Secure in God’s Love
by Joe Leavell
Photo by Josh Willink from Pexels
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. ”
My dad often tells the story of a little boy who was being bullied in a school yard by his classmates. All the kids had backed him into a corner where he cowered as they ridiculed, jeered, and laughed at him.
As they taunted and threw insults at him, one person crossed the line and shouted, “Nobody cares about you! Nobody loves you, not even your Mom!” Immediately, the cowering little boy stopped and stood up tall and defiant. With red cheeks, clenched fists, and with all the volume he could muster, the little boy shouted back fearlessly, “MY MOMMA LOVES ME!”
The little boy knew better than to accept his accuser’s lies. No matter what his circumstances, no matter what anyone could say about him, no matter the ridicule, no matter if these bullies made him feel 5 inches tall, there was nothing that they could say that would shake his confidence in his mother’s love for him.
Suddenly, their abusive words started to lose their sting because, if they lied about his momma, surely, they must be lying about him as well! Remembering his mother’s love was a game changer!
Confident in His Love
No matter what the adversity you may be facing today, are you, like this little boy with his mommy, confident in your God’s love for you? No matter what the difficulties of life, no matter how strong the enemy of the brethren might accuse you, there is no time when you could not stand tall and firm and shout to the heavens, “My Father in Heaven loves me!!”
Does God’s unfailing, unyielding love matter to you today? Frankly, His love makes all the difference in the world every single day!
God’s Expression Towards You
One way the question has been posed is like this: If God had an office, and you were called into see Him, what’s the expression on His face when He sees you step in the door? Stern? Angry? Frustrated and exasperated? Or is it a look of complete, sheer joy, and love? How you answer that question says a lot about how you perceive God’s love for you, and in turn, where we place our hope and our confidence for all of life. Why? The reason is because how we respond to our cursed accuser depends directly on how we view God and believe God views us.
As an example of how this plays out in our relationships, our own capacity to love God is based on His loving us first. 1 John 1:9 tells us this truth, “We love Him because He first loved us.” In addition, our love for others is also sourced in the security of God’s love for us. Jesus said it this way to His disciples, “Love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” (John 13:34). Their love for one another was to be reflected to the degree that Jesus loved them. Since God demonstrates His love to us freely, without our deserving it, we are given the ability and the freedom to demonstrate the same love that He gave us. Because we have been freely given grace and mercy, we are given the capacity to give grace and mercy to others who don’t deserve it. Those who struggle with loving others often struggle with their own concept of God’s love and forgiveness for them.
We have an Advocate
You have a real enemy who would do anything to bring an accusation against you. The adversary wishes to destroy your understanding of God’s love!
This is the beauty of the Gospel in that while our enemy shouts and hurls judgment upon our heads, we have an Advocate with the Father who shed His blood to give the final answer against any lie that may come about the extent of God’s love.
Like a parent who loves their child apart from their performance, God did not wait until we earned His love before He gave it to us! We did nothing to earn His love and grace! We brought nothing to the table worthy of anything but our sin and self, which deserved His wrath.
Romans 5:8 tells us, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Did you catch that? God loved you so much, even when you were unlovely, that He was willing to send God the Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a barbaric cross, to be buried, and rise again. He did this so that He might forgive you of your sin, and so that you might enjoy eternal life with Him.
I Am Not Confident in His Love - What do I do?
If you’ve read all of this and come away with, “Yes, that sounds great! I know that theologically, but I just don’t experience that kind of love. What do I do?” For one, it sounds like a conversation with a pastor, friend, or counselor may be in order. Beyond this, think through how the little boy gained such confidence in his mother’s love! How do your own children find confidence in your love? It comes through countless hours together, through affirmation of love again and again, through simply basking in a parent’s loving home. Perhaps you do not feel confident in His love because you have made Him a relative stranger to you and not spent time with Him.
Experiencing a parent’s love also comes through obedience. When my children disobey, they experience my loving correction, but they do not always experience the emotional warmth from my love in those moments. This is why Jesus said in John 15:9-10,
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
You have that love, but sometimes we do not abide or walk in the experience of that love when we turn away from abiding in Him. Like the father of the prodigal son in Luke 15, he longs for us to return to Him so He can shower us in his love!
If you have placed your faith in Christ, nothing can separate you from God’s love! Stand tall in the face of those who call you worthless and unloved. On days that you fail, allow His grace to bring you back in remembrance that you cannot outrun His love! Stand firm, upright, and confident. Your Heavenly Father loves you! Nothing and no one can change that! It matters! It changes everything!
For Further Study:
Steadfast and Stable - By Monte Leavell
Gentle and Lowly - By Dane Ortland
Nothing Can Separate us from God’s Love - Teaching on Romans 8 by John Piper
