GOD IS LOVE

 ANCHOR OF LIFE DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE For SATURDAY, 3RD JUNE, 2023.

TOPIC:  GOD IS LOVE

MEMORIZE: " And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."  1 John 4:16.

SCRIPTURE READING: 

“But God demonstrate His own (impersonal) love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).

EXPOSITION:

God is eternal, unchangeable love (1 John 4:8b “for God is love.”). His divine love is infinitely superior to human love. God does not depend on emotion to express His love. God needs no response, no reciprocation, no reassurance, no demonstrations of faithfulness to sustain His love. In fact, God’s love exists with or without a created object, because God loves His own perfect essence. The love of God is expressed in three categories.

1. Divine self-love, directed toward the perfect righteousness among the members of the Trinity, is totally justifies because of the character of God.

2. Divine personal love is directed toward all believers because they possess the perfect righteousness of God.

3. Divine impersonal love is directed toward all unbelievers as sinners (John 3:16 “"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”;  “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”Romans 5:8). God’s impersonal love is based on the integrity of God rather than the merit or attractiveness of mankind. {Impersonal love depends on the integrity of the one who loves; personal love depends on the attractiveness of the object of love. Divine impersonal love is the consistent function of the integrity of God toward imperfect people.}

 “God is love” applies to every member of the Trinity. The Father loves the Son and also expresses His love to us through the Son. “Father, I desire that they also (believers), whom Thou hast given Me (the Son), be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou didst love Me (divine self-love) before the foundation of the world.” John 17:24. “By this the love of God (the Father) was manifested in us, that God has sent His only (uniquely born) Son into the world so that we might live through Him.” 1 John 4:9.

Both the Father and Son loved us as much that Christ died for us. “But God demonstrate His own (impersonal) love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). The love of God is also demonstrated to us through the Holy Spirit. “Because the (personal) love of God (the Father) has been poured our within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” Rom. 5:8b. The personal love of God must be consistent with His own righteousness. Man can never meet God’s standard of righteousness. If God were to love imperfect man in the same way He loves the perfection of His essence, God would compromise His integrity.

The original man and woman, created perfect, were objects of God’s personal love. After the fall, Adam and Eve were defiled by sin. The righteousness of God demanded that divine justice replace personal love as the point of contact between God and man. Justice condemns all human beings (Rom. 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”), but likewise, only divine justice can save human beings. Motivated by God’s impersonal love for fallen humanity, the justice of God judged Jesus Christ on the cross for the sins of all mankind. Since Christ paid the penalty for sin, the justice of God without compromise to God’s integrity, imputes the righteousness of God to every believer at the moment of faith in Jesus Christ. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Cor. 5:21.

Since God loves his own perfect righteousness – wherever it is found – we now become objects of divine personal love. Nevertheless, because our salvation depends on His justification of us (Rom. 3:24-26 “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;  26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”), Hs justice continues to be the source of all our blessing and discipline. Knowing that God will not and cannot compromise His integrity, His justice is also the source of our comfort and encouragement. He personally and eternally loves us because we possess His righteousness.

PRAYER POINT:  Lord, help me to remain steadfast in your love in Jesus name.

DAILY BIBLE READING IN A YEAR –  Psalms 26-29.