Love Never Changes
by Rose Karlebach —
Part 4 of 4
Part 4 of 4
The Lord appeared from of old to me… saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you and continued My faithfulness to you.
Jeremiah 31:3
.... Most relationships can be very fickle. One day everything is just peachy-keen, and the next day all hell breaks loose. That’s why we see so many divorces nowadays. The “love” is based on ideal circumstances; as they vanish, so does love. But aren’t we looking for someone to love us no matter what? There’s no way we can be on our best behavior all the time, and it’s unpleasant to think that a little slip-up could be the death-knell of a relationship..... The Bible says in Hebrews 13:8: “Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is [always] the same, yesterday, today, [yes] and forever (to the ages).” Jesus never changes in the way He thinks or feels toward you. He doesn’t love you only when you’re good and abandon you when you’re bad. God’s love is unconditional. Psalm 100:5 says: The Lord is good; His mercy and loving-kindness are everlasting. His faithfulness and truth endure to all generations. God’s mercy and loving-kindness toward you are everlasting. That means that along your journey through life, you can go to Him—in fact He wants you to go to Him—even if you blow it. He’s willing to forgive. First Corinthians 13:7 says of God’s love: Its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. God’s love toward you doesn’t stop. It keeps right on coming, no matter what. God’s in this with you for the long-haul. He’s not going to take you halfway along your journey and then say to you, “Well, you really blew it this time. You’re on your own. I’m outta here!” That’s not His character. Jesus said,
Behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly,
and on every occasion), to the very close and consummation of the age.
Matthew 28:20
and on every occasion), to the very close and consummation of the age.
Matthew 28:20
.... Here we see all the aspects of the fact that God’s love never changes. First, He loves you now and will love you forever. Second, His love toward you never changes; it’s not hot one day and cold the next, it’s constant; uniform. Third, no matter what kind of situation you’re in, He still loves you, even in the midst of the situation. Whether you’re moving smoothly along the path of life or you’ve hit a snag, He’s still there for you. Now, that’s an awfully good deal; do you know any other friend you can count on the way you can count on Jesus? Isn’t it nice to know that His love toward you will never change?
Food for Thought
.... Take a few minutes to imagine Jesus loving you unconditionally, no matter what you did or said. How would knowing that He loved you even when you fell short help you to love yourself more? How would this help you love others more?
posted by nbeHis at 10:46 PM
5 Comments:
Hi Rose,
I think your article brings out some deeper, intrinsic facets of God’s love, such as His faithfulness, loyalty and commitment, that our ‘Christian’ perspective sometimes lacks. This is why we have unfulfilled relationships and why tragedies like divorce take place. We are often selfish and do not display the same honorable character in the love we share with others. Allow me to ‘dovetail’ a couple of Scriptural stories to exemplify what I mean:
In 2 Samuel 7:12-16, God swore to David that the Messiah Himself would one day be born of his seed. He spoke of his house for a long time to come (v 19), and He swore this to David through a covenant:
"I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: 'Your seed I will establish forever, and build up your throne to all generations.' Selah.”
(Psalm 89:3-4)
God swore an eternal faithfulness to David’s house, but four chapters later David fell into sin with Bathsheba. Her husband, Uriah, was killed by the sword, and the Lord was displeased with what David had done. So He was moved to judgment against him.
Apparently Uriah and Bathsheba were childless, and this plays a special role in the judgment that follows: for in killing Uriah, David had also, in effect, cut off his descendants after him. Furthermore he, himself, had married Bathsheba, rather than allowing one of Uriah’s brothers to do so and raise up seed to their brother, as the law of Moses required. Through these two actions he had cut off Uriah’s house forever; and so God’s judgment on David applied the same measure in saying:
'Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house.’
(2 Samuel 12:10)
This is similar to God’s judgment on the house of Eli (1 Samuel 2:33), and now the sword would follow David’s descendants forever. But just a minute . . . four chapters earlier, had God not sworn that Jesus Himself would be born of David’s house?
This sets up the situation that I would like you to consider. In order to keep both His covenant and His judgment, God must now bring the Messiah into the world through David’s house, then one day bring the sword against His own Son. Will God be faithful and honorable in all that He has declared? Will He ‘swear to His own hurt, and not change?’ (Psalm 15:4). Will God bring the sword against Jesus Himself one day? And so the prophet foretold of Him:
"Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My Companion," says the LORD of hosts. "Strike the Shepherd . . .”
(Zechariah 13:7)
There is a deep, abiding current in God’s love for us all that stays the course, even in deeply sacrificial ways, for He swears to His own hurt and does not change. The mistakes of others may deeply grieve Him, but cannot cause His love to be swayed nor His faithfulness to fail. And because of this He sticks with us through it all and yet undertakes for us, that the seed of our new hope may be born. He hopes; He moves towards the hope; He girds us up and encourages us to trust Him, and bears us along in our trials toward the same end. Our discussion over Jesus is the ultimate example of His working all things together for our good and restoring us, as the ‘sword’ that befell Him was followed by life anew and the clean, new heart He gives to those who trust in Him.
When I hear of Christian couples striving, I think we have lost sight of His character in such vital ways. When I hear of them divorcing, I cannot help but wonder. Frankly, I find it staggering that a Christian can so fully disconnect with Him as to let it come to that, without resorting to their own faithfulness toward their spouse, and His faithfulness toward them both, in working things out again. I see in this a basic ingratitude toward the Lord Himself, because appreciating Him would have naturally cultivated the same faithfulness in themselves toward others. I would encourage them to spend some time with the Lord in meditating on such things, that He may open their hearts with the hope of restoring them. Anyway, I could talk about all of this for hours but that is enough for one morning. Thanks for the article and for allowing me to comment.
Loren
By
Cleopas, at 25/8/07 12:52 PM
Cleopas:
I think whatever Christians may lack in virtue has to do with their understanding of God's heart toward them. When I personally came to realize how very dearly loved and prized and cherished I was by God, it changed my perspective on every relationship I was involved in, especially my marriage. When I realized that God was not holding my sins against me because of Jesus, then I no longer had to hold other people's -- especially my husband's -- sins against them. Because God had let me off the hook -- by imputing my sins to Jesus -- I could let other people off the hook -- because Jesus had already paid for their sins. I did not have to exact my pound of flesh from people because God had already exacted his pound of flesh from Jesus 2,000 years ago on the cross.
In King David's case, he was told by God that the sword would never depart out of his house, because of the violent sins he had committed, and yet, Jesus took that sword for Him, and took that sword for him eternally. David was not faithful to the Lord or to Uriah the Hittite, and yet, Jesus was faithful to him and for him.
My faithfulness and love is contingent on my understanding of God's faithfulness to me, which is embodied in Jesus, who now lives inside of me. And because He is in me and I am in Him,I have his nature of faithfulness and love inside of me, so I am faithful and loving by my new nature. I don't have to try to be faithful; as I look to Jesus, and trust in His grace to make me daily more and more like He is, He enables me to walk in faithfulness. As I look to Jesus and trust in His grace to make me daily more and more like He is, I am more loving. I find it really involves very little "effort" on my part, just simple trust and reliance on Him to make me who He intends me to be. I can allow His grace to work in my life as I come to more fully understand just how deeply I am loved by Him.
By
Rose, at 27/8/07 1:16 AM
Excellent article Rose. I was just sitting outside thanking God for my wonderful family and thinking of how much I love them, and how when one of them hurts you hurt so much for them. Then I began to think of my precious Fathers' love! He loved us so much that He gave His very own son to take all of our sins on himself and then to die for us. I began to think how God must have felt during that time when he was seperated from Jesus. I can only imagine the sadness in his heart. Then I began to weep just thinking how He went through this grief for us. Such amazing love. We truly are deeply loved, prized and cherished by God, our Father.
By
Terri Schillaci, at 27/8/07 9:13 AM
I heard Joseph Prince say the other day, that King David's name means "beloved". I had always wondered what made David a man after Gods own heart, and had even asked God that question before, wanting to know the secret to being a woman after Gods own heart. When I heard Joseph Prince say that, it came to me that David was a man after Gods own heart, because he knew his God loved him. He messed up in big ways many times, but he knew who really loved him and where to run when he did. He knew God really loved him in the way you wrote about here. When we know we are loved, it changes us. When we know we are loved by GOD no matter what we do, it changes us all the more. I am so thankful He loves me in this way you wrote of. Thanks for the wonderful scriptures to back up your thoughts.
By
Regina, at 12/10/07 1:19 AM
Regina:
It's interesting that you mentioned that. One of Solomon's names was "Lemuel," and that also means "beloved." Because he was beloved, he became the greatest and wisest king in Israel. Joseph, who became second in command to Pharoah, also knew that he was loved by his father, who gave him that beautiful coat of many colors and I believe Joseph could dwell on that love when he was imprisoned and separated from his family. Because of his father's unconditional love, he could extend that love to his brothers who abused him. As you said in your article, David was a man after God's own heart because he understood God's love towards him. Solomon, and especially David and Joseph were able to mature and fully become who God intended them to be. Yes, mistakes were made. But they were able to become full persons who could love, and forgive and walk in godly maturity. In fact, love makes us mature, according to 1 John 4:18 which says, "There is no fear in love (dread does not exist), but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love's complete perfection]
I don't have the exact scripture but in the Message Bible it says "the law brings nothing to maturity." You see this in teenagers that are raised in very legalistic households. Because they are always afraid of the "boom" being dropped on them, they remain immature, and have a hard time making decisions for themselves. They've never been allowed to grow up into who they really are, because they are too afraid of messing up and too afraid of the "wrath" of their parents. But that's a whole other subject!
Anyway, the more I experience God's love, the more I become who he intended me to be.
Rose
By
Rose, at 12/10/07 3:12 PM
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