Pastor’s Corner Love unconditionally

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

— In our zeal to be good Christians we sometimes find ourselves focusing on seeking to please God by our good deeds. Not that good deeds aren’t a necessary part of our walk; the Bible does say faith without works is dead but rather it’s not the good works that pleases God, it’s the faith we have that causes us to do the good works that pleases Him.

Focusing on “good deeds” is easy to do. Maybe it’s because we are taught from the time we are children that it pleases others when we behave well. Oh how many times I remember saying to my children and grandchildren (have you?) it’ll make me happy if you “be on your best behavior,” “be good,” or something like that.

When we express our displeasure at their misbehaving in ways that lead them to think we love them more when they “do good” it reinforces their thinking love = good behavior and if they behave well enough, we will love them more.

Problem is, the other side of that coin is they learn to believe that is if they if they misbehave we love them less.

Children often carry this misconception into their relationships as they grow up - often to their detriment. As believers, young and old, we often carry this misconception into our relationship with God thinking that if we are “good” it will please God and He will love us more. Then, when we find ourselves falling short, we somehow believe He will love us less or is “mad” at us ... don’t we?

As hard as it is to understand, the truth is, God will never love anyone more - no matter how “good” a Christians they are - than He does the most heinous, ungodly, rankest sinner.

Wow. Let that sink in for a moment. Yes, I am saying God loves Judas, Pilate, Nero, Hitler, Idi Amin, Jim Jones, Lenin, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffery Dahmer, Charles Manson or any other “bad” person you can think of just as much as He does you and I who are Christians, andwill never love us more than He does them.

Unlike our love, God’s love isn’t dependent on behavior; it’s totally unconditional. Whoa now Pastor, don’t you think that’s a bit far-fetched? Only if you believe the Bible is farfetched because it plainly says this is truth. How plainly?

John 3:16; “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” We all know that verse, but we may not, however, grasp it’s full import coupled with Romans 5:8 that tells us “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

God giving His son Jesus to die for our sins that we might have eternal life while we were sinners forever took away any consideration that we can “earn” God’s love by somehow being “good.” This should produce in us an assurance of His love toward us regardless of our shortcomings and a gratefulness that will lead us to repentance.

As we let that sink in, let’s consider how important it is we understand this concept. John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

If we are going to convince a sinful world of the relevance of the Church and that we are disciples of Christ, we must demonstrate the true love God - unconditionally.

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Charlie Newman is pastor of Avoca Christian Church.

To contact him, write in care of The Times at prtnews@ nwaonline.com or P.O. Box 25, Pea Ridge, AR 72751.

Church, Pages 2 on 05/19/2010