Stress is not from God

Yesterday a friend told of a woman who said to her husband, “I love you, but right now I don’t like you very much.” Obviously the last part was about his behavior, and the first part was about her choice to love him anyway. How does that work?

In the kingdom of God, we learn that love is about how we treat and behave toward others. It is not based on a merit system. That is, the love of God is about who God is, not about whether we deserve it or not. The NT makes this very plain. However, our human tendency is to think that love has to be earned. We love those who agree with us, or please us, or do things in harmony with our desires and we suppose that if we are like that for others, they will love us. This is not the way God loves.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6–8)

Today’s reading says this: “If we would know God, we must know what love is; and then we must apply to God all the best and highest that we know of love. For God is absolutely under the law of love; that is, He is under an inevitable constraint to obey it. He alone of all the universe, because His very essence or nature is love, cannot help loving. We whose natures are not altogether composed of love but are mixed up with a great many other things, do not always love. Because this is the case with ourselves, we think it must also be the case with God; and we torment ourselves with imagining that because of our own special unworthiness He will surely fail to love us. What a useless torment that is!”

I know that torment. In planning a big family reunion, a big challenge came by email last night. I woke this morning fearful that I could not handle this, forgetting that the reunion is God’s idea and how much He is enabling me. It took several minutes of confessing my fears and rehearsing the truth about God before the knots in my stomach unkinked. Who was I trusting anyway? Myself? Such useless torment indeed. A careful and repeated reading of these verses is restoring peace of mind and trust that God will always be with me, no matter how big the challenges…

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:9–19)

PRAY: Jesus, Your love is not based on my performance or ability. I know that Your grace and strength come through even when I feel the weakest. Forgive my lapse into doubt and fear. Not only that, I’m doing this reunion to show Your love to the people who are coming, and I cannot do that if I doubt it myself. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief and grant me the fullness of Your Spirit that I can joyfully meet this challenge in love and with a sound mind, not in fear and with stress.

No one needs to feel beyond the love of God

I’ve heard that some people think their sin is too great that even God could not possibly forgive them. I’ve no personal experience with anyone who thinks that way, but I do understand their hopelessness — I’ve felt that way myself, not just before I was saved, but after!

One would think that once Jesus made His forgiveness known and real in a Christian’s life, that would be the end of feeling unforgiveable, but it isn’t necessarily so. For one thing, the accuser of God’s people, Satan himself, will try to convince us that we are not forgiven or that we have done things too awful for God to forgive.

Another cause for hopelessness is that Christians sometimes slide into terrible sin. We use the word “backslide” and if it happens, the sense of loss and separation from God can be so great that there seems no way back to the fellowship and freedom once known. The weight of our sin is too heavy.

This happened to David. As king of Israel, he should have been out with his army during battles, but one time he stayed home. He was on his palace rooftop and saw a beautiful woman bathing. He sent for her and slept with her. She became pregnant. He schemed to make this seem like the child of her husband, but that man would not cooperate, so David had him killed and took the woman as his wife. After this, David became deeply convicted of his sin. He said,

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. (Psalm 51:1–12)

Even though David’s words show concern and fearfulness and a deep sense of his guilt, he knew that God was merciful. He, unlike many, refused to walk away from God after what he had done. He was not going to give in to the sense that all was lost and his relationship with God was forever broken.

In the church in Corinth, there were some who had been deeply involved in sin. They may have felt hopeless. They may have thought there was no use in changing their habits. Whatever they were thinking about their sin, they needed to realize that God takes care of it as part of His saving grace. He inspired Paul to write this:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9–11)

No matter what they had done, their sin was taken care of as God forgave them, cleansed them, set them apart for Himself and considered them just and His children. He did this in the name of Jesus and by His powerful Holy Spirit. They were once a mess, but now they were considered by God as His people. This change in their standing before God was remarkable and enables all sinners to live a new life.

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Lord Jesus, I’ve always loved this line: “And such were some of you but . . . .” because no matter what anyone has done, Your salvation covers it. Your grace and mercy are deeper than any sin and Your forgiveness covers all of it. What a wonderful God! You care for even those who feel the most hopeless. No one can sin beyond Your ability to forgive and to transform our lives!

The deep, deep love of Jesus

Last night I finished reading a book, a diary written by a nurse who served in a field hospital in the middle east. I cried through most of it, partly for the people suffering from horrific war injuries and partly for the joy of how God was in their midst. Scripture tells of God blessing His people in times of trouble. This nurse describes His presence in the absolute worst conditions and His touch on the lives of medical personnel, the injured, those dying — men, women, children, babies, including even members of the enemy forces responsible for the carnage. She learned about the love of God through His people and the reality of loving enemies even as their drones dropped bombs.

When I read of Paul’s life and work, can I read between the lines? Would more detail tell me the sufferings that made him and the early Christians strong in faith so they survived horrid treatment at the hand of their enemies? Do most of us who live comfortable lives have any idea about the length and breadth and depth of the love of God, not only for ourselves but for those who hate us?

On his second missionary journey, Paul and his companions arrived in Thessalonica, the capital of Macedonia. Things went well until jealous Jews raised a cry against them, charging them with acts “contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus” (Acts 17:7). The believers sent Paul and Silas from that city to Berea.

During his travels, Paul did not forget the Christians in Thessalonica. He wrote to them when he found out they were being persecuted since his departure. He wanted to go see them, but that plan did not happen:

But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. (1 Thessalonians 2:17–18)

Instead, they sent Timothy who brought back the good news that even though they were afflicted, their faith held:

But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you— for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith? Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. (1 Thessalonians 3:6–13)

The church in Thessalonica wanted Jesus to return, however they feared they had missed this great event. Assurance that was not true was part of Paul’s reason for writing, but another part was to encourage them in their walk with the Lord. They were doing well and he wanted them to continue. His love for them is evident and a reflection of God’s love.

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Jesus, As I put the nurse’s diary alongside these two New Testament letters, I have even greater compassion for those who suffer for their faith, and for those who suffer period. I’m thinking of how You are the hiding place for all who are persecuted, ill-treated and troubled. You love humanity with a love that I scarcely understand, a love that I should also demonstrate to those I consider the worst of sinners. This nurse makes me realize that You not only cry for victims but also perpetrators. Your kind eyes glisten with tears for those who are deeply caught in sin — sin that drives them to destroy innocents and laugh. Your heart is broken at what breaks my heart yet it is also broken for those who seem to have no heart. Oh God, I know I fall short and cannot claim to love as You love. Forgive me and fill me that I might be more like You. Amen.

How do I know God loves me?

Yesterday we heard a remarkable sermon based on James 2:1-9 about favoritism. The bottom line is that in the church and in the lives of Christians, the playing field is level. Our love for others must not be based on personal preference of any kind but on how God loves us.

Everyone knows what it is like to be judged unfairly, or to be the last one picked, or to be ignored. On a similar topic, Jesus said, “It shall not be so among you.”

John, often called the Apostle of Love, wrote it this way:

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” (1 John 4:7–12)

Obedience to this kind of love for others is based on knowing the love of God. We cannot see Him, but we can know Him. As Jesus also said, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

This knowing is not as easy to describe as in human relationships. Christians have sometimes categorized our love into “love languages” or activities that each of us experience that make us feel we are loved. For some it is communication — talking and listening. For some it is gifts, or touch. I’m tempted to apply those ‘evidences’ of love to God yet realize they will be unreliable. God is not always giving gifts or doing anything else the same as those actions that helps me experience human love. Sometimes He is silent and seems to not be listening. How then do I know He loves me?

The Gospel says the love of God was made manifest when He sent His Son to save us from our sin. This is a done deal. My hubby or my friends might need to tell me, or call me, or do something to remind me that they care, but God has done the ultimate. He answers prayer and sends the Holy Spirit to give and assurance to my heart, but the ultimate evidence of His love is Jesus Christ on the cross!

“. . . If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? 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 us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 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 us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31–39)

I cannot doubt the love of God when my focus is on His gift of Jesus. Thinking about Him and what He has done builds a response of loving Him. As Tozer writes, “Once the seeking heart finds God in personal experience there will be no further problem about loving Him. To know Him is to love Him and to know Him better is to love Him more.”

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Jesus, You gave Your life for me. Even though I am a selfish person who has resisted and doubted You, You gave Your life for me. None of what You have done depends on my worth or efforts. You did it because it is Your nature to love. On top of that, You hear and answer prayer and bless me with an abundant live and the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit. Your love is amazing and I am so grateful to know and love You.