The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, Classic Version, 2015Sample

The Love of God

God wants you to feel his love for you. He wants you to accept his love in your heart. You can receive his love in a new way today.

When my two year old grandson wants to feel his father’s love he raises both hands in the air and says, ‘Hugga Dadda’. My son picks up his son, lifts him into his arms, embraces him, kisses him and hugs him. It is a wonderful thing to hold a father’s hand but an incomparably greater thing to have his arms wrapped around you. This is an illustration of the experience of God’s love.

We know that God loves us through the cross: ‘God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us’ (Romans 5:8). We experience God’s love through the Holy Spirit: ‘God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us’ (Romans 5:5).

‘The whole Bible,’ St Augustine observes, ‘does nothing but tell of God’s love.’ Raniero Cantalamessa writes: ‘This is the message that supports and explains all the other messages. The love of God is the answer to all the “whys” in the Bible: the why of creation, the why of the incarnation, the why of redemption. If the written word of the Bible could be changed into a spoken word and become one single voice, this voice, more powerful than the roaring of the sea would cry out: “the Father loves you!” (John 16:27). Everything that God does and says in the Bible is love, even God’s anger is nothing but love. God “is” love!’  

Psalm 86:11-17

1. God’s love is great and personal

When you know the greatness of God’s love for you the response is worship: ‘I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever’ (v.12).

David knew it was the love of a personal God who cares for each individual. He writes, ‘You’ve always been great toward me – what love!’ (v.13, MSG). Like David, you are God’s ‘dear, dear child!’ (v.16, MSG).

It is God’s nature to love. ‘But you, O God, are both tender and kind, not easily angered, immense in love’ (v.15, MSG). He prays, ‘Make a show of how much you love me’ (v.17, MSG). He prayed, in the light of God’s love for him, for an ‘undivided heart’ (v.11b). He wanted to respond to God’s love for him by committing himself totally to God.  

Lord, thank you that your love for me is so great and so personal. You are compassionate and gracious, abounding in love and faithfulness. Give me an undivided heart.

Romans 4:16-5:11

2. God’s love is demonstrated and poured out

Do you believe that God really loves you? Or do you think that he is like other people who may have hurt or even rejected you? He wants you to receive his love by faith, believing that his love for you is greater than your failings, weaknesses and sin. God’s love will never let you down; he will never leave you or stop loving you.

Contrary to what many people think, God loves you and wants to give you life. He gives ‘life to the dead’ (v.17). Jesus came to give you life in all its fullness (John 10:10). He gave life to those who were dead. God raised Jesus to life from the dead. One day all who have died, in Christ, will also be given resurrection life.

Paul continues to describe Abraham’s faith. Abraham believed God’s promise that he and Sarah would have a child, even though it was no longer a human possibility.

We learn of Abraham that ‘no unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God, fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to keep His word and to do what He had promised’ (Romans 4:20–21, AMP). In other words, Paul reiterates, Abraham was justified by faith.

But justification by faith was not only for Abraham, ‘but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness – for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead’ (v.24). We too are justified by faith. ‘The sacrificed Jesus made us fit for God, set right with God’ (v.25, MSG).

Paul moves on to speak of the staggering consequences of this fact. Because we are ‘justified by faith’, we have ‘peace with God’. We have ‘gained access’ to his presence (5:1–2, MSG). You can draw near to him and speak to him each day, knowing that there is no barrier between you and him. ‘We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand – out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise’ (v.2, MSG).

‘There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles’ (v.3, MSG). We can rejoice in our sufferings: ‘Because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us’ (vv.2–5).

God’s love has flooded our innermost hearts. This experience of God’s love is deep and overwhelming. It is the regular ministry of the Holy Spirit to remind us of God’s love. If you have never had this experience of the Holy Spirit filling your innermost heart, I would encourage you simply to ask God to fill you now.

Paul has still more to say about God’s love. He says that even when you were against him, he sent Jesus to die for you. ‘But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us’ (v.8).

This is how we know God loves us. The Father allowed his only Son to be taken from his embrace and sent to the cross. Even though we did not deserve it – we were ungodly sinners – Jesus died for us. God did not spare his own son. He loves you that much.

If God loves you so much, you can be certain that your future is secure. ‘If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!’ (vv.10–11, MSG).

Lord, thank you so much that you died for me. Thank you that you love me so much and therefore I can be confident about my future. I ask that you would again pour your love into my heart by the Holy Spirit, and give me a deep inner knowledge of your love.

Amos 6:1-7:17

3. God’s love and grief

Do you know that God’s anger is nothing but love? Here we see an example of that. God’s anger is directed towards ‘complacent’ leaders (6:1):

‘Woe to those who live in luxury
   and expect everyone else to serve them!
Woe to those who live only for today,
   indifferent to the fate of others!
Woe to the playboys, the playgirls,
   who think life is a party held just for them!
Woe to those addicted to feeling good – life without pain!
   those obsessed with looking good – life without wrinkles!
They could not care less
   about their country going to ruin’ (vv.4–6, MSG).

It is not so much that they enjoy the good things of life – none of which are sinful in themselves. Rather, it is because they don’t care about the state of the people of God. God hates pride and arrogance (vv.6,8) that fails to acknowledge our need of him and keeps us from experiencing his love for us and loving others as he loves them.

If the leaders had loved God’s people, as God loved them, they would have grieved over their country going to ruin.

Amos was an example of someone who did care and did do something. He interceded for the people (7:1–6).

Amos was an ordinary person: ‘I never set up to be a preacher, never had plans to be a preacher. I raised cattle and I pruned trees. Then God took me off the farm and said, ‘Go preach to my people Israel’ (vv.14–15, MSG). God was not content to simply watch injustice flourish. He loved his people too much for that. He raised up Amos to warn them of the consequences of what they were doing, and to call them to turn back to his ways.

Like Amos we want to pray and intercede for our nation:

‘Sovereign Lord, forgive!’ (v.2). In your great love, have mercy upon us. Thank you that you love your church and that you, ‘who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead’ (Romans 4:24), have power to bring life to the dead. Lord, we pray that you would raise up more people who hear your words and speak them with courage and power.

Pippa Adds

Amos 6:4a

‘You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge on your couches.’

The chance would be a fine thing!

Notes:

Raniero Cantalamessa, Life in Christ, (Liturgical Press, 2002) p.7.

Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.

Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.