God’s Unchanging Love
“Nothing living or dead, angelic or
demonic, today or tomorrow, thinkable or unthinkable, absolutely nothing can
get between us and God’s love.” Romans 8:38
Fancy terms in the Bible are often used
to describe God. Immutability is one of
them to describe His unchanging nature. That means He’s always been the same, He is the same, and
He will always be the same. We have
many verses to remind us of that idea.
Malachi
3:6 says, “I, the Lord, do
not change?”
Hebrews
13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is
the same yesterday, today and forever.”
It’s important to ask why He doesn’t
change. Is it that He can’t? Is it that He doesn’t want to? Is it that He’s stuck in His ways? The reason
that God doesn’t change is that He is perfect.
Unlike what some people would like you to believe, we are not, and God
is not, in a constant process of evolution.
He started out a perfect God, He is a perfect God, and He will always be
a perfect God. The Bible says, “The One
who was, and is, and is to come.” Or as one commercial says, “You can’t improve
on perfection.”
But
another important thought about the unchanging nature of God is that our
perfect God extends to us a perfect love.
Jeremiah
31:3 says, “I have loved you
with an everlasting love.”
You were created as an object of God’s
love and you were made to be loved by God. Do you want to
know why you’re here on earth? People give all kinds of answers to that
question. Money? Fun? Pleasure? Work? Friendships?
No, none of these are most important. The Bible says, “God is love,” and He
made you to love Him. God’s love toward
you is a non-stop flight.
Unchanging. Eternal.
Consistent. God doesn’t get moody. The reason that is great news is because His
love is consistent when I’m not. God
loves me just as much on my good days as on my bad days. He loves me when I feel it. He loves me when I don’t feel it. He loves me when I’m close to Him and when
I’m far from Him. His love isn’t based
on my performance. His love is based on
His character.
In C.S. Lewis book, “Four Loves,” he describes the different types of love that exist. God
wants us to live at the highest level.
These loves include:
1.
Storge love which is superficial love.
2.
Eros love which is physical love often seen in the word “erotic.”
3.
Phileo love which is a conditional love also seen in the word “Philadelphia”
or the “city of Brotherly love.”
4.
Agape love which is the unconditional love of God toward us.
God, on
the other hand, is not like us at all. Psalm 119:159 says, “Your love never
changes.” In the midst of changing times, God’s love is unchanging. God’s
love is revealed as unconditional. There
is nothing that can ever stop Him from loving us. We are reminded of that truth in many
places. Romans 8:38
says, “Nothing living or dead, angelic or
demonic, today or tomorrow, thinkable or unthinkable, absolutely nothing can
get between us and God’s love.” God’s love never changes. You’ll never be loved by God more than this
very moment. You’ll never be loved by
God less than this very moment.
God’s
unconditional love can have one of two effects on us.
First it can cause us to excuse
ourselves and live in greater sin. Paul writes in Romans 6:1,
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on
sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we
live in it any longer?” Many Christians live their lives in this immature
way. I can sin all I want to. God is going to forgive me anyway. Forget
that sin is an enslaver and it will lead you into a web.
Second it can motivate us to greater service
and love. Paul
says in 2 Corinthians 5:14,
15 says, “For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died
for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live
should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was
raised again.” It changes my thinking about everything
When we
understand His love, it begins to change our way of serving. You
can usually tell a person’s perspective of God by how they live. Some see God as rigid so they act rigid
around Him. God’s love is a great rock
to stand on regardless of the challenges we face.
As a
church, we want to always extend that love to others. We
are in the life changing business…and don’t ever let us forget that. But it all is based in His love for us. 2 Corinthians 5:20 says, “We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His
appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.”
What are we reconciling people to?
In essence, God’s love is so great
that it will always be revealed in your life. And that is
something that will never change.
Terry Risser
Reflections:
1) How does God’s unchanging love make you feel?
2) Has there ever been a time where you felt God
didn’t love you?
Consider reading the Word today:
Copyright 2014- Terry
Risser
No comments:
Post a Comment