The Love God has for us is not an emotion but is in fact the essence of who God is. The death of Christ is the indisputable sign - the proof, as Paul put it - that shouts to us, “God loves you! God loves you!! Look at what He did for you! He did for you! What more could God have done to show you how much He loves you!”
Not only is this divine love not an emotion; it is also not something we can merit. Our world functions on a system of rewards and punishments. If we do well, we are rewarded and we feel loved. If we fail we are punished and we feel unloved. But the love of God is not something that is contingent on what we do. It is constant. Unfortunately, many Christians are desperately trying to earn a love they already possess and are fearful of forfeiting a love they can never lose. This whole system has to be unlearned.
Jesus understood this, and therefore he told a number of parables to help us- or rather, shock us - into grasping it. He spoke of laborers who worked different hours but got the same pay, of a selfish son who took off with Dad’s money and blew it only to come home to a party. Jesus welcomed harlots and ate with sinners. The rain falls on the just and the unjust and so does the love of God and to our understanding it all seems unfair. That is because this love is truly a love of another kind.”
From “An Arrow Pointing to Heaven” (also, quotes below)
This, THIS, is my desperate desire for my life in this place, to show this love of a truly different kind. How can I shock this culture into realizing that I don’t come to heal the healthy but to love health into the sick. How can they grasp that I don’t come to reward the good but to bless those who are clearly “bad”. God loves me passionately, furiously, recklessly - and I am one BIG sinner. He loves others the same way. Please pray for me to have opportunities to show a big love to people who don’t expect it, to shock this culture with God’s love.
“When we don’t feel loved, we will look desperately for acceptance. And every attempt to find this acceptance in anything but God will eventually fail, and we will either have to deny the pain and try to ignore it or medicate it with a drink or a pill. But we must have it. The human soul cannot endure to be unloved.”
If you are desperate for acceptance, look to Him. He has already died for you. He is holding out full hands to you, hands with all you need. Won’t you hold out your empty ones to Him and accept His gift? God’s love is not contingent on anything, it is not remotely unsafe. It offers all and provides all and takes nothing. Faith, my friend. Open those hands to Him, admit that they’re empty, that you have nothing worthwhile to offer, and let Him take all that He designed you to be and make it new and fill your hands with so much both for you and for others. I’ll be praying.
“Let me tell you this, God will never give up on you. He will never stop loving you. That love is a reality, no matter what you do or don’t do. God does not call us to be angels, he calls us to His and to be who we are in Him.”