Last week I discussed God’s perfect love, a love that Stuart Townend (1995) described as “How vast beyond all measure.” This love is so complete that it has the power to overcome all of our fears and anxieties, it will never fail and will never leave us abandoned, and it even offers eternal security. Two of my favorite descriptions of God’s sacrificial and unmitigated love can be found in John 3:16 (“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life” NASB), and Isaiah 43:2 (When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you”). So, with a love so flawless and complete, the question this week is why would so many people openly reject such a perfect love?
In the first chapter of Romans, God articulates through the writer Paul how man rejected the supremacy of God, and then elevated flawed human understandings to be paramount, including our understanding and demonstration of love (“For they exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” Romans 1:25). The consequence for humanity in casting off God is that it became in our nature to do those things that are counter to what pleases God, and what demonstrates our love for Him. Paul articulates that “just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper, people having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unfeeling, and unmerciful (Romans 1:28-31). It is interesting to contrast man’s demonstration of love, that oftentimes includes most if not all of the descriptors of a depraved mind described in the first chapter of Romans, with the description God presents of love found in 1 Corinthians13:4-8a (Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails;”). We seek that perfect love found in the Bible and so often included on wedding invitations or in wedding ceremony programs, but we cannot experience this love because humanity has rejected the truth of the Bible.
A primary reason we are so willing to reject God’s perfect love is because of pride. The downfall of elevating ourselves to a place above God is that we become prideful, whether in our pride we outright reject God’s love, or in our relationship with God we are too prideful to acknowledge and accept our imperfections and failures in love. But in our relationship with God, pride only brings us pain and suffering (“Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling” Proverbs 16:18). For it takes a humble spirit to truly acknowledge that God’s ways are perfect and that His love is flawless, and then because of His love and mercy be willing to surrender to His will.
Another reason we reject God’s love is because we think that following God means that we would have to relinquish our own independence and freedom. As a people we “love” to make our own decisions and to “do our own thing”. But this is where we need to ask ourselves, what freedoms are we giving up by accept God’s love? God states that “those who are in accord with the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are in accord with the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:5-8). The Apostle Paul here is distinguishing between following our own will (acting in accordance with the flesh), and those who submit to God (being in accord with the Spirit). What is ironic is that those who desire their independence from God are actually the ones who are in bondage to sin and death (Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. John 8:34), and those who submit themselves to God receive eternal life and peace (Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17)
Additionally, we live in a culture where we believe our own personal happiness should be a supreme focus, and therefore we are motivated by this selfishness to seek what we “feel” will make us the happiest. This selfishness also comes into play in our relationship with God, and therefore we discount or ignore those commands from God that we believe will interfere with our personal happiness. But this selfish ambition is counter to God’s perfect love, for the Word of God states that “where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing” (James 3:16). Remember, that God in His just and selfless love, sacrificed His one and only Son so that by faith we may live in eternal happiness and joy, and therefore we are called to deny our own selfish ambitions and follow Him (And He [Jesus] summoned the crowd together with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me”. Mark 8:34). For once we accept our human shortcomings through seeking forgiveness, and by faith believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we can begin to experience that perfect love God offers throughout the scriptures (“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and 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.” Galatians 2:20). So, for me, the mystery of God’s perfect and unchanging love, a love that is unfailing, unwavering, steadfast, and faithful, and eternally constant, draws me to Him to seek and to serve Him, for there is no other love that can compare. And in this perfect love I can rejoice, because “this I know with all my heart,
His wounds have paid my ransom” (Townsend, 1995).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLDGVl8D5UU (Fernando Ortega-How Deep the Father’s Love for Us)
How Deep the Father’s Love for Us (Stuart Townend, 1995)
How deep the Father’s love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory
Behold the man upon a cross
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished
I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom