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Love - The Great Commandment Part 2: A Question for Jesus
Verse for Today
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39
Reflection
In order to follow the two greatest commandments, loving God and loving others, we must first understand God’s love for us. Again, the beloved Apostle John informs us, saying in Chapter 4 of his First Epistle, “We love him, because he first loved us.” God loved us first, and from that love flows love for Him and His people.
The love God has for us is hard to fathom since we are so undeserving of it. God’s “agape” for us is so undeserving that we often don’t believe it. How could the God of the universe love such a sinner?
Remember, God’s very being is love, so loving us is all about who God is and not at all about who we are.
The proof of God’s love for us is in His words and actions. A person who loves you will not just say it, but will demonstrate it through consistent, loving actions.
Likewise with God, who through His word tells of his great love for His people while demonstrating it in countless ways:
- God’s love for us is sacrificial. A person who loves you will make sacrifices for you, laying down their own needs and desires in favor of yours. How much more does God sacrifice for us! He needs nothing from us yet gives us all we need out of His great love toward us. Our greatest need is for Him, and He is more than enough.
- God’s love for us is not dependent on our goodness. Paul tells us in Romans, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Christ died for sinners, not for good people who have it all together.
- This is the ultimate proof of God’s love, that He would sacrifice His only son to die in the place of undeserving sinners like you and me.
- Nothing can separate us from God’s love. How can Paul be so certain of this idea he so poetically professes at the end of Romans 8? Is there really nothing that would cause God to retract His love and separate us from it?
Paul, as the most undeserving of sinners, experienced the love of God on the road to Damascus and had no doubt about the abiding love of God. He knew how undeserving of it he was and how lavishly God had poured it out on him anyway. No, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Prayer
Loving Father, I can only love because you first loved me. The two great commandments Jesus gave, to love you and love my neighbor, are impossible for me to follow without first experiencing your love. You love me, so now I am able to follow those commandments. Thank you for this truth.
I confess that I have a hard time wrapping my mind and my heart around your love for me. When I think of the depths of my sinful heart and the disobedient actions that flow from it, I cannot imagine that you would still love me. I am so undeserving of your love, and I need faith to believe it.
Your word declares your love for me. All over the scriptures I find words that declare your love for me. Thank you for these words, for your word is truth. Please help me to believe it.
Your actions prove your love for me. Every good gift I have here on earth is from you, lavished upon me out of your great love for me. You have given me far more than I deserve: health, a home, a family, a church...the list could go on endlessly. Thank you for the good gifts you have given me because you love me.
The greatest proof of your love is Jesus. I know that you so loved the world that you sent your only son Jesus to die for the sins of it, for my sins. That is the greatest testament of your love, and no other proof is needed. I am brought to my knees in worship when I think of the sacrifice you made for me.
Nothing can separate me from your love. There is nothing I could do to make you not love me, and in that I rejoice! Though I still struggle with sin and need your grace and mercy daily, I can rest in your sacrificial love for me.
Thank you that I can never be separated from that love and will know it in this life and the life to come. In the name of Jesus, who gave His life for me out of love, I pray. Amen.
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