I have written so much about God’s love here in the last five years and I do not think I’d ever get tired of writing about God’s love for as much as I get more understanding. One of the posts I had shared about God’s love for me and you is on here.
But today I am writing to you about details of God’s love that have been impressed in my heart all week long – The tendency for you and me to quantify God’s love based on how much He chooses to bless us with material & physical things.
When I first came to Christ and began to understand Him, It was clear that I had missed out on a lot of things while I was outside of His flock. In those early weeks in 2016, I appreciated and still appreciate greatly what Jesus Christ did on the cross for me. I love how the Easy to read English version expresses it – Christ died for us when we were unable to help ourselves. We were living against God, but at just the right time Christ died for us. Very few people will die to save the life of someone else, even if it is for a good person. Someone might be willing to die for an especially good person. But Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by this God showed how much he loves us. – Romans 5:7-8
The impact of His death on that cross became so evident to me after my salvation in 2016. It was like the veil that was torn at the temple the day he died was also torn from my eyes again. Because I began to understand and discern more about God and His nature.
But over the years, I have noticed that sometimes I tend to label and tag God’s love for me based on the things and opportunities He has blessed me with. So what happens if He decides to withhold His hand of blessings from me? Does that mean He loves me any less? Absolutely not! The things he blesses us with gives us a glimpse of how much God loves and cares for us but that isn’t the entire picture.
I wonder if you feel like God doesn’t love you because He hasn’t given you certain things just yet or because you may be going through really challenging seasons. Well, He is telling you today that His love for you has been sealed, signed, and delivered to you a long long time ago. In Jeremiah 31:3 God spoke to His children(you and me) through the prophet Jeremiah. God said, “for a long time, I have loved you with a love that has no end” Perhaps English language experts may think differently, in my opinion, this is a past perfect tense. Therefore, God’s love is something that has happened and has been perfected regardless of whatsoever circumstances that may arise.
Another pointer to God’s already sealed love for us is in I John 4:9 – God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This verse also utilizes the past perfect tense.
To bring my last two paragraphs together, God loves you, period! There is absolutely nothing that you do, nothing you may go through, nothing that could happen to you that could change God’s mind about His love for you. He may frown at your sinful nature, He may hate the filth that you may indulge in but nothing, absolutely nothing can change His mind nor His love for you. “e don tey wey He love you!” nothing fit change am! – Romans 8:35-39
Now back to the measure of God’s love for us – We may lack the ability to fully quantify the full measure of God’s love. But the full measure of His love for us doesn’t lie in the material things that He blesses us or may bless us with. Those things are fickle and have limited value. God’s love never dies, it will remain till eternity. Therefore, a great measure if not the entirety of God’s love for us may be seen on the cross through Jesus Christ.
As I wrap up this blog post, do you know and agree with me that it is possible to know about someone’s love for you but refuse to experience or enjoy it; It’s like saying no to a marriage proposal. Declining a marriage proposal is refusing to let the other person show you how he or she can love you. In that light, it is possible to decline to experience God’s love in its fullness if we fail to:
- Say Yes to Jesus
- Fail to read His love letters to us ( the Holy bible)
My dear friend, quit fighting the marriage proposal Jesus keeps making to you. Over and over He expresses His love to you in so many creative ways. He loves you and wants you to experience all of His love for you, say yes to Him today.
And finally, to my dear friend who has already said yes to Christ and has tasted of His love but you tend to doubt His love for you because of circumstances around you. Be encouraged to renew your mind and thought through His word. Allow Him to refresh your memory of how deep His love for you goes through His word and your communion with Him
Please forgive me for being that guy, but as a former ESL teacher, I just can’t resist, especially because it matches your meaning: it’s actually present perfect tense! To be past perfect, it would have to have been “I had loved you,” implying that He no longer does. Present perfect is for actions that started in the past and are still ongoing (whether or not we’re referring to perfect love; I see what you did there and it was a clever pun). I’m certainly thankful that God’s love for you and me is still ongoing, even though I, for one, definitely deserve the past perfect version, instead!
More seriously, though, thank you for your article; I’ve been feeling like God must have tossed me aside many years ago because I never got healing or closure from childhood trauma; the people who did it to me seem to have been heaped over with wealth and happiness and success – and who but God gives good things, right? That disparity often makes me feel like God approved of what happened to me and wanted to reward them, or at least that He loves them and not me. But I’m still trying to believe that things aren’t always what they look like, and that you can’t measure God’s love by material or social success. Thank you very much for helping me with my struggle to get that through my thick, damaged skull. It really isn’t easy, so I’m sure that a lot of us need all the help we can get, especially those of us who weren’t raised with the concept of a gentle, loving, merciful God!
If all else fails, it’s always best to remember: “My kingdom is not of this world.”
Lol, thank you so much for taking the time to share your knowledge and expertise 🙂
It blessed my heart to know that this article was somewhat helpful to you. I pray that the good Lord continues to help you experience His love in Jesus name.
Love. I love you. God shows it and says it through the lips of others, too.
And we discern anyhow.
Putting love to action is how He cares.
Cheers!