The Depth of Love

Verse of the day: Judges 10:16, So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD. And His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel.

There is a popular verse that is often quoted, but I believe that many of us, yes, even born again believers, do not truly understand the depth of the verse. The verse I speak of is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Many of us tell everyone else about God’s love, and we stress that God expressed that love in giving His only begotten Son, but in our own lives we fail to demonstrate that this love also applies to us. This is what I mean... At some point in our lives, we too believed that Jesus was sent to die for us because God loves us. We accepted His gift of eternal life, and we began to walk with Him. Somewhere along the way, we stumbled, we sinned, we fell, and this is when our belief that God loves us was tested. In this passage, once again, Israel has sinned against God in one of the worst ways we can sin against Him, by worshipping other gods. Israel suffered oppression as a result of their sin. When they turned back to God, He did not immediately release them from their oppression, but called them out on what they had done. Was this hatred toward Israel for what they did against Him? On the contrary! This was God’s love for Israel in action. Yes, His love. His love will lead Him to discipline those who are His. His love will allow them to suffer so that they will put their eyes back on Him, forsake their idols, and turn back to serving Him. In verse 16, His love is proven in that it shows His great desire for them not to suffer. So it is with us. We are God’s children. When we sin, regardless of how heinous we may classify the sin, God’s love never wavers. On the contrary, God will take the necessary action in our lives in order to bring us back to Him, and that action may result in great suffering. Hebrews 12:5-8 tells us, “And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.’ 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.” Just like Israel, who suffered to the extent that it finally turned them around, God’s discipline in our lives will ultimately have the same affect if we accept it for what it is…God’s love for us. Hebrews 12:11 states it this way, “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” It is so easy for us to accept God’s love when we are doing what is right in His sight. Yet, we measure His love, quite often, by the way we are treated by other people, especially by the way we are treated by other Christians who are supposed to be our brothers and sisters in Christ, and supposed to love us. I will say this about that…God is not like our brothers and sisters in Christ. God’s love is unlike anything we will experience from anyone else. God’s love is truly unconditional. However, I will also say that His unconditional love does not come with a license for us to sin freely. Salvation may have come free to us, but it cost the Father His Son. That is a price that we should all cherish. God’s love is the reason that He uses His goodness to bring us to repentance (Romans 2:4), even if that goodness comes in the form of discipline. If God gave us His Son because He loves us, why would He then withdraw His love after such a precious price was paid with the Blood of Christ? I will close with this reminder in Romans 8:32, “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?” If you are far from God because of some sin you have been holding on to, and have been feeling the Spirit’s conviction about it, but have not turned back to Him because your guilt and the devils are telling you that God no longer loves you…stop believing the lie. God can no longer endure your misery and wants you to turn back to Him. Do it today. Do it now.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).