God’s Love for you as a Christ follower is not based on your performance but on the perfect performance of the LORD Jesus Christ on your behalf.
“GREEN LIGHT- RED LIGHT!”
As followers of Christ, we can often fall into the trap that God loves us in increments. In other words, it is like the game, “Red Light- Green Light” that my grandchild loves to play. I saw him playing it with his dad and a friend once. He stood on a little mound where his dad had cut down a tree, and while his dad and friend raked up the wood chips to put in the back of the truck, he decided to play “Red Light- Green Light” and so he started “RED LIGHT!” And they both stopped raking and “froze,” and he enjoyed that as evidenced by a big smile on his little face. He then would say “Green light” and without looking at him they would start raking again” and so “green light- red light…” played out. Stopping, starting, and constant interruptions. How often we live as though God is playing “Red Light- Green light” with us, constant interruptions, starting to love us, then pausing, stopping and so our lives are one of never knowing if He will love us or if He won’t. We falsely believe, that if we “do good” He will love us, and if we don’t He won’t, we conclude.
We treat God like that in our false concept, that God loves us and then He doesn’t. He loves us if we are doing “well” and then He withholds His love if we are not. And so with such a false mindset, we live at times in fear, spiritually unstable, definitely in deception and dishonoring Him. And some as a result, live with a legalistic mind, taken up with exteriors, “rules and regulations,” walking with a self-created standard, rather than a Savior, and so many false “standards” dictate whether you “truly love Him,” such as if you have “a quiet time”- God will love you, if you don’t then He won’t. It is “performance-based,” we falsely believe in whether He will, or will not love us! Such foolishness, error, and how it dishonors the Person and the perfect work of the LORD Jesus. It is like those in Colossians chapter 2 who said Christ, His Work was not sufficient that you had to add something to it. And Paul counteracted with no- “you Are complete in Him.” -{Col 2:10}. The word “complete,” speaks of “no deficiency.” There is “no deficiency” in Christ, His Work, that something needs to be added to it!
Let’s look at some truth and facts- Objective truth is what He says in His Word, is what you listen and heed only, and which I trust the Holy Spirit will encourage you to walk in liberty and gratitude to Him as a result of His love for YOU…Think about His Precious, amazing Love for you!
Consider 6 Characteristics of God’s Love For You…
HIS is…
1..-AN EVERLASTING LOVE; – “I have loved you with an Everlasting Love, I have drawn you to Myself “- {Jer 31:3-}. – His is a pre-existent love. Before time, and creation, in eternity past before He ever spoke the Heavens and Earth into existence, before you were ever born, He set His love upon you, motivated by nothing in you but a Sovereign act of His love, kindness towards you, He drew you to Himself.
How long will He love you? His love towards you lasts…forever. It is everlasting love.
HIS is…
2.. -A PERSONAL LOVE – “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” {Rom 5:8}. It was not based on you or me for we were His “enemies, helpless, sinners, ungodly,” Romans 5 teaches. “But because of His GREAT LOVE for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”- {Eph 2:4-5}. “…the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. “- {Gal 2;20.}. He set His love upon us and saved us. It was His INDEPENDENT choice, His mercy, and His Love to do so. It was not something we did, earned, forced, or manipulated, it is all of Him who SET His Love upon us before we knew Him! He went to the cross in our place and this He did because He set His love upon us, individually, as Paul said, “The Son of God loved me…”Paul knew His love for him was deeply personal- the cross demonstrated it was so, and do His love is deeply personal for you! Amazing God who Greatly loves you!
HIS is…
- – A CONTINUOUS LOVE –“To Him who loves us – and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father—to Him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.” {Rev 1:5-6}. “To Him who loves us,” grammatically means “continuous.” His love is a continuous flow, no stopping, halting, but continuous, unending, who loves us and one piece of evidence is He has freed us from our sins and bestowed upon us the privilege to serve the Lord Jesus and Father! And the only proper response is for us to give Him glory forever and ever! His is not a “Red light- Green light,” love! His love is “continuous,” that is His commitment to you!
You can’t stop Him from continually loving you. Think about That!
HIS is…
4..- AN UNBREAKABLE LOVE – ” Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake, we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”- {Rom 8:35-39}. Nothing can sever us from His love for us. Nothing.
Nothing or no one can get between you and God and force Him to Stop loving you. Nothing and No one- EVER!
- – A GREAT LOVE – “But because of His GREAT LOVE for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”- {Eph 2:4-5}. John put it this way, “See what GREAT LOVE the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”-{1 John 3:1} –
Because of His GREAT Personal love, He has saved us and placed us in His family and is not ashamed to be known as our- as YOUR Heavenly Father. His is a GREAT Love – He INTENSELY Loves you!-
- – AN ASSURING LOVE – “and hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”-{Rom 5:5}. God has gifted His people with the Holy Spirit and one of His ministries is to assure the believer that God loves them. And the context is in verse 5:3-4 speaking of those who are suffering, and God so loves YOU that He has gifted the Holy Spirit to you to assure you that God loves you and that not even suffering can separate or stop Him from loving them or YOU! The Holy Spirit continually assures them they are loved by God! For how often in trials, hardships, and suffering, the evil one tempts us, and we too readily doubt He loves us, so knowing all this He gifts us His Spirit and His delight is to assure you, God Loves you!
God is not playing “Red Light…Green Light” with you. His love toward you is EVERLASTING, His is a PERSONAL love for you. His Love is CONTINUOUS. His Love is AN UNBREAKABLE LOVE for you. His is a GREAT, ASSURING love for you!
GOD. LOVES. YOU! Are you living as though God is playing “Red Light- Green Light” with you in regards to His love, that you believe and live as though it is a stop-start love and it ALL DEPENDS ON YOUR PERFORMANCE?- It’s not! Read Again the 6 CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU.
Pray and ask Him to help you receive and believe the TRUTH and live it out with gratitude for His amazing Love for you!
PRAY for opportunities to SHARE these 6 Characteristics of God’s Love to encourage, and build up someone’s faith. Perhaps you could make a note in your phone of these 6 characteristics or write in your Bible, so you can SHARE, anytime, anywhere to help His people! I love Ezra 7:10 where he studied the Word and one reason was so he could help others…you be the Ezra in someone’s life!
PRAY You and others, me too may live in light of OBJECTIVE TRUTH- What He says in His Word- believe and live in light of Him who is LOVE!
PRAISE HIM– “LORD, I Praise You that Your Love towards me is an Everlasting, Personal, Continuous, Unbreakable, Great, Assuring love, because You are LOVE!”
God bless
Aidan