Unending Love

Unending Love
Psalm 136.1
"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever."

Sometimes we forget God's love is unconditional and everlasting. We can become so tuned to man's concept of love that we forget just how powerful and precious the Lord's love for us is. Many people still cannot move away from the conditional sort of love. That is, the sort of love where someone says "I love you" as long as things are going his way. This is the man who says he loves the wind so long as it keeps his sail going about his business. When we speak of God's love, however, we are not speaking of conditions. It is not a love based on what we do for Him. God loves the vilest of sinners and the saintliest of saints equally. Why? Because "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3.23). In spite of this, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3.16). You see, beloved, who we are has nothing to do with why God loves us. He simply loves us.

Do not think that this is a love with limits either in time or space. Time and space, as we know, will fade. The Psalmist points out that "[the LORD's love endures forever." This sort of love is obviously eternal. It will exist for us and be manifested to us even when our physical bodies no longer harbor our spirits. This sort of love is reassuring. We live in a very conditional world. I know this well as a software designer. Motor vehicle laws here in Alabama where I live are heavily based upon "If/Then/Else" logic. There is often little rhyme or reason to these laws. That is not how our heavenly Father works, however. God's love is a constant; it cannot be moved. The Bible manifests it in thousands of ways. One of the most obvious is found in Luke 23.39-43. In it we see that one of the thieves on the Cross next to Jesus "said to Jesus, 'Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.' And Jesus said to him, 'Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.' " That is so typical of God's love! It goes on and on, even when death has occurred. Jesus barely had the strength to breathe, but he found enough to forgive a wretched sinner.

He loves us the same way. We were all sinners condemned to the wrath of God, but Christ has provided us with eternal redemption through His sacrifice. He paid our debts and bore the wrath which was due to us. That's eternal love! If God did all that, don't you think He still loves us? Of course He does! Now may our lives return it. May we, too, have eternal love for Jesus and for the lives of those around us and distant from us. The Kingdom is here, right now. You do not have to weight for any thousand year reign; the Kingdom of God has come with power! It lives in us and will live in us even after our breath stops. If you have not ever accepted God's eternal love, do so today. Ask Jesus to come and be the Lord of your life and King of your heart. Or perhaps you have not been experiencing the eternal love of God. Maybe you have feelings that say, "I'm not good enough" or "I've done too much wrong for God to ever love me." Remember God forgave a thief on a Cross--He can and has forgiven you. Live today in God's eternal love! Amen.

With love in Christ,



Austin Aldrich