymn says,
“O love of God, how rich and pure! / How measureless and strong! / It shall forevermore endure / The saints’ and angels song.”