Teaching tip 56 - God's unconditional love.
T.T. 56 - God's unconditional
love.
One of the hardest truths for both
children and adults to grasp is that of God's unconditional love for us. It is
natural to think that if we obey God, spend time worshipping Him, and are good
to others, He will love us more. Conversely, if we disobey Him, ignore Him, and
treat others badly, God will love us less. However, unlike our love for each
other which often changes, God's love for us is always at it's maximum. No
matter how good or bad we are, God's love will never increase or decrease. There
is nothing we can do to make Him love us any more or any less than He already
does.
The lyrics of an old song "More than
yesterday" say "I love you more than yesterday, and less than tomorrow." This
reminds us that human love can increase each day. But, if it can increase, it
can also decrease. Not so with God. He may like or dislike the things we do, but
His love for us cannot change. He cannot love us any more or any less than He
does today.
I once asked a group of children how
they knew that God loved them? I was expecting responses like "Because He sent
Jesus to die for me." But one ten year old girl gave a very insightful answer.
She said "I know God loves me because He made me. If he didn't love me, He
wouldn't have made me." How true that is. God loves all His creations
The amazing thing is that God loves
each one of us just as much as He loves His Son, Jesus. You may ask "But what
about the really "bad" people, the tyrants, terrorists, and mass murderers and
all the evil people that we read about in history. Does God love them just as
much?" Yes! "But most of them are dead now, does that mean that because God
loves them - despite what they did - they are now in heaven?" No! People don't
go to heaven because they are good, and they don't not go to heaven because they
are bad. They go to heaven or not depending solely on whether or not they have
accepted God's love by
receiving His love gift of Jesus Christ into their lives. (John 1 v. 12). The
behaviour of the tyrants etc. indicate that they have almost certainly refused
to accept God's love so, much as God still loves them and grieves over the fact
that they have rejected Him, I don't expect to meet them in
heaven.
Conclusion. Our Creator loves us, not because
we are lovable, but because "God is
love." (1 John 4 V. 8).
posted by Maurice Sweetsur @ 6:00 PM
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