(Note: This blog is a follow up to my entry from Feb. 24 concerning the believer's identity as a child of the Father and promises He has made to His children. Upcoming blogs will address more promises the Father has made to His children.)
The promise of our Father’s
love.
What
kind of love is this love that our heavenly Father has for us?
First, it is a steadfast love.
According
to Webster’s dictionary the first definition of ‘steadfast’ is:
a : firmly fixed in place ; b :
not subject to change
The
Old Testament is full of references to God’s steadfast love for His people. Here
are just a few examples.
Psalm 13:5 But I have
trusted in your steadfast love; my
heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
Psalm 31:7 I will
rejoice and be glad in your steadfast
love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of
my soul…
Psalm 36:5 Your steadfast
love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
Isaiah 54:10 For the mountains may depart and the hills
be removed, but my steadfast love
shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,"
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
Jeremiah 9:24 … let him who boasts boast in this, that he
understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in
these things I delight, declares the LORD."
Joel 2:13
…rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the LORD your
God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over
disaster.
Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not
retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.
The
New Testament does not use the word steadfast. Instead, the Greek (the original
language of the New Testament) gives us three ways to understand the word
‘love’. They are eros, which is
intimate, husband – wife love; philos which
is the love of a friend; and agape
which is faithful, unconditional love. It is the third understanding that is
the equivalent to steadfast love. The apostle Paul talks about this love this
way;
“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 8:38,39
Isn’t wonderful that our Heavenly
Father loves us even when we are difficult to love. In fact, in another place
Paul says that “while we were still sinners Christ died for us” and yet another
place“… if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.”
Beyond
the steadfast love of the Father we experience His proven love. Paul says in Romans 5:8;
“…but God
shows (proves) his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died
for us.”
The apostle
John puts it this way;
"For God so loved the world, that he gave
his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal
life.” John 3:16
There’s an
old story about Ole and Lena. After several years of marriage Lena approached
Ole and said with sadness in her voice, “Ole, you never tell me you love me.”
Ole, sensing the concern in Lena’s voice Ole replied, “Lena, do you remember
when I told you how much I loved you on our wedding day?” “Yes” Lena replied.
“Well, when it changes I’ll let you know.” It’s important to tell those we love
that we love them. It is even more to prove it. Taking out the garbage often proves
love better than giving a dozen roses and saying, “I love you”. When God said that He loved the world He proved
it by sending His one and only beloved son to take upon himself the punishment
of all the sin of the world for all time. But that’s not the only thing that
proves God’s love. Not only does He prove His love by, through Jesus, removing
the punishment we deserve. He also freed us from the chains of sin, gave us new
and eternal life. With this He adopts us as His sons and daughters which makes
heirs to His kingdom and therefore elevates us from slaves of sin to princes
and princesses in His kingdom. That’s a proven love!
Finally we
experience a love that motivates.
Paul says
in his letter to the Church in and around Ephesus; “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.”
(Ephesians 5:1)
There was a
time when I understood this verse as something I had to measure up to. I preached
as though we had to work hard at trying to imitate God by either doing or avoiding
the things laid out in verses two and following. One day as I was reading this
text the phrase “…as beloved children” jumped off the page and had an entirely
new understanding of this passage. Every
Father gets at least a little choked up when his young son says to him, “daddy,
when I grow up I want to be just like you.” This is what I believe Paul is
getting in this verse. He is saying that as we realize how much God really
loves us, we will all the more desire to imitate Him.
The apostle
John says it this way, “We love because he first loved us.” (1John 4:19)
The truly loving things we do are not done because generate the kind of
love God has out of our own will and effort. We can only love the world around
us with the kind of love God has, and in fact is, when we have experienced this
love for ourselves. All the ought to’s we can shame ourselves with will not
motivate us like resting in the realization of the Father’s great love for us.