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Gentle Love

When we have sinned, if we come to God in brokenness, humility, and repentance, he will receive us with gentleness.

God's gentleness

Have you ever known a person in authority who is inconsiderate of the feelings of his subordinates, who is continually rough, harsh, or severe? Think of a teacher of first-grade children who regularly yells at all her students, both the good and the bad, and moves them around by grabbing their arms and dragging, or by pushing children where she wants them. Think of a boss who berates, threatens, and bullies employees when they don’t measure up to his impossible standards. Think of a bus driver who deals with all passengers with glaring looks and a hard voice.

God is not like that. God is gentle. He is harsh only in judgment. He is severe only when giving a needed warning.

God’s gentleness as seen in Jesus

Jesus, who is the exact representation of God, said of himself:

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30, ESV).

The soul finds no rest in the presence of a violent master. There is only intimidation, coercion, and fear. The soul finds no rest with a master who, with a high and heavy hand, exploits and abuses workers to get every last ounce of useful toil from them, then casts them aside.

Jesus is not like that; God the Father is not like that. He is Lord, but he is a gentle Lord, a kindly, amiable, and tender Master. He does put a yoke on us—like the yoke put on the necks of oxen plowing a field. It is the yoke of his commands, but it is an easy yoke and a light burden. “His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). For, his commands are good, wise, and life-giving. He puts on us the delightful yoke of love, for which we were created, in which we find fulfillment and joy, and through which we escape the acid-like selfishness and malice that destroy one’s soul. (Matthew 22:36–40; Romans 13:8–10)

Love is the gentle yoke of the Lord.

God’s gentleness in the Holy Spirit

Think of how God reveals his gentleness elsewhere in Scripture.

When the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus at his baptism, he came in the form of a dove, not a hawk.

When Elijah ran for his life from Jezebel, he came to Mount Horeb and hid himself in a cave. God revealed himself to Elijah and told him:

“‘Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.’ And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.” (1 Kings 19:11–12)

The Lord was in the whisper. Only in the gentleness of God did Elijah find courage to go out and meet him. “And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’” (1 Kings 19:13)

The bruised reed

Elijah did not need to wrap his face in his cloak. Elijah was a broken man, but Scripture says of the Lord, “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench” (Matthew 12:20). So gentle is the Lord that he does not break a reed, not even a bruised reed. So gentle is he that he refuses to quench between his wet fingers the wick smoldering in discouragement and sadness, but gently blows on the smoking wick until it flickers again into flame.

A sinful woman kneeled at the feet of Jesus as he reclined at table eating. She wept tears of repentance and gratitude on his feet and anointed them with perfume. She wiped them with her hair. It was quite a scene, for Jesus was eating at the home of a Pharisee. How easy it would have been for Jesus in embarrassment and with a sense of decorum to quickly put a stop to her. But he let it go on long enough even to tell a parable and instruct the Pharisee. Finally Jesus spoke to the woman, and his first words were not a rebuke, not a correct description of her many wrongs, but rather a gentle “Your sins are forgiven.” He went on: “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7:36–50)

A bruised reed he will not break.

Paul spoke of “the meekness and gentleness of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:1).

God’s gentleness with Peter

The apostle Peter knew what it was like to make mistakes and receive firm correction from Jesus when needed, but he also tasted of the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Peter ran away with the other disciples when Jesus was captured in the Garden of Gethsemane, and a few hours later he denied the Lord three times. That is no small matter. That is betrayal.

But sometime after his resurrection Jesus appeared to Peter, who had already wept tears of sorrow and repentance after the cock crowed. Jesus did not rebuke Peter for the denials as he had rebuked him for other failures. Peter had already recognized his sin, and his repentance was firmly in place.

Knowing this, Jesus restored him gently with soul-searching questions:

“When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ He said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ He said to him a second time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ He said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’ He said to him the third time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ and he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep.’” (John 21:15–17)

When gentleness is not loving

Still, no one should mistake the gentleness of Jesus for weakness toward sin. When the money changers had turned the temple into a market, Jesus made a whip of cords and “drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables” (John 2:15).

When Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, he called them hypocrites, children of hell, blind guides, blind fools, whitewashed tombs, serpents, a brood of vipers, and murderers. (Matthew 23)

When correcting and warning hardened sinners, Jesus was not Mr. Rogers. You don’t break concrete with a pillow; you break it with a hammer. Jesus knows what is needed for the job at hand, and so does the Father.

Our way and God’s way

Our way: Fallen people want God to deal gently with them even when they persist stubbornly in sin. They may not respect God’s gentleness.

God’s way: He will be as gentle with you as possible, as gentle as you and love will allow.

Life principle: When we have sinned, we can be encouraged to know that if we come to God in brokenness, humility, and repentance, he will receive us with gentleness. We don’t have to protect ourselves from God but can place ourselves in his hands. We can take the yoke of Jesus upon us without fear that he will whip and drive us. Our souls can find rest in Jesus.

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Patient Love

In his great love, the Lord is patient with us, and we need to learn to be patient with him.

To understand God’s patience, you need to sit in front of a high chair and feed a one-year-old. Feeding a toddler takes a long time. They don’t just eat their food; they play with it. They play with you. Toddlers press their little fingers into the sweet potatoes and wipe them on their face. They shut their mouths tightly when mom presents the tiny spoon that holds one or two Cheerios. They spread food on the table and throw it on the floor.

And mom is in a hurry. She has 20 other things to do. But you cannot rush a one-year-old in the long, long process of eating. How do moms do it, several times a day, for years? How do moms not lose it emotionally again and again and scream at their kid to eat?

Moms can wait because they love their children. “Love is patient” (1 Corinthians 13:4). Moms don’t always feel love, but they always want what’s best for their kids.

God’s patient love

“God is love,” says 1 John 4:8, and therefore like a good mother God is patient. He waits for us. He is longsuffering and forbearing. The Lord endures our wrongdoing, weaknesses, and failures. He does not treat us as an ambitious, driven manager might treat a slow employee, but as a parent treats a beloved child.

He is like a farmer who patiently waits for the crops to grow and ripen. God waits for us to become the people he wants us to be.

Romans 2:4 speaks of “the riches” of God’s “forbearance and patience.” If God’s patience was measured in dollars, he would be wealthier than all the millionaires and billionaires of the world put together.

In God’s great definition of his own nature to Moses, he describes himself as “slow to anger” (Exodus 34:6).

Examples of God’s patience

For example, God allowed the wicked Amorites to hold their ground in the Promised Land for 400 years until their sin reached its full measure. Only then did God deliver the nation of Israel from Egypt and bring them into the Promised Land to give it to them as their possession. (Genesis 15:13–16)

During the time of the kings who followed David, God endured the sinfulness of the kings and the nation of Israel for hundreds of years before finally, regretfully turning them over to Assyria and Babylon and sending them into exile.

Exhibit A

The apostle Paul wrote that God worked in his life with the purpose of showing God’s patience for all to see: “I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:16).

Paul says, “formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent” (1 Timothy 1:13). The Book of Acts details this:

“Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” (Acts 8:3)

Paul testified to others: “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women” (Acts 22:4)

“I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.” (Acts 26:9–11)

Paul carried on this violent opposition for 1–2 years! In God’s inscrutable wisdom, he patiently endured this opposition and then finally knocked Saul to the ground with blazing light and revealed Jesus to him. Paul says this two-year period displayed the “perfect patience” of Jesus (1 Timothy 1:16).

Waiting for your patient God

No doubt, those Christians that Paul was persecuting had their struggles with God’s perfect patience in this case, but God brought about the highest good through it. There are many times in your life when God’s perfect patience may seem imperfect to you. But his patience always has a good, eternal purpose.

Scripture says:

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

“For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.” (Psalm 90:4)

The Lord waited until Abraham was 75-years-old and Sarah was 65 to promise them a miracle child, and then he waited 25 more years to fulfill the promise.

Jesus has been coming soon for over 2,000 years.

Presumption

But we must never presume on the patience of God. In the Book of Revelation, Jesus told one church:

“I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.” (Revelation 2:20–23)

God’s patience is long but not endless. “Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4)

Love and mysteries

God’s loving, wise patience explains many of his inscrutable ways with us and the people in the Bible.

God’s loving patience explains why at times he seems slow to administer justice.

God’s patience explains why some notorious sinners live long and prosper.

God’s loving patience explains why we so often must wait on the Lord. Sometimes God seems slower to act than a glacier moving across the earth, than an oak tree growing in a field. If love is patient, then God is clearly the most loving being in the universe.

God’s loving patience explains why we must wait for the answer to many prayers and the fulfillment of many promises. He “acts for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4).

We must wait because God is love, and his love is patient.

Our way and God’s way

Our way: We want God to be patient with us, but we don’t want to have to be patient with God. Sinners dangerously presume on the patience of God.

God’s way: In love, in perfect wisdom, he seeks our highest good by waiting to act.

Life principle: Therefore,

  1. Don’t give up on your prayers and faith.
  2. Don’t give up on yourself.
  3. Don’t give up on the souls of sinners.
  4. Don’t give up on our nation.
  5. “Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” (Psalm 27:14)
  6. Be as patient with God as he is patient with you. You’re in a long, slow dance with a patient God.
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16 Ways God Is Faithful

God is faithful

In love, God is faithful.

Here are 16 ways he promises to be faithful to you:

1. God is faithful to tell you the truth.

“God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19)

2. Specifically related to that, God is faithful:

*To do what he says, to uphold his Word:

“Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.” (Psalm 119:89)

Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)

*To keep his promises:

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23)

“By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.” (Hebrews 11:11)

Joshua said, “And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed.” (Joshua 23:14)

* To tell you his true plans and fulfill them.

The apostle Paul wrote, “Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No.” (2 Corinthians 1:17–18)

“So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.” (Hebrews 6:17–18)

“O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.” (Isaiah 25:1)

3. God is faithful to his character and truth even if you are unfaithful.

“If we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13)

4. God is faithful to answer prayers of faith.

“Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!” (Psalm 143:1)

5. God is faithful to keep you from tests and temptation that are too great for you.

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

6. Jesus as high priest is faithful to propitiate your sins before God.

“Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:17)

7. God is faithful to forgive your sins and cleanse you of all unrighteousness.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

8. God is faithful to sanctify you completely and make you blameless at the coming of Jesus.

“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24)

I invite you to read my weekly posts about knowing God and his ways better. —Craig Brian Larson

9. God is faithful both to afflict you when necessary and to comfort you in that affliction.

“I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. Let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant.” (Psalm 119:75–76)

“And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.” (Hebrews 12:5–10)

10. God is faithful to establish you and guard you against the evil one.

“But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.” (2 Thessalonians 3:3)

11. When you suffer and are persecuted, God is faithful to protect your soul.

“Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” (1 Peter 4:19)

12. God is faithful ultimately to cause the rulers of the world to honor Jesus as Lord.

Concerning the Messiah, Isaiah wrote, “Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”“ (Isaiah 49:7)

13. God is faithful to establish the earth.

“Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.” (Psalm 119:90)

14. God is faithful to sustain you to the end.

“[God] will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:8–9)

15. God is faithful to keep covenant and steadfast love to all generations.

“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations” (Deuteronomy 7:9)

“I will not remove from [David] my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips. Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David.” (Psalm 89:33–35)

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22–23)

16. God is faithful to betroth his people to himself forever.

“And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.” (Hosea 2:18–20)

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Faithful Love

You can trust God because at the core of God’s idea of love is faithfulness. He is a covenant maker and a covenant keeper. He is a promise maker and a promise keeper. He is a truth teller and a truth keeper. The Lord values permanent relationships.

trust God

Lamentations 3:22–23 says, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

The Lord’s love for you is steadfast and faithful.

You can trust God for everything that really matters.

Many relationships fall out, lose steam, break, even end in betrayal. But not your relationship with God, for he will never betray you, never become bored with you, never lose interest in you, never weaken in his devotion and commitment to you.

God is a relater. He loves people. He loves relationships, permanent relationships, truthful relationships.

You can trust God because he is a covenant keeper

The Lord is a covenant maker and a covenant keeper. He wants covenants and commitments with others. He made a covenant with Noah and his descendants after the flood, which is why we have rainbows. He made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants. He made a covenant with the nation of Israel.

Jesus made a covenant with all those who follow him: “In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’” (1 Corinthians 11:25 ESV)

God is the polar opposite of Judas and treacherous humanity.

God is absolutely faithful to his covenants. At the core of God’s idea of love is faithfulness.

You can trust God because he is a promise keeper

Moreover, God is a promise maker and promise keeper. He relates to us on the basis of promises he makes to act in certain ways, which he requires us to believe. Through this, he wants to display his faithfulness. He delights to show his faithfulness to his promises.

God made promises to Adam and Eve, to Noah and his descendants, to Abraham and Sarah, to Isaac and Rebekah—to everyone, everyone in the Old Testament, everyone in the New Testament. Jesus made promise after promise.

And God expects us to believe every one of them. They are important to him because faithfulness is important to him. Promises are God’s love language. It’s his way of relating to us. He delights to make promises, to see us believe his promises, and then to keep his own promises.

It offends God tremendously if we don’t believe his promises, don’t trust him. It offends him so much that it limits what blessings he pours into our lives. Unbelief restricts who God will be to us. (Mark 6:5–6; Hebrews 11:6; James 1:6–8)

You can’t know God apart from believing his promises. The sure way to see your relationship with God dry up is to stop believing what he says, to doubt the Bible. The sure way to see your relationship with God flourish is to believe his written Word without question, without qualification. When you trust his promises for however long is required, which sometimes takes many years, even decades, even a lifetime, even more than a lifetime, you will ultimately discover the perfect faithfulness of God.

You can trust God because he is a truth keeper

In his faithfulness, God is a truth teller and a truth keeper. He is perfectly faithful to truth, to reality, to all that he says, to all that he is. He is truth. (2 Timothy 2:13)

Truth and love never part ways in God. He is faithful to speak the truth in love. (Ephesians 4:15; 1 John 3:18; 2 John 1:1–3)

Deception is betrayal. Lies break relationships. Relationships are founded on trust, and trust is founded on truth.

At the core of God’s idea of love is truth.

Our way and God’s way

Our way: The love of fallen men is treacherous. They betray and fail each other. They break covenants and commitments. They divorce. They deceive. They don’t do what they say.

God’s way: God’s love is perfectly, absolutely faithful and true.

Life principle: Every day, morning and evening, God’s steadfast love calls for our praise. “It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night” (Psalm 92:1–2). God calls us to love him and one another with steadfast love and faithfulness. You need to trust in God’s steadfast love at all times, in every situation, no matter how difficult or painful your circumstances. In a world of shifting sand and miry clay, his faithfulness is your rock and his Word is your reality.

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Affectionate Love

To know God rightly you must know his heart.

heart of God

It might surprise you to know that some theologians believe that God does not feel affection for those he loves. They believe that he is like Spock in Star Trek, that God’s love is solely his will to do good for others and his kind actions, but not something emotional.

Some of these theologians are heavily influenced by philosophical reasoning, and they don’t want to define God as a being who is determined in any way by his creation or susceptible to doing anything but what he freely, dispassionately, chooses to do. (The technical term for this view is the impassibility of God. Thomas Aquinas taught the idea, and the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England affirmed it, describing God in article one as “without…passions.”)

The heart of Jesus

Of course, you could never get that idea from reading the Bible.

The apostle Paul writes to one church, “God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:8). So, Paul says he has affection like the affection Jesus has. Hence, Jesus has affection. He has feelings of pleasure in other people, warmth, fondness, liking, the enjoyment of being together, and when apart having a longing and yearning to be together again.

At the Last Supper, one of the last times he would be together with his twelve disciples, and with the agony of the cross only hours away, Jesus told his friends, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15). With all that lay before him what Jesus dearly wanted was to be with his friends. Because he liked them. He loved them.

In the pages of the Gospel of John, the writer referred to himself as the one whom Jesus loved (John 20:2; 21:20). Not that Jesus did not love the others, but John knew in the depths of his soul, by experience, that Jesus loved him, and he could not think of Jesus without an awareness of his love for him. One does not say that about a person as cold as stone or as uncaring as a computer.

The apostle Peter, who of course had firsthand, face-to-face, eye-to-eye experience with Jesus for three years, wrote, “He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

At the grave of his friend Lazarus, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35).

Affection in his eyes

When a wealthy young man asked Jesus what to do to inherit eternal life, Jesus recited to him several of the Ten Commandments. The man responded, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth” (Mark 10:20).

“And Jesus, looking at him, loved him” (v. 21). That is a telling description. Jesus loved him, even though the man was a sinner who loved his wealth more than God, as the rest of the narrative shows. But it doesn’t just say Jesus loved him; it says, “looking at him” he loved him. Jesus’ look was a knowing look, a thinking look, a seeing-into-the-depths-of-another-person’s-soul-as-only-God-can-do look. Yet, knowing all that he knew, Jesus still loved him. Jesus looked at that man with affection. His eyes revealed holy love.

“Jesus, looking at him, loved him…” This is a microcosm of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” God the Father looked at our world of fallen, lost people and loved us.

The heart of God, the heart of a dear father

So, Jesus feels love; he doesn’t just do loving actions or will the good. And Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

Jesus teaches us to call God our Father, just as he always addressed God as Father, and he even set the example of addressing God as Abba (Mark 14:36), an Aramaic term expressing warm affection and the confidence that a young child has when approaching a father. Weaned children learning their first words called their father Abba, just as we would use Daddy. Eventually Abba gained an expanded use and was used also by adult children, but it always kept the warm, affectionate sense of “dear father,” just as some grown children will continue to use Daddy.

The Holy Spirit leads us likewise to use the term Abba in prayer. “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:15–16). “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6)

That Father God wants us and leads us by his Holy Spirit within to use the word Abba tells us volumes not only about how he wants us to feel about him but also about how he feels about us.

The heart of a mother and a husband

Elsewhere God even describes his feelings for his people as being like those of a mother for her children: “But Zion said, ‘The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.’ ‘Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.’” (Isaiah 49:14–15)

God frequently describes his love for his people to be like that of a husband for his wife. “For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name” (Isaiah 54:5) “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” (Isaiah 62:5) “And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.” (Hosea 2:19–20)

God’s marital relationship to his people was not merely a marriage of convenience, a living arrangement marked by a sterile fulfillment of duties and roles. God’s heart was in this relationship. God revealed this by describing his jealous protection of the relationship and his intense feelings of anger and rejection when Israelites worshiped other gods, which God described as adultery. God feels not only warm affection but also intense love for us.

Tender, Trinitarian love

Isaiah says, “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.” (Isaiah 40:11 ESV) Those are not the actions of a cold God. The God who is our shepherd is a warm God.

God the Father showed his tenderness at the Baptism of Jesus, announcing over him in a voice from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)

Jesus said that God the Father loves us with the same love that he loves Jesus. Jesus prayed, “I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (John 17:23) Because of Jesus and his atoning sacrifice on the cross, God the Father speaks over us, These are my beloved children, with whom I am well pleased.

A heart of warm embrace

I have saved my favorite display of the affectionate, tenderhearted love of God till last. Jesus knew his Father perfectly, and when he told the Parable of the Prodigal Son, here is how he described the father’s reaction to his son’s arrival at home after coming to his senses in the pig sty:

“While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.” (Luke 15:20-24 ESV)

That is not the response of a cold, calculating patriarch. Our Father God has the heart of one who runs and embraces and kisses you, who celebrates your relationship, who rejoices to have you home again and with him forever.

Our way and God’s way

Our way: We may think of God as distant, remote, and uncaring. Yet, the great longing of the human heart is for the tender love and concern of the Father.

God’s way: He has feelings, strong feelings. He has affection, not only compassion for the hurting but also warm affection for the people he loves. He feels love.

Life principle: To know God rightly you must know his heart. Until we experience God’s love and know him as Abba and as the Savior who cares for us, we will feel and act like orphans. Knowing God’s heart will satisfy your soul and anchor you emotionally in him.

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Healing Love

God’s healing love delights to take action now to fix what is wrong in our lives.

God's healing love

I know someone with a serious medical problem who desperately wants to be healed. She is trying everything the medical profession can offer. Unfortunately, she believes that prayer may offer emotional support but no real help for her physical condition. Prayer is sweet but not powerful and effective (James 5:16).

Do you believe that God loves you in a way that includes not only sympathy and good intentions but also compassionate action, even supernatural action when necessary? Do you believe God loves you in a way that can change your situation and meet your need now?

God’s healing love here and now

This was the question when Jesus spoke with a grieving woman whose brother had died days before. He was already buried in a tomb. Yet when Jesus met her, he spoke an astonishing promise: “Your brother will rise again” (John 11:23).

The woman, named Martha, responded cautiously: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (John 11:24).

She believed that God could fix the problem in the future when God restores all things and inaugurates the eternal kingdom. But she was not at that point able to believe that Jesus meant to say in that moment he was able and willing to raise the already decomposing body of her brother Lazarus from the dead.

Yet that was precisely what Jesus intended. For he then said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26)

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection” not “I will someday be the resurrection” (though that is also of course true). He wanted Mary to know that his love included the current and immediate fixing of problems. His love is a healing love now, a saving love now, a delivering love now, a restoring love now. Jesus’ love is the answer for our needs here and now.

It is one thing to believe he is able to heal us. It is another to believe he is willing to heal us. It is another still to believe he can heal us now.

Jesus continually expressed God’s healing love

Jesus made that clear years earlier at the beginning of his public ministry. He went to the synagogue in his home town of Nazareth on the Sabbath, and when it was time to read Scripture, “the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:17–19)

Emotional support is good; healing is better. Jesus healed people everywhere he went, the blind, the lame, the deaf, the crippled, the dead. He delivered people from demons. His mission was search and rescue.

“When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” (Matthew 14:14)

“Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.’” (Mat 15:32) And Jesus proceeded to perform the miracle of feeding thousands of people from seven loaves of bread and a few fish.

On another occasion, meeting two blind men, “Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him” (Mat 20:34).

And so it is now. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb 13:8).

Our way and God’s way

Our way: We may believe in a small God who loves us but can’t or won’t do anything in the here and now to change our needy situations.

God’s way: He has the love of a big God who is able and willing to rescue us in our lifetime from whatever is broken in us. The timing is his, and the answer may require our patience, but he invites us to pray and believe for immediate answers.

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Compassionate Love

Does God have compassion when you suffer?

God's compassion

When we suffer, we can take comfort and hope in knowing that God cares, that he has compassion on us, and that in love he heals.

Jesus demonstrated this when he met a leper who had faith to be healed but was uncertain of the Lord’s willingness.

Mark 1:40–42 says, “Then a man with leprosy came to him and, on his knees, begged him: ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched him. ‘I am willing,’ he told him. Be made clean.’ Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean” (CSB).

God’s love is not aloof and uncaring. This man’s disease and pain moved the heart of Jesus. And because, in love, Jesus cared, and because he had the ability to heal what was broken, he acted.

God the Father’s compassion

From beginning to end, the Bible reveals that God’s love is compassionate. His heart is moved by human suffering. He feels pity and sympathy for those in pain and desires to alleviate disease.

2 Corinthians 1:3 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” (NIV). So, as always, by his compassionate, merciful actions Jesus perfectly demonstrates the heart of God the Father. That is, it is not just Jesus who is compassionate, while the Father is uncaring.

Far from it! This verse describes God as “the Father of compassion.” The Greek word translated “compassion” in this verse is oiktirmos, which according to one lexicon means compassion, pity, mercy, the bowels in which compassion resides, emotions, longings, manifestations of pity.

This of course is in full harmony with what God reveals about himself in the Old Testament. In one of the most important revelations that God gave to humanity of his nature, God passed before Moses and proclaimed his name, that is, his identity, saying: “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness….” (Exodus 34:6, NIV). The first quality God uses to describe himself here in the Old Testament is “compassionate.”

Examples of God’s compassion in the first chapters of Genesis

God showed this over and over again. When pain first fell upon the only two members of the human race, Adam and Eve, when they sensed shame at being naked and guilty, God of his own accord made for them clothing (Genesis 3:21). In this act and in other ways, although he had just pronounced judgment on them, he also showed them mercy.

When Cain killed his brother Abel, and God pronounced judgment in the form of banishment, Cain cried out, “‘My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.’ Then the LORD said to him, ‘Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.’ And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.” (Gen. 4:13–15, ESV) We might have expected God to say to the first murderer, “Cain, that’s what you deserve.” But no; in surprising compassion, God protected a murderer from violence.

God’s compassion in healing and deliverance

This is the heart of God. Certainly he judges righteously, yet he also shows mercy and tenderness even to guilty sinners who sincerely turn to him in their need.

So, when we suffer in any form—physically, emotionally, financially and materially, relationally—and we suspect that our sins may have brought this upon us, and consequently we wonder whether God will help us, we can rest assured that God has compassion toward all who turn to him in humility and repentance.

And because he is compassionate, he acts to heal our brokenness. He cares and he heals. That is one of the most prominent features of the ministry of Jesus. Everywhere he went he healed those who believed and delivered them from demons. And the Bible often makes a point of the fact that those healed had been especially guilty of sin.

God cares

Knowing God’s compassion, whatever your need or sickness, emotional or physical, you should “humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6–7, ESV).

Our way and God’s way

Our way: When we suffer pain, we may wonder whether God has compassion because we cannot see God and our suffering may continue despite our prayers.

God’s way: He is the most compassionate being in the universe whether we feel it or not and whether we are healed or not. God is infinitely more compassionate than even the most merciful human.

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Inseparable Love

You cannot be separated from God’s love if you sincerely love him.

Separated from God's love

Separable

A few years ago my wife Nancy was sitting in our Sunday morning worship service when she glanced at her left hand and then did a double-take. The diamond on her wedding band was gone. She had a mild panic and began looking around, on her lap, the adjacent chair, the floor—no diamond. She began crying. When we got home, she searched our apartment. No diamond.

We never did find it and were deeply disappointed.

This is a picture of life. We lose things we love. We lose people we love. And the more that happens, and the more painful the losses, the easier it becomes to fear losing what we now have and love.

I will never forget the sudden emptiness in my soul when at age 18 I moved away to college three-months early, on Memorial Day weekend, in order to train with the gymnastics team for the summer. The house I moved into was virtually empty except for one or two other students because most everyone went home for the holiday weekend. I experienced homesickness for the first time, and the sense of pain and loss was sudden, acute, and took me completely by surprise. It really hurt.

Far greater still was the painful surprise 15 years later when my mother and father were in a car accident, and my mother died a few days afterward at age 62. That was the first time I experienced the death of an immediate family member, and it was a shock to my emotions. I grieved for months. I felt pain I had never felt before. At the funeral I remember vividly how difficult it was to believe that she was now separated from me in a way I could not overcome. I could not talk to her or be with her. We were truly separated, at least until we are reunited in heaven. This was not like going away to college and feeling homesick, for then I could write letters to my family, talk on the phone, and go home if I really wanted to go home. No, when my mother died, we were truly separated.

God’s inseparable love

These memories of loss and separation help me appreciate fully one more quality of God’s love. The Lord promises that if we will sincerely follow Jesus, nothing we experience can separate us from his love. Nothing.

In Romans 8, which many people regard as the greatest chapter in the Bible, Paul describes all the ways that God has graciously expressed his love and goodness toward us in Christ. Then he turns to the opposition that Christians face. In the Roman world at that time, following Christ could bring violent, government-sanctioned persecution. What’s more, serving Christ to spread the gospel, as Paul did, meant great hardship. In the face of all these troubles, did Paul feel as though he had somehow lost God’s love?

Far from it. Rather, he writes:

“ 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  36 As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’  37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35–39)

Nothing

Paul was not writing in rhetorical metaphors when he spoke of tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword. He had experienced each of these threats firsthand except for the sword—that would come later. But he was certain that none of these things could rob him of God’s love. Neither could death. Neither could supernatural beings like angels or demons or mighty spiritual powers in heavenly places. Neither could any other created thing that any person can face in any place, at any time then or now. They cannot separate us from God’s love. We can separate ourselves from God’s saving love, as Judas did, but nothing outside of us can do that to us.

Tenacious

So, we do not have to fear losing God’s love. His love for you is like the love Ruth pledged to her mother-in-law Naomi, only greater. When Naomi urged Ruth, now a widow, a Gentile, a Moabite, to return home to her family and people, Ruth responded: “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you” (Ruth 1:16–17).

Ruth’s love was humanly tenacious. With none of the weaknesses of fallen humans, God’s love is divinely, perfectly tenacious. He promises to stand by you. You can count on it. No created thing can separate you from the Almighty Creator’s love.

Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10:27–29)

So, fear not; God’s love for you is far stronger and more tenacious than your love for him.

Our way and God’s way

Our way: We may stop loving others. We may run out of love. Due to our own fault, we may fall out with others; divorce others. Our love can be fickle and self-centered.

God’s way: God’s love is tenacious. His love never ends for those who sincerely love him. His love does finally come to an end for those who persist in rejecting him.

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God’s Universal Kindness

No matter how painful our lives are or have been, we all have tasted enough of the kindness of God to love him and worship him forever.

In Kindness God Sends Rain on the Just and the Unjust

I was speaking with a relative recently who has lived long and experienced much hardship, suffering, and loss. In such seasons she has repeatedly experienced help from other people that enabled her to survive and cope. She has never forgotten the kindnesses people have shown in her times of need, and she lives to do the same for others. She said, “The human virtue that I value most is kindness.”

She is not the only one.

It is kindness, God’s kindness, that draws us to him.

God sends rain on the just and the unjust

God is both benevolent, as we saw in my previous post, and beneficent. These words do not have the same meaning.

Webster’s dictionary defines beneficent as “doing or producing good” especially in the sense of “performing acts of kindness and charity.” Last week we looked at God’s goodwill, which is an attitude; today we look at his good actions.

Acts 17:25 says God “himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”

Psalm 145:9, 15, 16 says, “The LORD is good to all, and hismercy is over all that he has made…. The eyes of all look to you, and you givethem their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire ofevery living thing.”

Jesus said that our Father in heaven “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).

God does good things for everyone, even those who reject him and do extreme evil. He shows universal kindness.

For example, our five senses

God gives not only sunshine and rain to all kinds of people, even to those who do not return his love as they should, but also such wonderful gifts as the five human senses: eyesight to look upon the beauties that fill the earth; hearing, which enables us to communicate with others and enjoy music; smell, which enables us to taste food (thanks be to God!) and enjoy the fragrances of flowers and nature; taste; and touch (imagine going through daily life with a body that could not sense touch, as though you received a 24/7, full-body novocaine shot).

Any one of these senses is a treasure by itself. All come from the God of universal kindness, not from evolution, not “mother nature,” not from chance, but from the deliberate design of the God who controls all things in your life even before you are born. If you have any physical senses, you should thank not your parents or your chromosomes, but your beneficent God. They are just one example of his kindness.

Entitled

One indicator of just how great is God’s universal kindness is how much people take their blessings for granted and either neglect to thank God or deny that he is the source of every good. God’s universal kindness is so great that people think that they deserve a life filled with good things. They think the world just ought to be filled with sunshine, rain, fertile soil, food of innumerable varieties, people, natural resources in the ground, blue sky and livable temperatures, green grass, beautiful and fruitful trees, flowers, birds, edible vegetables, animals, fish, clean water, music—to name just a few of our God’s universal kindnesses.

If we go to Mars or any other planet, we see that such a profusion of goodness is not automatic.

Obviously, not every person enjoys every kindness. In our fallen world, which groans under the consequences of sin, life in this world can be cruel, and people can suffer great harm, deprivation, and handicap. But even in those circumstances, there is goodness and mercy from God. There is the gift of existence as a conscious, living being, of this earthly life, and the offer of eternal life through God’s gift of Jesus Christ.

God’s love is beneficent, marked by universal kindness expressed to every person. It is an expression of his grace, his unmerited favor. And it also has a purpose: “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance” (Romans 2:4).

God’s wallet

I read one author who said he always carries a one-hundred-dollar bill in his wallet reserved for one purpose. He gives it away as God leads.

Likewise, God has an infinite number of one-hundred-dollar bills in his wallet, and he’s giving them all away, daily, over and over again, to every person in the world. He enjoys it. His beneficence is the tangible expression of his benevolence. His universal kindness is the concrete outworking of his goodwill.

Our way and God’s way

Our way: To feel that God owes us more.

God’s way: To lavish kindness on all.