22 August 2022
Love is bound up into the very nature of the Trinity. God cannot be God without love, because God is love. And the biblical storyline, in essence, is the story of love – the love of the Father for the Son, the love of God for the World, the love of God for His own chosen people and even the love of God for sinners.
However, it is very easy for us as believers to think that God and His love must revolve around us and our problems, and we continue to evaluate His love based on how we feel He is doing at loving us. But note that God’s love was perfect before we ever arrived on the scene, and it will remain perfect long after we leave. The eternal and prior love of the Father and the Son for each other reminds us that at the end of the day, life and love is not about us. Though God’s love for us is real, it is also derivative, an overflow of the love within the Trinity itself.
God loves the World. Firstly, He loves creation, the work of His hands (Prov. 8). Secondly, God loves rebellious humanity (Jn. 3:16). Jesus is the display and demonstration of God’s love for sinners. If anyone wants to know God’s love, lhe must know Jesus.
We need to ask ourselves as Christians whether we love the world the way God loves the world, or do we love the world the way the world wants to be loved. One leads to the world’s salvation; the other leads to its destruction.
God is not like us; we love people who deserve to be loved. But not God – His love is free, unconditional and we cannot earn it – we can only receive it by faith in Christ Jesus. The real need for sinners is forgiveness – in Christ, God loves sinners.
God not only loves the world; He loves His people and He makes a distinction between people and then places His love on the ones He has chosen. The biblical term for God’s love for His people is election, the language of choosing. Various ones may recoil at this word and it seems to make God unfair and unloving. In the Bible, to be chosen is the very nature of what it means to be loved by God, in the same way a man loves a woman by choosing her.
God’ love in Christ is changing us to be like Christ. When we are tempted to question God’s love in the perplexing and disturbing circumstances in our lives, remember that the perfection of God’s love for us is not measured by how well He is managing our agenda for life. No, the perfection of God’s love for us is seen in the goal He has set for our life, and that goal is nothing less than likeness to the Son He loves. As believers, we are adopted to be children of God and certainly, God desires His children to be like His Son. God loves us, because ultimately God loves His Son. There is nothing that He desires more than lto display His glory in and through His Son, which He accomplishes through our salvation.
The Bible’s story is a story of love: we see that a holy God chose to love an unholy people at the incalculable price of the life of the Son whom He has loved from all eternity. He did this so that He might transform an unlovely people into a radiantly beautiful bride for that Son.
Our salvation is not finally about us. Our salvation is finally about the display of God’s glory in this eternal love of Father for Son and Son for Father, as each tries to outdo the other in love. To our eternal joy and happiness, the good news is that our lives can be caught up in that incredible story of love!