To Live is Christ — secure in the love of God

Joy, a young woman who reads this journal, posted a video on her own blog. She wanted to explain the love of God to her viewers. I’ve been thinking about what she said and the difficulty of her task. The love of God is a rich and deep reality, yet many have no idea of this vastness. How can it be explained, particularly to someone who has not experienced it?

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:16)

This devotional verse gives one clue; knowing the love of God goes hand in hand with believing that He does love us. This is important because of the first lie that Satan told humanity. He made a subtle suggestion to Eve by telling her to eat the forbidden fruit. When she replied that God said not to eat it, Satan’s hook was basically, “But God really does not want the best for you.” In other words, “God does not love you.” Once that thought captivated her, she was putty in the devil’s hands.

Every time that I stop believing that God loves me, I am in trouble. For one thing, I assume (without even giving it any rational thought) that my ideas are better than His and that I am better able to look after my own interests. Things go downhill from that point.

Abiding in the love of God requires remembering that He didn’t merely say the words either. He proved His love by sending Jesus. Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Later, Romans asks this, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:31–32)

The love of God is not about subjective feelings, although I sometimes feel totally embraced by His love. Rather, it is about His actions on our behalf. Jesus did not have to come and die for me. It was a choice made by grace, the choice of a merciful God who cared enough to suffer and die that I might be forgiven and live forever with Him.

Essentially, verses 31-32 say that if God would do that much for me, whatever else I might need or want is a given. He takes care of me. I feel often like God’s “spoiled brat” because His care is so amazing. Although He wants obedience and chastens me when I refuse, He also gives far more than I deserve, even more than I ask for or imagine.

The love of someone else can be measured by what they say and do, but it can also be measured by who they are. Some people are more “loving” than others. Yet God is the ultimate in that department. His love is who He is. Love, this self-sacrificing, wanting the best for others, kind of love is His very nature and character. As 1 John says several times, God is love.

If His love depended on my deservedness or me being lovable, I would not experience the love of God. The standard is the sinless life of Jesus Christ and I fall short, far short. In fact, that is what the word “sinner means.” In ancient archery competitions, if an arrow fell to the ground before reaching the target, the crowd would pronounce “sinner” in response. The fact of Christ dying for sinners is the greatest evidence, proof and description of the love of God.

Thank you, Joy, for encouraging me to think about these things!