Dearest,
Have you ever known someone who hated you? Imagine you had a roommate who has expressed their hatred for you — you would be in a constant state of unrest, fearing what evil plans this person may be hatching against you, perhaps to poison your meal, or smother your face with a pillow while you’re asleep. An awareness of a person’s hatred induces feelings of unrest and tension because you know they only desire to harm you.
An awareness of a person’s love is much more calming, but does not entirely free one from unrest. Everyday on social media, we see people express their anxiety about the fickleness and instability of human love: “what if this person wakes up one morning and decides they do not love me anymore?” , “people always leave.”
Isn’t it comforting to know, though, that God is so different from human beings? The Bible tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8) That is His nature, his essence.
And we entered into the rest of God, through faith in the finished works of Christ, because of God’s love for us. Every exposition on the saving and redemptive work of Christ, in the Bible, is always accompanied by a declaration of God’s love as the reason. What does the Bible tell us?
“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.” (John 3:16)
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” (Eph. 2:5-6)
“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” (1 John 4:9)
The sacrifice of Jesus is the greatest and fullest expression of God’s love for us. He loved humanity so much that He did not want us to remain in a state of spiritual death and separation from Him, and so He reconciled us to Himself by offering up His precious and beloved Son to make atonement for our sins. The Father adopted us as children because He loves us (1 John 3:1) Jesus willingly gave Himself for us because He loved us (Gal. 2:20)
YOU ARE SO DEEPLY LOVED BY GOD. Unlike an awareness of a human being’s love, the knowledge of the truth of God’s love for us should put us at complete rest and calmness because:
God’s love is uncaused and uninfluenced by anything in us. Unlike human love that is dependent on some quality of the beloved, God loves us because that is His nature, because it pleases Him to love us, not because of any quality we possess, not because we are so deserving. That is why Paul emphasises that He loved us “while we were yet sinners” — while we were unlovable, corrupt, impure. If nothing in us or nothing we did made God love us, nothing in us or nothing we do, can make Him stop loving us. Yes, your weaknesses and moral failures cannot make God stop loving you.
God’s love is unchanging. Because His very nature is unchanging, and there is no “variation or shadow of turning” with Him, it follows that His love is essentially unchanging. The intensity of human love rises and ebbs, sometimes subject to the lover’s moods and whims, sometimes subject to the beloved’s attitude and behaviour. But God’s love is constant and faithful. He loves us to the fullest and it can never diminish, regardless of what we do.
God’s love never ends. Human love ends, it fades away. But the love of an eternal God can only be eternal. And so he reassures us that, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” (Jer. 31:3)
God’s love always desires our good. Undoubtedly, to hate someone means you do not desire their well-being, and you seek to hurt or harm them somehow. And even when human beings love us, sometimes they still hurt us with their words or actions. But God’s love means that He not only desires our well-being but He works out our good. He blesses us and gives us good gifts freely and graciously. And we are at rest because we know He will not inflict harm or evil on us. This is why John says “there is no fear in love.”
The Lord is calling us to rest in His love. To put our faith in, and repose our trust in His unconditional, unchanging, faithful, unending, limitless, good and kind love. Many of us are not enjoying the rest Jesus has provided for us because we often doubt God’s love, especially when we experience hard, painful and unpleasant circumstances. We wonder, “how can God love me and allow me go through this? Does he not desire my good?”
We must understand that God is concerned, first and foremost, with our spiritual good and well-being. When the believer stands on God’s word through the Prophet Jeremiah that says the thoughts God has towards us are of good (NKJV says “peace”, ESV says “welfare”), and not of evil, to give us a future and a hope (Jer. 29:11), we must see it in the light of Christ and his finished works. Christ died for us so that we would not perish (evil) but would have eternal life (good), and our eternal destiny in heaven secured (future and a hope). So physical well-being, satisfied wants and material prosperity is not ultimately the proof of God’s love for us, but our spiritual well-being and spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. Again, the greatest and fullest expression of God’s love for us is seen in the sacrifice of Jesus. Arthur W. Pink says:
“Whenever you are tempted to doubt the love of God, Christian reader, go back to Calvary.”
Secondly, God is ultimately the determiner of what is for our “good”, not us. We are finite beings, limited in knowledge and understanding, but God knows what’s best for us. For instance, you may have failed to get a job you really desired, and this may cause you to doubt God’s love for you. But God in His love, may be saving you from a job that could later become a burden and source of pain, or a job that would stand in the way of your fellowship with Him. This same principle applies to God’s discipline. It is not to inflict pain on us (even when it appears so) but for our spiritual good, to conform us to the image of the Son. The discipline of God is done in love, and for our good. So the writer of Hebrews says:
“For they [earthly parents] disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:10, ESV)
These are tough times. Some of us may have fallen ill, lost loved ones, opportunities, jobs, money. And we may be tempted to doubt God’s love. But tough times are not evidence of the absence of God’s love even though the enemy wants you to think otherwise. Besides, Jesus and the apostles never told us that our life here on earth would be completely smooth and free from troubles, because we still live in a fallen world, and more importantly, the world and its ruler hates us. Jesus told us, though, that He has overcome the world (John 16:33), and we have overcome as well because we are in Him. This is the love of Christ - He has worked for us, that we may rest in Him.
The Apostle Paul understood this truth so well. He suffered so much adversity and trials, and yet He says:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?”
Not only are they not the evidence of the absence of Christ’s love, but they can never be the cause of the absence of Christ’s love. Hardship, trials, difficulties can never make Jesus stop loving us. Satan fires fiery darts of difficulty, hardship and afflictions to make us doubt and lose sight of the love of Christ for us. But Paul says, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us (Romans 8:37). We have complete victory over all these things because of Christ’s love for us.
Paul was absolutely sure of God’s love in Christ. A state of complete assurance is a state of rest, and this is God’s will for His children, that we enjoy rest in Him by trusting in and depending on His love for us. God loves you, and He is for you, fully and completely. He is on your side, He is working for your good. If He loved you when you were unsaved and only deserving of his wrath, how much more now that you’re saved, now that you’re His child and friend? Rest.
It is my prayer that the love of God becomes a reality, a lived experience for us, and not just some abstract concept or theological doctrine. I pray that we are “able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.”
As we meditate on these words, please listen to this beautiful song about the love of Christ by Bethel Music.
Enjoy rest in Jesus!
With love from,
Dunnie.