Sometimes as we go through life, we can begin to lose sight of God or question and doubt His love for us. We can become mired in erroneous thinking that God loves somebody else more than He loves us, which the Bible says is certainly untrue (Galatians 2:6). Circumstances in life can be very unfair, but our God remains the same as He has always been, which is love (1 John 4:8). God is love, He defines love, He does loving things, and He cannot do any unloving things. God’s very character, nature, makeup, and personality is love.
The wonderful news is that God doesn’t just keep His love to Himself, but He demonstrates it to the world. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God spared nothing by giving us the most special and beloved gift which He could give, His Son, and He sent Him to a world which didn’t deserve such a gift. We were sinners, not looking or even desiring to love God or even be loved by Him because we loved our sin and our own selfish ways. Yet God initiated love because love is Who He is; His own nature compelled Him to give us Jesus. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
God made man because He loved man and He wanted to have a relationship with man. Yet because of sin, man’s only hope at being restored to fellowship with God was for a ransom to be paid. God demanded holiness, and we failed to measure up. Thus, God sent His perfect Son to live a perfect life and die in our place as a perfect sacrifice. Thus, as we repent of our sins and trust in Christ’s work on the cross, we can be saved, forgiven, and free to enjoy a relationship with God forever. God loved the world so much that He gave up His Son to utter humiliation, even forsaking Him because of our sin which was placed upon Him (Mark 15:34), so that we could be received by Him (John 1:12-13). God has indeed demonstrated perfect and pure love beyond compare. We have never been loved like this, and only God can love us so perfectly. Only in knowing Him can we find perfect, grace-filled, redeeming, and restoring love. If and when we doubt God’s love, we need only consider the cross.
But the love of God doesn’t end here, for He keeps on giving good and perfect gifts. James 1:17 says, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” He hasn’t changed, for the same God Who did not spare His own Son is the same God we serve today. As Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” Thus, God’s love is not only demonstrated in the cross, though the cross sufficiently proves His love, but it is also manifested in the good and perfect blessings which He gives us in this life.
Yet let us not become so absorbed with this life such that we forget that the greatest gifts are yet to come in eternity. At that point, we will experience release from all pain, sorrow, and the burdens and troubles of this world (Revelation 21:4). The coming of Christ will bring with it an end to persecution, strife, struggles against sin, and every kind of hurt and betrayal. Relationships will be perfect, and we will see our Savior face to face. There we will worship Him, and He will bestow upon us the crown of life (James 1:12, Revelation 2:20) and all the rewards and honor due us (2 Corinthians 5:10).
The best is yet to come because Jesus is coming back, and we who have been redeemed will go to Him. Soon, and very soon, we will be able to enjoy the perfect Lover of our souls, the One Who alone is good, perfect, and the very definition of love. There, forever, we will bathe and bask in the overwhelming, wonderful, and boundless love of God.
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The Good News