We belong to a love story - God's love story. In this timeless love story, we find a God so passionately in love with His fallen creation, that He left the glories of Heaven to come down into this earth realm in order to liberate the object of His love (us - His Bride) from the forces of darkness, and lift her into an intimate union with Himself.
As we consider all that Jesus our Redeemer Bridegroom did for us, we question, "How could this be that our God wanted us so much that He willingly made the ultimate sacrifice in giving up His life for us"? There is only one possible explanation: He is a God in love with His creation. Is this not what the Apostle John tells us in his gospel? "For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave His only-begotten (unique) Son, so that whosoever believes in (trusts, clings to and relies on) Him shall not perish " come to destruction, be lost " but have eternal (everlasting) life" (John 3:16).
Oh, the depths of these amazing words! With our finite minds, it is impossible to fully comprehend the love of God - a love that actually took our place and bore the penalty for the sin we should have borne, in order to deliver us from the clutches of the evil one that we might become His very Own. Oh, what amazing, overwhelming, unfathomable love our God has for us. Again I turn to a scripture penned by the Apostle John:"This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins" (1 John4:10 NLT).
One cannot read the Bible without recognizing just how deeply, lavishly, and perfectly our Beloved God loves humankind. Even a quick perusal of the Holy Scriptures reveals a God Whose heart burns with a passionate, fiery love for His creation. This fervent love of God resounds from Genesis through Revelation. For example, consider these words found in Isaiah 54:10: "For though the mountains should depart, or the hills be shaken or removed, yet My love and kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace and completeness be removed says the Lord, Who has compassion on you."
One of the greatest songs penned concerning the depth of God's love was written by F.M. Lehman. Ponder these precious words: "The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell; It goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell...Oh, love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure " the saints and angels song." Although God has revealed Himself as Almighty God, Creator God, the All-Powerful One, the Omniscient One, the Omni-Present One, there is no greater revelation of His personage than that of the God of Love. It is without argument that God's love is the core, and foundation of our relationship with Him.
The love of God is the deepest subject in the sacred scriptures. To have a revelation of God's love is to have a revelation of God Himself, because God is love. Love is not merely one of His attributes. Love is God's whole nature; it is the essence of His being. It is Who He is! Is it any wonder that as we gain revelation of God's passionate love for us that our hearts are captivated and we freely and without restraint abandon ourselves wholly and completely unto Him? Sad to say, many in the Church today have hearts that are asleep concerning revelation knowledge of God's love. Too many are satisfied with a mere intellectual knowledge of God and spiritual things.
I have found that there is an immense difference between knowing something intellectually and knowing something with the heart. It is with the heart that we come to know the true love of God. The Church must awaken and grasp the reality that her God is utterly overwhelmed with love and desire for her and has an intense longing for intimate relationship and fellowship with His Bride.
God is calling for wholehearted love and devotion from His people. He will never be satisfied with a half-hearted love from His Beloved Bride. He desires full, voluntary, abandoned love from her. As we consider the sacrifice He made for us, how can we offer Him anything less than a love that is compelled to give up ourselves wholly and completely unto Him?
The Holy Spirit is on assignment, wooing and drawing us into deeper places in the love of God. He is drawing us to the place of becoming captivated by His love. What we may not realize is the method God uses to accomplish this. His method: revelation of His love. Our entire being is shaped and formed according to the degree of revelation we have concerning God's love and our response to it. Wrapped up in this wooing process is the revelation of how valuable and precious we are to Him. Each of us is, and forever will be, the desire and delight of His heart. In Isaiah 62:4 and Zephaniah 3:17 we find that the Lord delights in us. Song of Solomon 7:10 confirms to us that "His desire is towards us." What awesome affirmations these words are to our hearts!
Song of Solomon 8:7 speaks of God's passionate love for us: "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it." God has a burning, fiery, love for us that is unquenchable. His love cannot be put out or extinguished, and it will never come to an end! God is enamored with us, smitten with us; head over heels in love with us! God's love is always active in our behalf. We don't ever have to wonder if He will set us aside or remove His love from our lives. God's love for us is truly an always and forever love.
A key issue of our heart is having the assurance that God loves us unconditionally and accepts us as we are. Therefore, we must become established in God's love, knowing that His love burns within Him like a fire that cannot be stopped, even in the midst of our sin, brokenness, weaknesses and failure. There is nothing we could think, say or do or have thought, said or done in our past that could ever diminish God's love for us. His love is sure, steadfast, always reliable, forever yearning for us. Although we may fail, He remains faithful in His love for us. Nothing can separate us from the Love of God (Romans 8:38, 39). Nothing!!! God's love for us is not based on our abilities, accomplishments, performance or perfection or lack thereof. God's love for us is based on His identity, on His nature. He is love, and because He is love, everything He does is motivated and filtered through His love. Settle this now, once and forever, there will never be a moment in your life when God's love is not moving toward you. The force of His love is continually moving in your behalf, reaching out and seeking to draw you closer and closer to Himself (Jeremiah 31:3).
When we get to heaven, we will discover that while we were here on this earth, we didn't begin to scratch the surface concerning the depth and the strength of the love that God has for each of us and how passionate was His desire for intimate friendship with us. In fact, as the stories of our lives unfold, we will see that there was not even one detail of our life that was not covered by God's kindness and love. This even includes the hard places we had to walk through. When the veil is taken away, we will see God's hand of love overshadowing all. His banner over us is love. ALWAYS! Right now, we are seeing through a glass darkly (I Corinthians 13:12), but when all is unveiled, we will find ourselves overcome with awe and amazement as we see how truly great was the plan of God for our lives and the love that conceived and guarded that plan.
Recommended Reading:
God's Eternal Love Story
Embracing A Personal And Passionate Relationship with God
Scripture References:
John 3
1 John 4
Isaiah 54
Zephaniah 3
Song of Solomon 8
Romans 8
Jeremiah 31
1 Corinthians 13