“But God’s mercy is great, and He loves us very much. Though we were spiritually dead because of the things we did against God, He gave us new life with Christ”….Ephesians 2: 4,5
It may be human nature to find it difficult at times to believe that God’s love for us is unconditional. I think that may be because we assign all sorts of conditions to our own love for others when they disappoint us, hurt us, embarrass us, or damage us in any way. We counter after such behavior by being angry with the offenders, and a times even angry with God.
I remember my wife being amused once about the title of a book she read years ago. Its author was a teenager, and the title of the book was unusually long and compelling: “If God loves me so much, why can’t I get my locker open?” While that seems funny on the surface, it really is just a reminder that we are quick to judge God’s ways and His love toward us by our momentary feelings, forgetting that He spared not His own Son because He loves us so personally and perfectly.
I think we may be fearful of examining this gift of love to us because, if we look closely, we become well aware of our own inability to be good enough. But if we understand that the Son of God is much more than our “good enough”, it’s easier to see God’s beautiful declaration of love to us through His Son. His beautiful one and only Son. As Matthew Henry puts it, God delivered His Son up for us all, “not only for our good, but in our stead.”
What greater love could any of us receive than God’s uncommon and unconditional love toward us? We cannot even imagine!