1 John 4:8–9; 16 – 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.
16 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.
THEME OF THE DAY: LOVED WITH AN EVERLASTING LOVE. Christianity is a message of love; pure love. It is not like human love. It isn’t like the following story . . . A young man and woman were “madly” in love. They talked about their long lives together and told each other often of their “unwavering love” for one another. One day, the young lady gave her boyfriend a picture of herself. On the back she wrote the following note, “To the love of my life, I will love you forever, but in case we break up, I want my picture back.” So much for “unwavering” and “madly” in love! It was more self-centered, self-serving, and anything but forever. And when it comes to human love, no matter what the relationship, there will always be a tainted element in it. We will always, even in the most intimate of human relationships, have a little selfishness in us that taints our love. Yes, even in the sacred institution of marriage. Remember, when two people get married, it is two sinners saying, “I do”, not two perfect human beings. And the two places we really see the total depravity of humans? In our marriages and in raising “little sinners”, i.e., our children. It is not so in our relationship with the God who is love.
In today’s scripture, the phrase “God is love” appears twice. It isn’t that God loves, but that God is love. Every expression and act of Him comes from His loving nature. Yes, even His execution of wrath upon the wicked is an expression of love; a love for His glory that the ungodly slander and trample every day. But for Christians, we are the objects of God’s unwavering and everlasting love both in this life and for all eternity. And there is no greater place to rest than in the heart of our God who is love. With that statement, let’s consider two times we need especially to rest in God’s love.
First, we need the rest found in the heart of God’s love when we fall into sin. Always remember, the God who is love is the God who forgives, not sometimes, not with a quota, but always, every time we run back to Him in confession and repentance (1 John 1:9). Ponder these words of spiritual rest, calming the guilty soul, that came from the God who is love to a woman caught in the exposing sin of adultery and then exposed to public humiliation because of the sin – “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more” (John 8:11). Friends, when we sin, don’t sin more by questioning the restoring love of God. Don’t let unbelief compound our sin by questioning the God who is love who promised to forgive and restore our souls if we will return to Him.
Next, we need the rest found in the heart of God’s love when we feel the pain of betrayal, disappointment, and hurt by others, especially fellow Christians. Few things hurt as bad as those we once trusted, and enjoyed spiritual oneness together in the Gospel, turn from us becoming agents of hurt by abandon, unkind words or coldness in the relationship. I believe the greatest damage done to the witness for the Lord Jesus to an unsaved world is the disunity and lack of love displayed among God’s people among each other in our churches. It is not so with the God who is love. He will not grow weary in our many failings; He will not abandon us over our sinful folly; and He will not stop loving us despite our times of indifference toward Him. Take some time and read the restoration of Peter in John 21. Peter sinned mightily in denying the Lord, yet, Jesus doesn’t condemn Him, toss him aside as worthless, or say in a scolding manner, “You should have listened to me. I told you this would happen.” No, He loved him with an everlasting and restoring love because He is love.
We are a chosen people; chosen by love, by a God who is love and with a love that is everlasting, unwavering, and will never alter despite ourselves.
PRAYER: “Father, I so praise You for not only loving me, but being love, never wavering.”
QUOTE: “Rest in God’s nature of love when it is hard to see His hand of love in trying times.”