“He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love.”

True love for God and other people is the defining feature of our Christian life. It is the outward sign that we belong to the household of faith, that we regard God first and top priority in our life and serve others also.

God is love. He is love in His nature and all His practice. Love for righteousness and justice are the foundations of His throne and all evil will be dealt with by Him. Everything God does is love and He has demonstrated the greatest witness to that love. He has sent His dearest Son, who is with Him through all the eternal ages, to pay a dreadful price for those who are His enemies. He has given up all, that sinful people, creatures that He has made and have rebelled, might find peace with Him, and experience that love for themselves. This is the pattern of the love of God.

God is accused by unbelievers of all kinds of cruelty and unloving deeds. He is blamed for sorrow, pain, disappointment and death, and we easily and conveniently forget the state of our sinful hearts and ways, indeed to accuse God of misdeeds or wrong judgment condemns us to rank rebellion and blasphemy. We imagine we have the right to all good things, and we refuse to accept our deserving of death and hell. Therefore when things go wrong for us, we immediately assign it to God.

God allows much disappointment and suffering, but this should lead us to His mercy, if our hearts are right with Him and we are humble enough to accept our position before Him. The truth is that we do not deserve our life, nor any good thing in it. Our life is a gift from God and He will require fruit from our life in the end. We live in a world that propagates the idea that we have rights and deservings, and in human society we do have rights and privileges, but before a holy God we have nothing at all!

“God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers, backbites, hateful to God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful;”

Romans 1:28-31

This is God’s view of us as a race of His creatures. It is not the same as we think of ourselves, for we flatter ourselves that we are not as bad as others we see. God sees all our heart and all our intentions and He is not impressed. Yet still, He bears with us, gives us life and undeserved blessings and holds out the offer of free and full pardon for all our misdeeds. Still we do not respond. We excuse ourselves, fail to see our great need because of our own corruptions, and rebelliously think we can please Him by our efforts. God will have none of it. He requires holiness and obedience, which are two states opposed to our natural state, and therefore uncomfortable to us. The bottom line is that we don’t want Him, no matter how loving and kind He is to us, we refuse to see His work in our life.

God will try to attract our attention by sending troubles of various sorts, to try to impress on us our vulnerability and need of Him. Many still resist Him and accuse the Lord of injustice and unkindness. The love of God stands firm, and the softened heart responds in seeking the Lord and finding forgiveness and a new life in Christ. God expresses His love in the salvation of souls and brings them into His family as friends. He delights to turn us around and convert our souls to Himself. He will lovingly lead His people and bring them safe to the heavenly kingdom. Gods love extends to the least and the lowest and can lift us up our of our misery and grief by His amazing grace. The grace of God is the practical outworking of that mighty love which we must not ignore. Without the love of God there is really no love at all. All who are the recipients of it are deeply blessed.

“But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8