Scripture: 1 John 4:16b God is love...
Because God is love, we know that’s one of His attributes. It permeates everything He is and everything He does; for who He is, IS what He does. There is no dissonance there. Truly that is difficult for us to comprehend, as our understanding of love is human and polluted by the world around us.
The good news is, we can grow both in our understanding of God’s love, and in our own reflecting of His love, when we are intentional about doing so. In the next seven days of our devotions, we will look at seven characteristics of God’s love to help us gain a deeper understanding.
Devotional: GOD’S LOVE IS UNINFLUENCED
God loves of His own volition; in no way is He influenced to love us. Deuteronomy 7:7-8 says: “The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath He swore to your ancestors that He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
God chose to love Israel. He loves according to His purposes, even when the object of His love is seemingly unlovable. Israel was a mess and so are we.
This shows that there is nothing you can do to make God love you more, and nothing you can do to cause Him to love you less. He simply loves you because HE is love.
Reflect:
How does our human notion of what love is pollute the way we think about the truth that God is love, even as believers?
