Unshakable Grace: Understanding the Depth of God’s Love
1 John 4:8 — "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."
God is Love. The idea of this is hard for us to grasp. It is just that God loves us, or God has love but it is His very being. It is the core of who He is. And because He is love than what He has for us and wants from us emanates out of that very love. As humans, love is ofter times conditional. It may shift based on how someone treats us or what they offer to us. Sometimes it is performance base. But God’s love is described as steadfast - meaning it does not waiver based on what we do. God does not simply possess affection or occasionally choose to show warmth; rather, love is the very essence of His character. Across the Old and New Testament scripture reveals God’s love as enduring, sacrificial and actively pursuing us.
The Hebrew word for God’s eduring covenantal love is “hesed”. It is faithful, merciful and unwavering.
Jeremiah 31:3 — "The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: 'I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.'"
Psalm 103:11 — "For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him."
God shows patience with Israel in the Old Testament, despite their actions. Sometimes His love was provision, like mana in the wilderness. Sometimes His love was correction. But His commitment to His people and His desire to commune with them never had an exploration date. God’s love in the Old Testament is enduring and resolute; it does not vanish when people stumble, but patiently calls them back into fellowship.
In the New Testament this love shifts from a promise the visible incarnation of God’s Son. Not only did God send his son to commune with us but for the ultimate purpose of laying down His life for us to pay the penalty of sin on the cross.
John 3:16 — "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Romans 5:8 — "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Christianity is the only faith that does not require us to prove ourselves to God. Instead it begins with the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. This is the ultimate resolution to human brokenness since the fall of man in Genesis. The distinctiveness of God’s love lies in its timing and generosity. Christ did not wait for humanity to clean itself up or prove its worth.
How then are we to live? For those who have not yet turned their lives over to Christ, the very first response is to turn to Him, thank Him and ask Him to be Lord and Savior of your life. Next you can rest in the knowledge that God’s love never changes. This should replace any anxiety and condemnation of sin with confidence and peace.
Romans 8:38–39 — "For I am convinced that neither death nor life... will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
In this security, we know that nothing can separate the believer from our Creator. With the peace that we have, we are equipped to extend that unconditional love to others. "We love because he first loved us," 1 John 4:19. We are commanded to not only love those that are lovable but to love even those that are hard to love. Because we were at one time hard to love.
From Jeremiah we read that God’s love is everlasting and in the New Testament we see that it is also inseparable. There is no need to strive for God’s love and approval instead we simply are called to receive it and with our lives allow God to not only be our savior but also our Lord who has lovingly given us an example to follow in his Son, Jesus.