Enough Love to Go Around?
The Amplified Bible even more beautifully states the heart of God in loving the world:
“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16 Amplified
God, our Father, has an infinite amount of love for His creation, especially humans, but this fleshly world often behaves as if there is not enough love to go around. It’s done by dividing people instead of unifying them. We humans, including Christians, have so many ways we do it. It’s about the “haves” and “have-nots.”I t’s there in the worry that someone else will get a “free ride” for what we worked so hard to get. It’s about the “deserving” versus the “undeserving,” who is judged worthy of benefits or blessings. It’s the judgment of this group against that by belief, race, culture, appearance, fstemming from fear or pride, if not hatred.
There is an endless list of words that could be added to this list. But love unites. It does not divide. This poverty mentality of love and grace appears when our strong sense of justice demands that others pay fully for their mistakes. It shows up when others seemingly get unearned favor. It incorporates the multitude of ways we lose sight that we are all the creation of God. We are all greatly loved and dearly prized. Not just Christians, not just our brand of believers, not just people of our race or culture or background, not just the successful, not just…not just…!
There would appear to not be enough love to go around when our love only stretches to “us four and no more.” We simply cannot seem to shake free of this division, this mentality of scarcity of love. We all do it whether aware of it or not. Only God is able to grant us His love for all, even those who are deemed unlovable. God continually provides lessons in love, stretching our hearts to love more fully. Just when we think we’re pretty good at this, He will send someone who challenges us to grow further, accessing more of God’s love for those who are least lovable.
Who should be the recognized experts in loving, including those unlovable folks, than God’s people? Who will love the unlovable if we do not do it through God’s provision of unlimited love?
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35 NIV
This is the only way, the final way, that all will know—from the least to the greatest, from the lowest to the highest, from the little one to the elderly, the living and the dead—all will know God’s love for His creation, and most especially all humans:
“For it is written, ‘As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’” Romans 14:11 KJV
God will do it, no matter the ages it may take. If He was a forceful God, He could have made all to bow the knee, demanding a verbal confession that He is God. He has the power to do it but fortunately has an abundance of mercy and patience, to wait until we become a people showing forth our love for Him and others from our very beings. He so loved the world before any were saved by His Son!
God specializes in looking at hearts, so He is able to weed out thoughts, attitudes, and misbeliefs that prevent us from expanding love and creating unity with others. Where there is division, there is strife and hatred, weakening anything we are trying to accomplish. Whether it is a family, a fellowship, a community, or a nation, division limits achievement as well as harms individuals. We will never be unified by doctrine, by one natural system, by laws or regulations, or any other means. Only the love of God, the highest standard there is, can accomplish unity.
God knows the garden of our hearts, where He is planting seeds to bear the fruit of the spirit. He contends with our weeds while nurturing and growing the fruit of His spirit, the mark of the kingdom of God inside each of us. As His love expands in us, we are more able to let it flow to others. The Christ within makes room for more of His love in our being, flowing easily to others— all those “others” we formerly avoided, separated ourselves from, avoided, would not be seen with, or otherwise isolated, limiting their access to the love of God.
He is the master at tearing down walls of division. We see all the walls in the body of Christ, but it is far, far beyond us to fix it. He is changing us as we recognize how much our Lord absolutely hates and despises division among us:
“There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who declares lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.” Proverbs 6:16 NASB
Know the truth of this: God is against division! Each one of these six things causes disunity and conflict among people. When we sow discord, most especially with our Christian brothers and sisters, we limit and block their connection with God, keeping the love of God from flowing their way. We stop the flow of the great river of Life that all humans require to thrive.
We’re behaving as some parents and families do—as if there is only so much love to go around. Because love is believed to be limited, we share it sparingly, giving it to the good, the favorite, the ones we are close to, understand and can relate to, while withdrawing love or connection with others. We show a scarcity of love for anyone who displeases us by not performing up to our standards. It’s so easy to do this and even easier—much more comfortable—to ignore this condition within our own hearts because it is so commonly human.
Division and strife have been around forever, beginning with Cain and Abel, and on through the centuries of God’s people. Christian churches started out well but within a few years, even the early church fellowships were in conflict as local leaders fought for position and authority. These ambitious believers took followers unto themselves, dividing them and eventually even excluding the apostle Paul, who had birthed them all.
These New Testament writers said so:
“I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number, men will rise up and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them.” Acts 30:29-30 Berean
“But I will keep on doing what I am doing, in order to undercut those who want an opportunity to be regarded as our equals in the things of which they boast. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:12-13 Berean
“Children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour.
They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us.” 1 John 2:20-23 Berean
Paul ministered the simple faith of Jesus Christ as sufficient for all, but among the flock, even then, there were people who were “anti-christ” or “against Christ.” Those who coveted followers for themselves needed to distort the truth by adding more than the sufficiency of faith in Jesus Christ to accomplish it. It’s difficult to get your own following if you do not alter the message in a way that shows you have more “truth” than others, establishing your unique knowledge and leadership.
Paul called them “savage wolves,” devouring the flock because of their own greedy appetite for power and recognition among other believers. John writes about them, calling those who had separated themselves from the original fellowship “antichrists.” He saw they were working against Christ, for self instead of for the Lord.
The Corinthian believers had this condition of division from false apostles deceiving the believers for their own gain. Paul told the Corinthians:
“And I, brothers and sisters, could not speak to you as spiritual people, but only as fleshly, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to consume it. But even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly.
For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like ordinary people? For when one person says, ‘I am with Paul,’ and another, ‘I am with Apollos,’ are you not ordinary people?” 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 NASB
These are things God hates, but there are no people on this list. What is on the list are conditions of the heart requiring change. It is not the outwardly sinful behaviors that God is after but the heart conditions that lead to it. We should hate what God hates and the hard truth is these things He hates are found in the heart of many of us Christians. Paul said that division, strife, and jealousy among these early Christians were fleshly, not spiritual, showing their immaturity in Christ. But Paul makes no mention of outer differences in traditions and practices as signs of immaturity, as he knew the roots of such behaviors.
This same abominable weed continues growing in our garden of love. In fact, it is so common, and Christ’s body of believers are so divided, that we don’t seem to think much about this strife and division that God hates. We have accepted names for our division of the body of Christ. We are taught a list of doctrines that divide and distinguish us from others. We may fellowship across denominational and non-denominational lines, but that is not unity in love.
Such separation has been around so long, it is normal and appears insurmountable. We prioritize condemning and trying to control the sins of the flesh over what is in our hearts. But our Lord is crystal clear all through the Bible that it is what is in our hearts that causes the sin, including lack of love and unity among us. God sees the roots of jealousy, envy, coveting another’s calling, influence, pride, desire for status, possession or position, all part of our fleshly natures.
Worse, the sins of the flesh seem often to be the primary judgment believers put on unbelievers while our own hearts remain full of guile. Our Lord had some strong words for this:
“Do not judge, so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye!’” Matthew 7:1-5 NASB
Humans are just naturally aware of others’ faults more than our own. This is the flesh nature we were given. There is no answer for man’s patterns of division and strife except that Jesus Christ change our hearts. Deep down, we are fearful we will not get our portion because someone else has theirs. We desire to be the main person others look to, whether it is in ministry, friendship, coworkers, families, or nations. It’s understandable to want to be noticed and valued, get attention and commendation. So very “normal,” but not pleasing to God.
Just when we think God has pulled all of these divisive weeds up, we find prejudicial thoughts sprouting up, separating and limiting our love for others. This remains a grievous condition for us today, as it was to Paul and John in the early church. God our Creator is not surprised. It has been deeply ingrained in our fleshly ways. Do you think God was surprised when this showed up right away in the Garden? Was He caught unprepared for the choices Eve, then Adam, made?
God does not point out such things in our hearts without making a way of escape. He is able to change our hearts, to continually replace our limited, divisive human love with His all-encompassing Father's love for everyone. So, when love is granted conditionally in some families, when others are required to “earn it,” be “good enough” to be loved, we see that it causes harm. This may stem from a works message opposing the Lord’s free gift of love.
Love and favor unfairly divided between parents and their various children or with extended family can be passed down generation to generation. It even is the explanation for family splits that took place so long ago we have forgotten why. Division is harmfully sustained in families long after the favoritism or jealousy that began the strife is remembered. This continues until someone breaks this generational curse by bringing it to the cross.
Thankfully, Father God does not love us only when we are “being good,” nor does He withdraw love when we are “bad.” We may have learned this as a child but God delivers us from such childish ways. This style of conditional love eventually damages a child’s view of God. How are they to believe in an all-loving Parent they cannot see when they’ve not seen it in action here on earth? Children are harmed in their souls and spirits when growing up in households where it would seem there is not enough love for all.
It surely becomes harder to extend this to our neighbors and communities when this is both seen in parenting children and modeled for the children in how partners treat each other. It instills a fear of losing God’s love such as they have seen happening in their homes. Instead of running to Him in trust, knowing that His love is steadfast and sure, never limited, they fear and avoid Him. That is not God! He shows no favoritism or partiality among people.
And God’s love has no limits:
“For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.” Deuteronomy 10:17 Berean
“…for there is no respect of persons with God.” Romans 2:11 KJV
“…who is not partial to princes and does not favor rich over poor? For they are all the work of His hands.” Colossians 3:25 Berean
“And you, masters, do the same things to them, [your slaves] giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.” Ephesians 6:9 NKJV
As a Jew, Peter had to grow in the Lord through the power of the Holy Spirit to learn that God has no favorites. He was raised to believe that the Jews were God’s favored people. Never were Gentiles seen as acceptable or called of God. Jesus was sent to the Jews, and even He had to be persuaded by the faith of Gentiles to grant them His healing ministry. It was not yet the time for the Gentiles to receive. The ways of Jewish life, their religious and dietary laws, their beliefs and traditions, were not practiced by Gentiles.
Others did not follow Jewish laws and customs, including eating things that God had taught the Jews were unclean. This was established until Jesus Christ made the way for all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, to enter into God’s kingdom of love. Paul was specifically called to bring the good news to the Gentiles, and was received among the brethren. Then God specifically dealt with Peter about these changes through a vision, after which he understood that Jesus Christ made unity possible, with no partiality or favoritism.
Here is how this lesson unfolded for Peter:
“…Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven open and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, as well as birds of the air.
Then a voice said to him: ‘Get up, Peter, kill and eat!’ ‘No, Lord!’ Peter answered. ‘I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.’ The voice spoke to him a second time: ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ This happened three times, and all at once the sheet was taken back up into heaven.” Acts 10:9b-16 Berean
After this, Peter ministered this powerful word of Christ’s love for all to those believers who were gathered with him in the home of Cornelius:
“…As Peter talked with [Cornelius], he went inside and found many people gathered together. He said to them, ‘You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. So when I was invited, I came without objection…’
Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism, but welcomes those from every nation who fear Him and do what is right. He has sent this message to the people of Israel, proclaiming the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.” Acts 10:28-29b;34-36 Berean
Peter learned a shocking lesson that we all need: we are not to call any man impure or unclean. Jesus made clear that it is not what goes into the mouth, but what is in the heart that defiles a man. The truth that God is not partial and loves all equally is well established in the Old and New Testaments. So why is it that this lesson seemingly is so hard to come to fruition within us?
Divisive thoughts leading to separation rather than unity appear everywhere, causing strife in our homes and lives, in our communities and in the world of nations. It is also occurring for those of us who love the Lord and desire to have the love of God fully within our hearts.
“Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: Because of the loving devotion of the Lord we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.
They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!” Lamentations 3:22 Berean
We thank God that He never fails us in His mercy and love. His love has no limit and cannot be measured. His love for us who serve Him continually reveals such weeds in our hearts to be pulled up, burned up by the fire of His presence. We are humanly unable to do it without Him. Only He can work love in our hearts for all men, everywhere. It seems hopeless but it most definitely is not! It is God’s plan and anything He directs us to do, He is able to grow His nature and will within us so it may be accomplished.
God’s love is certain. He is love and He is eternally the same. His love is the foundation of His redemptive justice. He demonstrated His intense love for the world when He sent His dear Son to be an eternal sacrifice for everyone. We are enabled to do all things through the Christ within, including greater love for one another. We are never separated from His love—nothing can bring about that separation.
Paul spoke of this most powerfully:
“Who shall ever separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? Just as it is written and forever remains written, ‘for your sake, we are put to death all day long, we are regarded as sheep for the slaughter’.
Yet, in all these things we are more than conquerors and gain an overwhelming victory through Him who loved us [so much that He died for us].
For I am convinced [and continue to be convinced--beyond any doubt] that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the [unlimited] love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39 Amplified
God’s passionate love for us all is guaranteed through Christ Jesus our Lord. It’s tempting to believe that we are no longer in the circle of His love when affliction through adversity comes upon us. Doesn’t this mirror that false childhood belief about love? When things are going well for us and we’re blessed, then God loves us, but if difficulties arise, He must no longer love us. God’s ways, however, are so different from ours that being disciplined through affliction is actually a sign of His love!
All the afflictions listed in Romans are common to humanity, yet they do not separate us from His love.
“And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: ‘My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.’
Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?” Hebrews 12:5-7 Berean
We are exhorted to take God’s discipline through affliction seriously, seeing it as a sign of God’s great love for us. Remember, nothing separates us from His love. Very few things in this life are known to be absolute. The love of God is absolute, with no exceptions. Nothing at all, ever, keeps it from flowing out to the entire world.
No one has perfect parents and some wounded children grow up to wound their children in the same ways they have been treated. We parents are all subject to this because we are human. But here’s the good news: Father God is a perfect Parent and always loves us! God Himself Fathered the only Perfect Son. He is able to heal the wounds of divisive, conditional love as He expands our own hearts with love for others.
Have you noticed all of God’s creatures respond to genuine, heart-felt love? All wounded creatures melt and are changed when any sense genuine love, compassion, and mercy is extended toward them. There are innumerable examples of people lovingly connecting with animals, both domestic and wild, large and tiny, beasts and bugs. All respond to loving, healing, gentle, and kind interactions with humankind. Some even say that such creatures are much easier to love than our fellow humans!
There may be truth in that, as animals are often used in the rehabilitation of people. Those who love God’s natural creation are used to heal the many mistreated, neglected and abandoned creatures around us. And even the most damaged human souls are reached by God’s love! We often see abused and neglected children flourish in a home where love is patiently applied to their wounds by wise, patient, and understanding parents.
We need only read part of 1 Corinthians 13, known as the “love chapter,” to illustrate this:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no account of wrongs.
Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things…
LOVE NEVER FAILS…And now these three remain faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a;13 Berean
How beautiful are these words and yet how short we all fall in this greatest gift of God. If anyone told us humans that there was something that always works and never fails, wouldn’t we all rush out to get it? God’s love is freely given by grace—unearned favor—and His mercies endure forever. There is no limit to the love of God. We who bear the name of Christ can truly be known by our great love for others. Think of it! Don’t you long for this to be so?
When anyone has been wounded in childhood, regardless if someone else thinks it should have hurt or not, the ability to trust other people is damaged. The love God would have us extend to others becomes limited not only by divisive judgment or partiality but by fear. It’s not unusual for us humans to fear the different or unknown. If any of you have entered a room filled with others very unlike you, you have a small sense of what it is like for anyone in the minority in our society.
Our Lord Jesus Christ came to move us past all of this: “For God so loved the world…” Love truly is the most powerful force in the universe and Love lives within us. When our eyes are open to spiritually see as He sees, God’s love is shown to be above and beyond any other power. We recognize the need to heed Paul’s urging:
“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.” Philippians 2:1-2 NIV
Paul’s exhortation to unity is based on love, not on doctrine. The truth is we all, adult and child, are in need of love even more when we are “being bad.” We know God hates sin, but He always loves the sinner. He is our model, so He enables us to love the child or adult while hating the wrong or evil behavior. He disciplines those He loves for good. It is redemptive discipline, discipline with a purpose. It does not rely on our mood or situation or personality or past, nor on our ability to earn it by good behavior or good works.
Each child is a gift on loan from God, given specifically to the parents God has chosen, whether birth parents or not. We may draw upon His unlimited love whenever we need it to raise the children God entrusts to us. We, His children, also need to recognize how much God loves us. Do you know anyone who loves you so much that they even know the number of hairs on your head? God does! God planned for our specific and unique presence in this world, celebrating each of us being birthed into earthly life.
The Lord carefully knit each of us together in our mother’s womb, as David states:
“For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.” Psalms 139:13-16 Berean
All people require the security of always knowing they are loved by someone. Grandparents or extended family often provide this sanctuary for children seeking a place of secure love. Without love, any heart shrivels up and becomes hard and bitter. Sadly, many believers don’t know that they are loved, including many of God’s own people quite familiar with the scriptures. Some even use cultural patterns or traditional ways of parenting that show God as a weapon, threatening His wrath or punishment if disobedient.
When one grows up with messages about God that He will “get you” if you don’t behave, it works fear in the heart, not love. In contrast, pour out God’s agape love onto a shriveled and damaged heart that has not truly experienced such love. You will see the person begin to change, their heart to soften, their countenance lighten. Do it as led by the Lord and your reward is with Him, not from the other person.
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” 1 John 4: 18 ESV
As another’s heart is changed by godly love, their behavior changes as well. Only agape love casts out fear and brings peace. We are freed from fear of punishment by God when we know how much we are loved, regardless. Agape love is the distinguishing mark of Christians. Are we yet known for our great love of God and all of His creation?
John, the disciple beloved of Jesus, shared this in the full passage:
“Beloved, let us [unselfishly] love and seek the best for one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves [others] is born of God and knows God [through personal experience].
The one who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. He is the originator of love, and it is an enduring attribute of His nature.
By this the love of God was displayed in us, in that God has sent His [One and] only begotten Son [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind] into the world so that we might live through Him.
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [that is, the atoning sacrifice, and the satisfying offering] for our sins [fulfilling God’s requirement for justice against sin and placating His wrath].
Beloved, if God so loved us [in this incredible way], we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. But if we love one another [with unselfish concern], God abides in us, and His love [the love that is His essence abides in us and] is completed and perfected in us.…
There is no fear in love [dread does not exist]. But perfect (complete, full-grown) love drives out fear, because fear involves [the expectation of divine] punishment, so the one who is afraid [of God’s judgment] is not perfected in love [has not grown into a sufficient understanding of God’s love]. We love, because He first loved us.
If anyone says, ‘I love God’, and hates (works against) his [Christian] brother he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should also [unselfishly] love his brother and seek the best for him.” 1 John 4:7-12;18-21 Amplified
We have God living in us through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is love and we are to have that same love. Oh Lord, let this work within us, ever growing and becoming visible in us through Him! Our human love is so often conditional, provided only when earned by what we judge to be good and acceptable behavior. But Father God gives His love and salvation to all. He said so. He is no respecter of persons. He even loves the unlovable! He still loves us when we are unlovable. We trust the Lord to change our hearts to be filled with the fullness of His love. There’s a desperate need for love in this world. All of God’s people need to know that they are always loved: “For God so loved the world…”
My son taught me a child’s perspective on this when he was 3 years old. As an only child, he sometimes felt…well…alone! It’s easy for any child to sometimes feel ganged up on by their parents but this is doubly so for an only child. There are no siblings to complain to or support them, to at least understand how the child is feeling. Yes, siblings can become part of the problem but they also can mediate by sharing the burdens of childhood. When you are the only one, it’s all about you–and not in a good way when you are in trouble!
Little Chris had been scolded by his father for something, and then I came along and scolded him about something else. He sat his little self down, looking very sad, and said, “Nobody likes me when I’m bad.” Oh, how this broke my heart. It still breaks my heart to think this little guy, so dearly loved and precious to us, truly wanting to please his parents, would believe such a thing. It was critical to correct his understandable, but erroneous, conclusion.
Our heavenly Father also has words to reassure us that we are always loved, even when we are falling short of His godly standards. That is His mercy and grace. Some of God’s people are given a human nature that is perfectionistic, resulting in intolerance of any mistakes. Mercy does not come easily to their exacting natures. God knows that these children in His family will not only be hard on others but even more harsh with themselves. Perfectionists have unrelenting standards that may leave little room for God’s mercy and grace.
Other parents may lovingly, but mistakenly, fail to limit their children, causing difficulties for the child and others who are around that child. This may come from having been treated harshly or having a parent who modeled such imbalanced ways of loving. These children are left to learn limits from others to be able to fit well into society. Babies need unlimited love, but soon wise parents know to begin teaching their children what is safe and acceptable to do as they grow.
God always loves us, most especially when we feel least deserving. As Christian parents, we are able to tell our children how much God loves them, what a precious gift they are, cherished because they are created by God Himself. Though more challenging, parents who did not receive unconditional love are made anew within by God to grant what they did not receive to their children. Instead of repeating this pattern, they determine in God to break it.
Thankfully, He empowers us all to provide what we lack. God makes it so as He makes all things new. How much our perfect Father loves us regardless of what we have done! When we are enabled to absolutely know this, separately from our human way of measuring love, we stop avoiding God or His messengers and run to God our Father when we are in trouble and make mistakes.
We begin to count on the understanding and compassion of Jesus, who was “in all points tempted, yet without sin.” We seek Him first in times of trouble, even when it is of our own making. In such times, we can give God the “ashes” of our failures, so that He can make beauty out of them:
“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 proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God,
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 61:1-3 NIV
Beauty for ashes—what an amazing God! What is the splendor of God? Why, it is His very nature! His love, mercy, and redemptive justice are Who He is. Out of Zion, God’s heavenly spiritual government, we are to proclaim this good news! From the very highest spiritual place in God’s kingdom, where Jesus and Father God have established the authority of the Throne, this message of love and hope is to be proclaimed. You will not find a message railing against sinners or divisive, condemning judgment here! God’s wisdom is first pure, then peaceable.
The kingdom age is upon us and now is the time to become established in Zion. We are called to know this in our own times of adversity as well as to proclaim this sure word to others who are poor, broken-hearted, in captivity and in the darkness of all kinds of prison houses, literal and figurative. When people struggle and suffer loss, we can confidently state that it is never because God does not love them!
We need not fear the Lord’s vengeance, as it is always redemptive. We could literally go around the world, point out all the troublemakers, including evil doers and ask, “This one, too, Lord? Even this one?” He always says: “YES, EVEN this one.” He will deal with each, now and in the ages to come. He loves all of His creation and has made a plan for the ages, unfolding in His time and in His way. And I especially love how He knows everything about us and loves us just the same! What a Friend!
How, then, can we come against those God chooses to love? We enjoy God’s unmerited favor, so what stops us from extending it freely to others? We can be made strong, planted in righteousness like a mighty oak, determined to seek His love in all situations. We cannot make ourselves love as God loves, but we can set our will to obtain it through our walk with Him. Then we are enabled to display the splendor of our God. What shows forth His splendor more than when genuine love is displayed, one human being to another?
But first, we must give God the ashes of our failure to love as He loves. We can go for years recognizing our shortfalling in agape love, but never give them to God so He is able to make beauty out of them. We need to lift the ashes and dust of any failure to God our Father, with confidence in Him, not ourselves. We do not need to keep looking at the ashes of our fleshly ways that have failed. We do not need to cover ourselves with ashes because of our lack.
We give it all to God, and somehow, time after time, He makes beauty from them. Amazing! We can trust our God to work beauty within and even without in all our messes! There is nothing more beautiful than pure, true and heartfelt love. We do not have to know how He will make beauty from our ashes, but we learn that He is always prepared to do so. He redeems us and the situation for good because we love Him and are called according to His purpose.
God the Father’s love is steadfast and that tremendous love He had in order to give His only and most beloved Son is provided for us. There are so many hearts shriveled up from lack of love, hardened and bitter because they do not know, they have not experienced the love of God. Some have been even further wounded in the House of God. Wounds in God’s fellowships, His family, hurt most deeply, and require sensitive ministry for healing.
It’s very important to remember how many willful and disobedient children God has and yet He never gives up on us. He is most definitely the expert in loving the unlovable. When we learn mercy from God about those things in which we fall short, we are more able to apply God’s perfect love with others, without scarcity to anyone, child or adult. All those “others,” people who are different from us, including partners who are opposites, as well as those with differing habits, beliefs, values, traditions, and behaviors, are covered in His love: “for God so loved the world…”
God is very fond of all of us. In fact He enjoys our company! We were made to be in relationship with Him. God seems to have a way of making each of us feel special to Him. And we are—fearfully and wonderfully and purposefully created by Him. God is able to empower every Christian parent to have the love needed so each child knows he or she is special in his or her own unique way.
There is enough love to go around in any home that belongs to God, just as there is in any heart that loves the Lord, desiring to be like Him in this world:
“And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him.” 1 John 4:16-17 NASB
David’s Psalms 139 confirms just how special and unique each of us are, even though we may not yet realize it. We are each a marvelous work of God! We may erroneously believe God loves those He rewards more than those who do not seem to receive His blessings. That is humanity’s way, the ways of the flesh, which cannot enter in to His kingdom. It is not God!
If God thought that having favorites was a good plan, He would have shown us that. He does have a chosen people, certain ones of each age called out for higher purposes. This is because of the plans He has made for us, not because He loves those in ministry, given much revelation, used mightily of Him, more than the rest of us. And for whom much is given, much is required!
“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows.
From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12:47-48 NIV
Thankfully, we can count on Him to bring a balance in our relationships, enlarging the borders of our hearts to be more like Him in this world. Consider Jabez. There are only a few lines about Jabez in the Bible, but what is there is profound:
“And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, 'Oh that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and You would keep me from evil, that I might not cause pain! '
So God granted him what he requested.” I Chronicles 4:10. Berean
We ask God to enlarge the borders of His presence within us, the territory of our hearts, to make room for more capacity to love others as He does. Our hearts are His dwelling and His kingdom is within us. He seeks those who worship Him with a whole heart. We can trust that He will accomplish all within. When the sincere cry of each Christian’s heart is to “not cause pain,” as Jabez requested, God grants that request.
We do get what we ask Him for, when we ask with our whole hearts according to His will! We need to grow up into Him, into our Lord Jesus Christ, to meet His standard in relationship with others. The only way is turning again and again to our Lord. We are in “God’s school” where He points these things out to us, then cleans our hearts of all the spots and blemishes remaining.
We don’t have to “try harder, do better.” We submit to Him and rest in faith that He will do it:
“…for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13 Berean
Hasten the day, Lord; hasten the day!