A Matter of Perspective
Remember that God is Spirit - Christ has a body in his man
nature, but He shares in the Spirit perfectly within the Trinity - His divine
nature is not confined to physicality.
Jesus, then, is everywhere (Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Father are all Omnipresent):
Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them. HSCB
Since Christ is everywhere, not confined in space or time,
all powerful, and unchanging and perfect in holiness and all knowing - that
means His definition of love is probably different than our definition of
love.
He can say "love your enemies" and mean it in a
way we cannot easily understand.
God never has regrets, or despairs, He doesn't wish
something had happened a different way in the normal emotional sense we
have. Since God claims to have the
nature of "Love", and this love cannot be altered by events in the
past or the future, this should give us a great deal of confidence in His promises. Remember Paul's wonderful praise to God of
His Love:
Romans 8:35-39 Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, suffering, and hard times, or hunger and nakedness, or danger and death? It is exactly as the Scriptures say, “For you we face death all day long. We are like sheep on their way to be butchered.”
In everything we have won more than a victory because of Christ who loves us. I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love—not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord! HSCB
Since God is perfect: He is Light - He has no deception -
When He promises He loves us, there is not anything that can stop it. He cannot be wrong, He cannot be mistaken,
and He won't change His mind due to circumstances.
1 John 1:5 Jesus told us that God is light and
doesn’t have any darkness in him. Now we are telling you. HSCB
Love is a Gift
Since He loved us as sinners; and we could not be with Him
because our relationship with Him was damaged due to sin: God fixed the problem. When people choose not to accept that free
gift that allows us to have a relationship with God again, it further proves
that God is Love by not forcing those people into accepting His gift. He wishes all would come and accept that
gift so that He can spend eternity with us; but He won't force people to be
with Him if they don't want to.
In some
ways this is hard to understand but is the truest kind of love to allow someone
to be free of your control. Those who
accept Jesus' sacrifice understand that God was willing to do everything in His
Power to be with us; He loves us so much He wants to be with us forever. But if we are sin-stained He cannot be with
us: even if there was a way to be near Him, until sin is removed, we cannot
share in the real relationship with Him that He created us for. It would be like living with someone you
deeply love, but are separated by a wall you cannot remove. Sin is that wall, and Jesus tore it down so
we could be with Him.
Now, back here on Earth things seem tough sometimes. To have
this pure relationship with God he must sometimes discipline us. We are, after all, His disciples. What He wishes for us in eternity requires
that we mature spiritually so that we may fully appreciate Him. You wouldn't want to be married to a
baby! God wants us to be mature so we
can share in the deepest kind of relationship as a spiritually mature person --
and the closest thing on Earth we have as an example to that relationship is
marriage. The writer of Hebrews
explains:
Hebrews 12:6-11 The Lord corrects the people he loves and
disciplines those he calls his
own.” Be patient when you are being
corrected! This is how God treats his children. Don’t all parents correct their
children? God corrects all of his
children, and if he doesn’t correct you, then you don’t really belong to
him. Our earthly fathers correct us, and
we still respect them. Isn’t it even better to be given true life by letting
our spiritual Father correct us? Our
human fathers correct us for a short time, and they do it as they think best.
But God corrects us for our own good, because he wants us to be holy, as he is.
It is never fun to be corrected. In fact, at the time it is always painful. But
if we learn to obey by being corrected, we will do right and live at peace. HSCB
God teaches us lessons here on Earth by being children, and
some become parents. We learn and mature
and grow and become more like Christ.
Why become like Christ? Because
Christ and the Father and the Holy Spirit are in perfect harmony and have
perfect love for each other. God wants
us to join in that perfect harmony and holiness and joy and love.
God Showed Us What Love "Looks Like"
God also understands how hard it is for us on Earth. Jesus came and became a man and endured all
the trials we do. He showed perfect love
all the way to dying on the cross for us -- so now our job is to accept that
love, and practice getting good at it here for a while before we enjoy it in
heaver forever.
God's love is good, and it has a purpose. The result is our
salvation and glory forever.
2 Thessalonians 2:13 My friends, the Lord loves you, and it is only
natural for us to thank God for you. God chose you to be the first ones
to be saved. His Spirit made you holy, and you put your faith in the truth. HSCB
and remember.... He chose you first.
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Scripture citations are from: Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) © 2009 Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville TN
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