God’s Love Never Fails

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:37-39

As a pastor, I constantly catch small glimpses, these small moments where I see Jesus, alive and well, moving and mattering, showing up everywhere, in the lives of many in any number of ways. God’s love is all around us. C.S. Lewis said that, “though our feelings come and go, God’s love does not.”

To see God’s love, we need to get our eyes off our shortcomings and the distractions in our lives. We need to learn to open our heart and our life to the perfect love of Christ, and experiencing his presence and his presents in our life. This process will give us the eyes to see and the heart to experience His love. 

But let me ask you a question. Do you find it hard to believe that God loves us that much? Is it difficult to fathom that the God of the universe loves us and is present in our lives on a daily basis? It can be difficult to get our head around the idea of the infinite, and unconditional love of our Heavenly Father.

I think this is because we always try to put God’s love into human terms, or terms that we can understand. We are conditioned to measure love by “if’s,” “maybe’s,” and “because’s.” “I’ll love you if you do this.” Or, “I love you because you did that.” It is hard to imagine that a love without some sort of condition even exists. Yet God wants us to know that such a love exists and we can feel secure in His love. If a person has never come to know genuine unconditional love, then he only knows the rules for conditional love. And the foremost rule for conditional love is, “you must earn the right to be loved.” You must measure up to my standards before I will love you. And of course the other horrible aspect of conditional love is that it can be taken back at any time. In other words, if you do something to displease me, I will stop loving you.

God’s love is not based on what we have, what we do, or what we achieve. God’s love is not determined by our behavior or by our conduct. It does not depend on our background or our birth or status in society. God’s love is not influenced by anything that we say or do. 

There is nothing you can do to win any more of God’s love. In fact, there is absolutely no way that you can get God to love you anymore than He does right now at this very second of your life. It is God’s nature and character to love each and everyone of us. We are told in the Bible that God is love. 

So then, because God’s love is unconditional and it’s not based on your performance, you should accept it, receive it, delight in it and experience it as a present from a loving Heavenly Father. So how can we not enjoy life in His love, His presence and His presents in our life.

Discussion Questions:

1. How important is love to human beings? Why do you think it is so important?
2. What are some words that describe God’s love?
3. What does the phrase “God so loved the world” in John 3:16 tell us about God’s love? How big is His love? Who does He love?
4. What is hard for me to understand or believe about His love?
5. Have I seen His love in action in my life? In what ways?