I toss around the word “love” almost as much as I use the word “hello”. At the end of a text, I answer a friend, “Love you!” I tell my kids, “I love chocolate.” I answer someone, “I’d love to.”
The word “love”, because it is used so often, can get commonplace and familiar, much like my relationship with my husband can get if I’m not careful… Why does this happen? My relationship can get commonplace because I know my husband well. I see him so often. I know how he talks. With this, it is easier to take the greatness of his strengths and his personality for granted. I’m used to him. He’s ordinary.
What is ordinary tends to get overlooked.
With this, recently, I wondered if God’s love had grown ordinary. If it had just become a buzzword? Had this central point become background noise? Something that sounds good, but now rings hollow?
While reflecting, I considered all the testing of trials and tribulations I walked through recently. It’s been so hard, my friends. Of course, I know God has grown me in maturity. I know He is making me into a faithful overcomer. I understand that I am becoming more into the image of Christ Jesus, through the sanctification process. But do I really know that God loves me and has good things for me?
Maybe in all the trials, I have forgotten the triumph of His love for me on the cross. Maybe in the fog of war, I have begun to doubt the goodness and the love of God. Maybe, I’m not alone either. Maybe you are there today, too.
“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8 (ESV, emphasis mine)
Scripture tells us: God is love. Just as my eyes are hazel, God’s solid-rock character is love. It is firm. It is not changing. It is everlasting. It is firmer than any foundation I can see or walk on – on Earth. It is always there for me.
Jesus loved me more than life itself when He laid down His life for me. This is the heart-gripping reality that I return to as I think of: who. God. Is.
He loves me that much.
God is not loving one day and furious the next.
God is not distant when I’m bad and close, maybe, if I am good.
God is not withdrawing affection because of my distraction.
Scripture tells us, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NIV)
If this scripture is a standard of love, then it is the standard by which God – is! Why?
Because God, and all the fullness of His character, is love! This means: God is patient with me. God is kind to me. God is not easily angered at me. God is not keeping a record of wrongs when I repent. God always trusts and hopes in me.
Because God, and all the fullness of His character, is love! This means: God is patient with me. God is kind to me. God is not easily angered at me. God is not keeping a record of wrongs when I repent. God always trusts and hopes in me.
I am not loved because I am good; I am loved because Jesus was completely good and by His imputed righteousness, He made me good. Phew. This changes things.
This means God’s love relates to me differently. In this, God is not a daisy-petal picker. He doesn’t say one day, “I love her,” and the next, “I love her not.” He’s not easily wavered about me. He is not thrown off by a bad moment I have. He is not tossing me out because I missed my bible reading. He is not perpetually offended at me because I worried yesterday.
His love is kind, forgiving, and welcoming. His grace is enough to call my heart close to His as I sit on His proverbial lap. What a friend we have in Jesus!
God’s love is so big it is inescapable. God’s love is too big to fail or for us to fall out of. Because of the sacrificial work Jesus accomplished on the cross and because God so loved the world, the lengths, the depths, the widths, and the heights of God’s love are a distance we can never walk out of.
Friend, whatever you are going through, whatever battle you are facing, whatever mountain looks unscalable, God’s love – the never-changing DNA of His love – will help you.Why? Because “Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:8, NIV)
Author Info
Kelly Balarie
Kelly Balarie, author (Battle Ready, Rest Now, Take Every Thought Captive), speaker, and blogger, delights in joining hands with women as they go through life’s ups and downs. To see God move to revive hearts, to restore relationships, and to bring hope to weary souls highlight moments for Kelly. Beyond this, Kelly has led spiritual growth Bible study groups and has been seen on TODAY, The 700 Club, Crosswalk.com, iBelieve.com, and (in)courage. Her work has also been featured by Relevant and Today’s Christian Woman. She lives with her husband and two kiddos on the East Coast.
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