God’s Love for Us

Our hearts are broken from the effects of sin. We need His love to mend and fill the void within.

January’s Awakening, Day 30

Incomprehensible and immutable is the love of God. For it was not after we were reconciled to him by the blood of his Son that he began to love us, but he loved us before the foundation of the world, that with his only begotten Son we too might be sons of God before we were any thing at all.

 —Augustine of Hippo

Christianity does not think of a man finally submitting to the power of God, it thinks of him as finally surrendering to the love of God. It is not that man’s will is crushed, but that man’s heart is broken.

 —William Barclay 

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. Isaiah 61:1, 2b–3 NIV

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:7–12, 16–19 NIV

            God’s love for us truly is immeasurable, and before we were, we were in His mind. He created us out of His love for us. Love is the intangible quality that binds all humanity together and binds all humanity who come through Christ Jesus to God. Love comes from God and as we are in His image we are a reflection of His love, although but dimly. His love for us is unconditional and He displayed His love by sending His one and only Son, Christ Jesus, to be our atoning sacrifice for sin on the Cross. That is love—sparing nothing, not even your life—for those you love.

            Sin has broken our hearts such that we need His love to fill that void. We can only love imperfectly and selfishly and that’s why we continually need to bask in the presence of His love— so that we can be filled to overflowing with love and continually allow it to flow freely from us. We are to send that love back to God and then to all mankind. To do so, we must be a conduit, always connecting with God and letting His love flow without restraint.