Matt W Cook

All you need is love…

I’ve been thinking about stuff these days. I was thinking about the love of God. Us soteriologically reformed folk have a bit of a tendency to gloss over the love of God. We probably do that as an automatic reaction to some of the things we don’t like to see in the church these days. One of the biggest and most permeating subjects in the Bible is the incredible love of God. I think there is a distinction in the love God has for people. Kind of a special and a common love. God has common love given to all people where He gives them mercy in allowing them to live and treasures them as His creation. Special love is for those who have (or will) place their life in the hands of Jesus and value Him above all else. This love motivates the promises in Scripture and caused God to send His Son. When we think of the love of God we must be sure to relate it to His other glorious attributes. Let’s think about it for a second. First we assume that you, the reader, are in the Beloved. That from eternity past God set His special love on you.

God is Holy – You are not. Imagine the greatness of the affection God must have toward you if He decided to love you before you ever considered being clean.
God is Sovereign – Since God loves you He desires your good. Since God is sovereign He is able to work all things together for your good. Everything. A.W. Tozer made the point that nothing can hurt a good man. That is, a man on whom God has set His special love. Even death itself works for your good. If we could grasp this all fear and anxiety would go away. The One who controls the motions of the stars and gives life to all creatures of the earth and laid the foundations of the Universe is your friend. Jesus Himself calls us friends. Who can put fear in us or what problem can give us stress, when this thought is in our hearts?
God is Omniscient – You cannot surprise God; He already knows you inside-out. Before you were born God saw you commit your worst sin. He heard you blaspheme before you could utter a word. All the bad you have ever done or could ever do, He already knew about and He still set His love on you. No sin you can commit will ever catch Him off guard and cause Him to re-think His relationship with you. Nothing can separate you from His love.
God is Omnipresent – You are never alone. The greatest friend in the universe is by your side. No matter what your situation, no matter where you’ve gone or what dear friend may have left you, God never can leave you. There is a saying in this country that says ‘God is closer to you than your jugular vein.’ How true it is.
God is Immutable – His emotions don’t change with the tide. He doesn’t have bad days. He will never forget His promise to you and His feelings toward you will never change. He will always feel about you the same way He did before he laid the foundations of the earth.
God is Eternal – He will never stop lavishing Him love on you. Never. What an odd word. It describes something that we cannot understand because everything around us fades, fails and dies. God’s love to you will never fade. His affection will always be burning toward you and you will always be His dear prized possession.
God is Wise – He knows exactly how to maximize your joy and comfort as the eons and ages of eternity roll by. He has nothing planned in your life but that which will work for your eventual happiness. His plans are perfect. There is nothing beyond His staggeringly wise mind. The infinite intellect of God has set itself to plan an eternity in which you are infinitely happy and He is infinitely glorified.

A preacher once said that the point of preaching is to make believers happy and unbelievers sad. If you are in the Beloved and you consider the love God has for you I know it will bring joy and drive away whatever crap is bugging you.

One more little note before I go. I got a call from Todd. That’s right, I talked to Todd himself. Get Google Talk. I kid you not, the sound was crisp and clean. There was no delay in the talking. I still have to get some of the bugs out, but it’s showing promise! Get it. If you know me and have Gmail then my name will already be on your list. Talk to ya later!