God's Kind of Love

 

The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:

“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”

—Jeremiah 31:3

 

As a believer, have you sometimes asked these kinds of questions: Why does God love me? Why would He choose me? How could He forgive me? Most often, you ask these things when you need a revelation of God’s love. The enemy or your heart condemns you (1 John 3:21) saying you aren’t worthy of God’s love. Jesus saved you by His grace through faith. But because of feelings of unworthiness, instead of living by faith in God’s love, do you try to prove yourself worthy of His love? You don’t have to earn God’s love. Jesus gave it as a gift to you. 

 

We understand love in human terms. That is why we need a revelation of God’s love. 

 

Human love is conditional. It is fleeting, emotional, and easily offended. On the other hand, God's love is unconditional. It lasts and isn’t offended. His love never changes. God loves us with everlasting love and with loving kindness He draws us. That is God’s kind of love. Never failing you—never-ending, His love never gives up on you. It prevails. Even at times when you are faithless, He always remains faithful (2 Timothy 2:13).

 

God’s love isn’t earned. He doesn’t love you because of what you do for Him. He doesn't stop loving you when you fail to read a certain number of verses a day or fail to reach out to someone or fail to help in a certain area of ministry. His love isn’t based on your behavior. It isn’t based on your failures or even your accomplishments. 

 

“The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:5,8).

 

God’s love is based on His character (1 John 4:16). And His character is love. God is love. That is who He is, and He does nothing that goes against His nature of love. John, one of Jesus’ disciples, understood God’s love like no one else. He taught how God’s kind of love is a sacrificial choice expressed by Jesus in the gift of His life for us. 

 

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-17).

 

Really look at these verses. To whom did God send His love?  To whom did God reveal Himself? He didn’t just send His love to a certain nation. He didn’t just send His love to those worthy of His love. John says God loved the world. He loved the world that was worthy of condemnation. But because God so loved the world, He gave Himself—the very best He had to give.

 

Each of us has a mental picture of what love looks like. For a lot of us, our ideas of love have been distorted by what we have experienced in life or what we have allowed to influence us.  As a consequence, we see ourselves and God as two parties in a contractual agreement. If one breaks the contract, the other walks away. If we fail or sin, we see God leaving us. But God does not view our relationship with Him in this way! 

 

“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the one faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep His commandments” (Deuteronomy 7:9, NIV).

 

God makes covenants—not contracts. Jesus has given us a relationship with God. Our relationship with Him isn't a contractual agreement. God doesn’t love us when we prove our love to Him. He offers a relationship based on His covenant of love expressed on the cross. When God saw His creation helplessly bound by Adam’s sin, He came to us to do what we couldn’t. The Creator willingly came down from His throne to rescue us. He suffered as no one has ever suffered to prove the height, depth, and breadth of His love (John 15:13). Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the law and opened the way for a covenant relationship with God. Through the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins, God’s love absolutely destroyed what kept us separated from Him. 

 

This is how we know what true love is. Jesus laid down His life for us (John 3:16). 

 

God is motivated by love. Understanding His unconditional love gives us the faith to cast our cares on Him when things in life come against us. Our lives don't have to be a roller coaster of feelings and fearful thoughts. The love of God overcomes everything. His love is greater than our past, greater than our present, greater than any diagnosis, and greater than any unexpected problem or sudden need. It is greater than what lies ahead. Because of all the love God has for us, we can trust Him in everything and with everything. We have no need in Him. We lack nothing in the height, depth, and breadth of His love.

 

“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 8:32)?

 

Any need we have is infinitely inferior to the need we had for a Savior. That was what the unconditional love of God accomplished in giving His own Son as the sacrifice for our debt. If God loved us enough to pay that great price, there should be no doubt that our heavenly Father loves us, and we can trust Him to take care of us. We can trust that His love that died for us is more than willing to meet our needs. 

 

You don’t need to ever question God’s love for you. He remains faithful. He cannot deny His love poured out for you. He will never break His covenant of grace with you or change what He has promised.

 

“My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips” (Psalm 89:34).

 

God—is—love.

 

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