Freedom is Good News Part 158

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3)

God has given to us many things.  Actually, God has given to us all things.  In our previous article I began to look at these things; the gifts that God has bestowed upon us.  I began by considering the gift of His word and all that we may learn from the scriptures, and just today I was writing a letter to a good friend who expressed to me that he was afraid to make a commitment to God because he did not want to fail.  He did not want to break a promise to God.  Have you ever felt this way? I have.

May I share with you a snippet from that letter:  “You mention that you have delayed in seeking baptism because you are afraid of betraying this promise and walking away from God.  I also had this fear.  It is a reasonable reaction to the call of God.  One of my true shortcomings as a person (in my former life) was to walk away from promises that I had made and I knew that I could never think of doing that to God.  But in the past 40 years I have realized that He makes it very difficult for us to walk away.  Not because He restrains us or shackles us, but because of His love for us.  And His love is so special and His presence in our life so wonderful, we just want more and more of whom He is.  His Holy Spirit does restrain us, but it’s a restraint from doing those things that will harm our relationship with God; we can ignore those chastisements from the Spirit, but His love for us compels us to turn to Him again and again; it is a beautiful thing to experience.”

The answer to my friend’s query is that the gift of God’s love is perfect in its expression and so it should be perfect in our reception. Yes, it has been my experience that God’s love is a tying bond that does not let us go.  How wonderful it is to be loved by the one who has given us life itself.  This, indeed, is one of the great gifts of God – His love.  “For God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”  The expression of His love took the form of the saving grace of His Son.

When I think of the many ways God shows us His love, I have a hard time putting the word “greatest” on any one of them.  There is a Psalm that drives home the point of the never ending love of our God – it is Psalm 37.  In it, the Psalmist tells us 26 times that “His love endures forever”.  In all ways and at all times God’s love is ours if we will accept it and so return it back to Him.  Don’t ever be afraid to make a commitment to the God who loves you so.

Some have said that God, in the Old Testament, is a harsh God.  But as I read it, His love for His people Israel is beyond compare.  And so it is today – God’s love for His people, the Church, is beyond our comprehension.  Let me say it again, “For God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” 

God’s love will never let us go.