Because He loves me

 
Today’s reading has this line: “Christ has made our hearts capable of this supreme overwhelming affection and has offered himself as the object of it. It is infinitely precious to Him. So much does He value it, that He has made it the first and chiefest of all His commandments that we should love Him with all our might and with all our strength.”

It explains that being loved is important to Him yet I keep hearing these words: “God loves me and wants me to respond by loving Him and doing His will because that is the the very best thing for me, not to please Him or make Him happy — trusting Him is for my sake.

John Piper even ties this to God’s responses to our cries. If He does not answer our prayers as we want, it is because He has wise and holy purposes. I need to trust Him because He knows what He is doing and all of what He is doing is for my good, even when it may not feel good at the time. This is the assurance that His love is worthy and I can love Him, not to make Him smile but to bring me to the very best I can be…

I know by loving God, all things work together for my good as one who is called  according to his purpose. He foreknew me and also predestined me to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that Jesus might be the firstborn among many brothers. He predestined me, then called me, justified me, even glorified me. What then shall I say to these things? If God is for me, who can be against me? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for me, how will he not also with him graciously give me all things? Who shall bring any charge against me? It is God who justifies. Who can condemn me? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for me. Who shall separate me from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? Even as He says that for His sake, I could be “killed all the day long; even regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things I am more than a conqueror through him who loved me. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus my Lord. (Romans 8:28–39, personalized)

It is for love that everything happens to me with purpose — to conform me to His image. There is no greater goal, no higher ambition. By loving Jesus, I can see His worth, His perfections, and the value of being like Him. Obedience is part of cooperating with His transforming power, but it is still His power not mine, and is motivated by His love for me.

At times I feel overwhelmed. To be loved by God? The Creator and sovereign ruler of the universe? Not because I am a pawn on His chessboard or needs me to love Him, but because He loves me? Mind-blowing!

PRAY: Jesus, I feel anything but lovable. There is nothing in me worthy of Your focus on transforming my life. I don’t even understand how You ‘use all things’ to that end, even my failures and resistance. Yet in my heart, I know it is true. Your love wants my love, and it is not to make You feel good; it is for my good. How precious to know this and to worship You.

Oh how He loves you and me

The book I’m using for devotions asks a question about the significance of the events in John’s Gospel that are not included in the other three Gospels. After reading more in John, I thought of how we define other people. Often it is by what they do: Mr. Smith is a high school teacher. Sometimes it is by who they are: Mr. Smith is a man with great love and respect for teenagers. Or by where they came from: Mr. Smith was born and raised in Georgia. Or by their unique traits: Mr. Smith has a wonderful sense of humor.

These first four books in the New Testament are about Jesus. Each have a particular emphasis when describing Jesus. Matthew writes about Him as a King, Mark presents Him as a Servant, Luke as fully Human. However, when reading John, I get the great sense that Jesus is God who became man and loves us. Yes, He is Savior, Prophet and King. Yes, He came from the Father and returned there when His time had come. Yes, He was born in a stable. But more than all these, He is God who loves us.

He is God because He created all things:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1–3)

He is human, not like us who were created in the image of God, but fully God who became flesh:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

And He loves us:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16–17)

The religious leaders decided this was unacceptable. They accused Him of being a sinful man and wanted Him dead. The crowds loved Him as long as He fed them, but when Pilate asked who he should release, they yelled, “Crucify Him” forgetting His innocence, His power and His love for them.

The other Gospels are filled with action, their stories suitable for a stage play. John’s writing depicts the heart and appeals to the heart. It is more frequently used to show sinners how He loves us, and more frequently depicted in film and on the stage.

John called himself ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved.’ He used the word ‘love’ more than twice the times the other three put together. This theme drives home the truth that rebuffs Satan’s most frequently used lie that God does not love me. John wants his readers to know their security in the love of God.

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Jesus, Your love melts my heart. From the least of Your children to the greatest, all of us need to know that, be reassured of it. No matter how long we have walked with You, the enemy tries to ruin us and make us stumble using lies on this very issue. John knew we needed to hear the truth in a variety of ways so we could we could be set free from the bondage that comes when we fall for Satan’s lies, particularly that lie about Your love. John could have written about Your life like a resume but instead wrote it like a love story. Thank You for the gift of Your love so wonderfully expressed in Your life as written in the Gospel of John.

God loves me — so what?

The Bible teaches that God wants the best for us. The enemy denies that, even lies to us saying that God does not care or is not listening or whatever will keep us from listening to God or doing what He says.

Yet the promises of God are clear. He told Joshua how to thrive as a leader of Israel; he must seek God’s will and do it:

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:8)

The psalmist also had it figured out. He knew that he must read what God says, meditate on those truths, and delight in them. They would change his life:

“I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.” (Psalm 119:15–16)

Jesus made several statements that reinforce the love of God in giving His commands. He said that keeping them was vital toward being a valued member of God’s kingdom:

“Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:19)

In contrast, Jesus also said that knowing the commands yet ignoring them would bring disaster:

“And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.” (Matthew 7:26)

Based on these and many other passages that say God gives His people instructions because He loves us and wants the best for us, Tozer makes some bold statements. He says, “I am convinced that some Bible classes are nothing more than a means whereby men become even more settled in their religious prejudices.”

I’ve thoughts on that too. What good does it do to study for mere academic knowledge? How can my life be changed if I can exegete passages, explain mysteries, or write scholarly commentaries, but do not do what God says? Tozer quotes the American evangelist, Charles Finney as saying it is sinful to teach the Bible without moral application. Why read it if it will be ignored in life?

Sunday school teaches children to read it, study it, memorize it, meditate on it, and do what it says. I need to follow that same instruction. I’ve had the bad habit of doing the first two and maybe the fourth one but leaving out memorizing and obedience. My pride assumes that if “I know it” that is all there is. Wrong.

A professor I know wrote a book that thoroughly covers what the Bible says about demons and Satan. Many reputable scholars highly rate this book. I’ve not read it, but all indications are that this book leaves the reader to figure out how to apply it.

In contrast, we pray with another couple for our families. We are using a book about the strategies of Satan. It is highly practical. The author is a pastor who has been through spiritual wars, just as we are experience warfare in our prayer time. The book tells us what Satan is trying to do, how he does it, and what we need to do to overcome his tactics. I’ve this image in my head of the devil’s reaction to our study and obedience — he is not happy and trying to think of other ways to stop us. At the very least, our prayers are changing our lives.

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Jesus, I am an academic by nature, but a practical person by heart. If something has no value for life, I am not going to do it just to add a framed piece of paper to my wall. In the kingdom of God, study is useless without obedience for it is obedience that shapes me to be more like You. You said that eternal life is about knowing God and knowing You. It is also what I do in response to what and who I know. I cannot say I love You without doing what You ask of me. This seems a no-brainer yet all of us brainy types tend to get caught up in knowing and forget about doing. As Your Word says, “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” Love is all about obedience. Forgive me — and continue to discipline me to get with it!

I love Him because He first loved me

Last week, I listened to a lecture and read about the difficulties of Bible translation. Some translation teams put the emphasis on getting the words as close as they can to what they think the original author wanted to say (formal equivalence). Other translators are more concerned about the people who will be reading it, so they try to translate those ancient languages into understandable contemporary terms (dynamic equivalence).

Either way, the translators cannot avoid interpretation, but thankfully most if not all are sincere and do the best they can. By comparing various translations, I can see the differences and the challenges. For instance, some passages are ambiguous, meaning the interpretation could go one way or the other. Some leave that ambiguity in the translation. Some decide which side is more certain and translate it accordingly. This rarely affects major doctrines. Besides, all important Bible teachings are backed up by repetition elsewhere. This means most of today’s translations are reliable. My seminary professors say it is best to pick a ‘formal equivalence’ for study and used 3-4 other translations for comparison.

Some passages are so loud and clear that it doesn’t matter which version of the Bible I am reading. For instance, the devotional passage for today offers words from Jesus. He repeats Himself, likely for emphasis, because what He says is as plain as it could be . . . “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:15–26)

From this I hear Jesus saying that He measures my love for Him by my obedience. He sent the Holy Spirit to help me obey and also, He will come back to earth one day. Right now, I can see Him and experience the unity I have with Him and the Father.

What does this tell me about the mind of Christ? First, that He never thinks about being rebellious nor does He want me to drift off and be disobedient. I’m thinking of my children when they were small. Obedience was vital. Sure, I wanted it for my peace of mind (Jesus isn’t selfish like I am), but because I loved them, I didn’t want them to hurt themselves or hurt others. Obedience was mostly not for me but for their own good. That is how Jesus thinks; He wants me to obey, not just to show my love for Him, but also for my own good.

He plans also to come back. The first time He came, He was not welcomed but crucified. Yet He loves His people and has a plan for us for eternity. He is thinking about my eternal well-being and will do what is required to settle that forever. He will come for me because He loves me that much.

I was strongly tempted yesterday to disobey Him, but as I read these words and thought about how much He loves me, how could I not love Him? And if I love Him, then I will do as He asks.