Born Free: 16 Principles to Help You Be Freeনমুনা

Principle 12: God’s Love Cannot Be Earned

Now we come to power principle number twelve: Love in response to goodness is not love—it is the reward. “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples” (Deuteronomy 7:7). “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

I have wonderful daughters. A lot better than yours! But let me tell you something: My daughters are not perfect, and I’m glad that they aren’t. Because if they had been perfect, they would never have known that I loved them. It was only when they were not lovable that they knew I loved them. Why? Because love in response to goodness isn’t love—it is the reward.

One of the principles I teach seminary students: The effectiveness of the Word is not dependent upon the purity of the preacher. Allow me to let you in on a preacher’s secret: If you want to see a man who is confessed up and completely forgiven of all known sin, look at me right before I teach a seminar or preach a sermon. I want you to know that I confess every known sin I have ever committed, and even some that I haven’t committed! And I have called people across the country and asked them to forgive me so that things would be straight between us before I preached. I do all that because preaching and teaching scare me to death, and I don’t want to go into any pulpit with any unconfessed sin.

But let me tell you something else. Sometimes I haven’t had time to confess, and have been totally out of fellowship with Christ, angry, judgmental, and bitter. I have gone into the pulpit expecting that God would destroy me. Yet that is when I have preached my most effective sermons! Love in response to goodness is not love—it is the reward. You don’t earn love. If you earn it, it isn’t love. So, when the Bible talks about love and grace, it is always in the context of sin and rebellion. The Prodigal Son is not the exception of love, but the very definition of it.