Gracious Love

We are the unworthy beneficiaries of a generous-hearted God. We are the recipients of his gracious love.

“The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love’” (Exodus 34:6).

God’s love is gracious. Because of his grace, God loves us before we are good, before we are lovely.

Grace means giving to others what they do not deserve or have not earned. Grace is the overflow of God’s infinite love, goodness, and kindness, which is so great that he delights to bless even those who have offended and rejected him.

When God loved us in our sins, it was not as though he was a dog lover who walked by a pet rescue center, saw a cute, sad-eyed puppy in the window, and just couldn’t help himself but had to take that puppy home to the family. No, God’s love for sinners is his overflowing grace that delights to extravagantly love and show immeasurable kindness to those who least deserve it. In his grace, God chose to love people who were an abomination to him. He didn’t feel good about fallen sinners. Far from it.

For example, read the story of how God felt about the people of the world prior to his sending the deluge in Noah’s time: “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them’” (Genesis 6:5–7 ESV).

I’m going to give some Scriptures now that may shock you. You may even think I have lost it theologically, but please read to the end so you get my full, balanced explanation, and why it is important to understand and believe what these Scriptures say if we are to understand his love, grace, and gospel. If you don’t read to the end, you will misunderstand me.

Here we go. Notice in Scripture how God feels about both sin and sinners: “There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers” (Proverbs 6:16–19). Notice that it is not just lies that God abominates; it is also the false witness who speaks them. It is not just discord that God hates; it is also the one who sows it.

As Psalm 5:4–6 says: “You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.”

It sounds shocking to say God “hates evildoers,” but it cannot be otherwise. God is perfectly good, and perfect goodness cannot be indifferent about evil. Perfect goodness must hate and oppose evil. For example, a perfectly good father wants the good of his child and therefore hates any evil that could harm his child.

To use another example, no one would suggest that God could be indifferent toward the evil of Adolf Hitler or the mass shooters who plague American society. If God is perfectly good, he must hate the evil of a sociopath, or any other evil that God recognizes as such but that we often minimize or overlook because we are guilty of these evils or know someone who is guilty. (See Hebrews 1:8–9, in which God says of Jesus, “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.”)

You may be thinking, Wait a minute; the Bible says God hates the sin but loves the sinner. That is an appealing saying, but it is not in the Bible. There is certainly a sense that God loves the sinner, but it is emphatically not that he feels good about them. God loves sinners in the sense that he cares about them, wants them to be saved from the guilt of sin, offers his Son Jesus to them as Savior, and for the present time patiently shows undeserved kindness to them in hope that they will repent and become children in whom he delights.

So when God loves sinners, it is an act of grace, not attraction. He gives love and chooses (Exodus 33:19) to have compassion on and show mercy to those who do not deserve it and in fact actually provoke his holy and just wrath and hatred. He gives extravagant love to his enemies (Matthew 5:43–45). In love he gave his beloved Son Jesus for sinners. That was the greatest expression of gracious love in human history (John 3:16–19). Jesus came to express and display the gracious love of God and his choice to show compassion and mercy to sinners (John 1:14–18).

But Jesus loved sinners

Still, this just does not sit right. If God loathes stubborn, proud, unbelieving sinners and regards them as his enemies, why did Jesus in his lifetime not express that? Jesus was the friend of sinners. He hung around tax collectors and showed kindness to prostitutes. He expressed compassion for those in bondage to Satan’s torments.

What’s more, it was the Pharisees—the bad guys of the Gospels—who despised sinners, while Jesus loved sinners and defended them from the Pharisees. And Jesus said he was the perfect reflection of God the Father.

So the idea that God in one sense loathes and—in another, limited sense—graciously loves sinners seems unthinkable.

Understanding the seeming contradiction

Three truths explain the paradox.

1. Jesus introduced a special period when God is offering mercy. In the salvation offered through Jesus, God opened a window of opportunity that will one day shut. In Jesus, God offers his gracious love (hence the topic of this post). God is offering his love to all, to the undeserving, the idol worshipers, the arrogant and rebellious, inviting them to humble themselves, repent, follow Jesus, and be saved. This is the gracious era of salvation, and Jesus offered it during his ministry. For this limited era, Jesus came not to condemn, but to save.

But this is only a season. This is not a permanent state of affairs. This door will close.

The New Testament says: “‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Again, the New Testament says, “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? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil” (Romans 2:4–9)

The Book of Revelation also makes clear that this period of God’s gracious, loving welcome to sinners will come to an end. When it does, the wrath of God that never left his heart but has been stored up against unrepentant sinners will finally be expressed in a great and terrible judgment. And it will be expressed not just by God the Father, but also by Jesus (see Revelation 6:16; 14:10; 19:11–21). As always, Jesus is perfect theology.

2. Jesus came to be our mediator and high priest. He came to mediate between us and God. Even though in his hatred of evil, God was against us, in gracious love he chose also to be for us (Romans 8:31–32) by sending a mediator who could satisfy his holy wrath, turning it away from us by taking it upon himself at the cross. The cross is the unmistakable evidence that God never lost his hatred of evil and evildoers, but in gracious love chose to save evildoers through the blood of Jesus.

So, Jesus showed kindness rather than hostility to sinners because that was his special role as the Mediator, the High Priest, the Savior, and the Lamb of God. Sinful humans could not come near to God without a mediator and Savior. This merciful, mediating role does not deny God’s wrath toward sinners, but rather emphatically affirms it. There would be no need for a mediating high priest if God felt good about sinners.

3. During his earthly ministry, Jesus actually did display God’s wrath and hostility toward some sinners. These sinners were of course primarily the Pharisees, and Jesus did not treat them warmly because most of them were beyond salvation, for they knew better and had hardened their hearts.

Jesus felt anger toward them: “Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Come here.’ And he said to them, ‘Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?’ But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored” (Mark 3:1–5).

In his words he expressed utter loathing for them: “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?” (Matthew 23:33) (Read the full-length, scathing declaration of Jesus’ loathing for the Pharisees here: Matthew 23:15–35).

Pharisees were not the only ones toward whom Jesus expressed the wrath of God: “In the temple [Jesus] found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he 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 2:14–15). That’s not nice, nor is it warm and welcoming, nor is it merciful.

Avoiding the pharisees’ error

As important as the truth of this post is, it can lead to error. Again, it was the error of the Pharisees. They hated sinners, even though they themselves were grievous sinners, blind to their own wickedness. Jesus condemned them for hypocrisy, selfishness, greed, hardness of heart, self-righteousness, injustice, godlessness. They thought they were good enough for God. They imagined they had kept the requirements of the law of Moses and judged others for not keeping it.

Why this is important

The reason this difficult truth is important to believe is it compels us to speak the gospel to lost people and urge them to come to Christ. If we believe God has warm and fuzzy love for everyone regardless of what they do or believe, we easily assume that God will certainly forgive and accept everyone but the most hardened sociopathic killers. It reminds us that apart from Jesus, the people you know and love are lost and facing eternal condemnation. You need to risk offending them by talking to them about the good news of Jesus.

And these truths give the proper warning to non-Christians that all is not well between them and their Creator. In fact, they are living under the shadow of a coming storm worse than any hurricane (Romans 1:18; 2:5, 8). God loves them, but he does not accept them and will certainly judge them if they do not trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins.

Our way and God’s way

Our way: We think God loves us because we are lovable, because we are good.

God’s way: God gives you his love based not on your merits or your loveliness but rather based solely on his grace. He gives love you do not deserve.

Life principle: We must respond to God’s gracious love by repenting of breaking God’s commandments, by trusting in Jesus Christ to be our Savior from the guilt of our sins, and by following him from now on as our Lord.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

September 9, 2019December 29, 2020

Holy Love

God’s holy love is perfect love that always pursues the highest good of righteousness, truth, and purity in us.

A year ago I got an ugly cold and sinus infection. My nose ran nonstop for days, I was sneezing and had a mild fever, and my body hurt all over. I carried around a paper shopping bag and filled it with used tissues. I was so miserable I didn’t shower for two or three days. I was unclean. When I finally felt well enough to shower, I experienced sweet relief as I washed away the germs, oil, and sweat, holding my face in the spray to let the purifying water keep rushing over the skin that had been a hazardous material zone. When the shower ended, I wasn’t yet fully healed, but I felt like a new man.

God’s love is like that shower. It is a holy love that sanctifies us. “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11, ESV).

God’s holy love

The holy love of God is displayed in the love Jesus has for his church. “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25–27 ESV).

Uncleanness literally kills our bodies and souls, so true love cleanses.

God’s love is not an unholy love. An unholy love is selfish, exploitative, fickle, ignorant of what is best for another person. Unholy love seeks only pleasure, not purity. A holy love pursues righteousness in the relationship. God’s holy love seeks a holy relationship, marked by the fruits of the Holy Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23).

Models of holy love

God’s holy love is like the love of Jesus for Peter, with an unswerving commitment to truth, the forgiveness of wrongs, a desire to be together, patience and understanding, and the pursuit of Peter’s growth and maturity.

God’s holy love as displayed in Jesus is like the love of Paul for Timothy, marked by testing, challenges and charges, admonishment, and instruction.

On the other hand, we see unholy love in the relationship of King Ahab and Jezebel, marked by manipulation, weakness, a love for evil-doing, and the rejection of the Lord and his ways. We see unholy love in Samson and Delilah, Solomon for his foreign wives, Judas for Jesus.

God’s holy love as displayed in Jesus is like the love of Ruth for her mother-in-law Naomi, marked by a servant’s heart, humility, unselfishness, and commitment.

God’s holy love as displayed in Jesus is like the love of Jonathan and David, marked by righteous loyalty in the face of evil attacks.

God’s promise

God will succeed in his loving purpose of cleansing us entirely. We will someday be perfectly clean and pure, holy in status before God, in nature, and in conduct. God will accomplish this, for we cannot do it by ourselves, though we must cooperate. The great struggle against sin, temptation, and darkness will soon come to an end, and we will be pure people living in a pure world cleansed of all moral filth.

For when Jesus comes again, “He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD” (Malachi 3:2–3).

Our way and God’s way

Our way: Fallen humans want God’s love to be a permissive, indulgent love, to accept us as we are and leave us as we are. We want absolutely unconditional love. We do not want to change and resist becoming clean.

God’s way: He seeks our highest good, so he seeks our purity. Uncleanness corrupts, degrades, and destroys. To leave us in filthiness would not be loving. Holy love always accords with truth and righteousness.

Life principle: The strength of our relationship with God depends on our ongoing pursuit of purity. For, by pursuing holiness we walk in harmony with the holy God.

September 2, 2019August 25, 2019

Saving, Redeeming Love

When you need a savior from harm of any kind, God loves you enough to come to your rescue.

In the Old Testament, what would you say is the defining act of God, apart from Creation? The people of Israel would undoubtedly answer it was when God saved them from the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt. He saved them from slavery to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who were too strong for them. He redeemed them with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, pouring out judgments on the Egyptians and then parting the Red Sea so that Israel could march through on dry ground.

Why did God save them? He explains: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son” (Hosea 11:1 ESV). God saves because he loves. His love is a saving, redeeming, rescuing love.

In Psalm 18, David described being in great danger, but then God came on the scene: “He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me” (Psalm 18:19).

God’s love-inspired rescues are the story line of the entire Bible. God created humans; Adam and Eve fell to sin and Satan; and the rest of the Bible is the story of how God saved our fallen race.

Moreover, salvation is the story told again and again throughout the Bible. God saves Noah and his family from the flood; Abraham and Sarah from Pharaoh; Jacob from Laban; David from Goliath and then from Saul; Hezekiah and Jerusalem from Nebuchadnezzar and his vast army; Israel and Esther from Haman and the annihilation edict of the king; Daniel from the lion’s den; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery furnace; Jehoshaphat from the hordes of Moab, Ammon, and Mount Seir; Jeremiah from the false prophets; Peter from prison; Jesus’s body from the grave. The Lord never tires of this plot. He loves saving people because he loves people.

When God’s Son became a man, the Father named him Jesus, which means “save,” and the angel explained, “[Mary] will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21 ESV).

When you need a savior

So, what does God’s saving love mean for you? It means he saves you from what threatens to harm you. He is still in the salvation business, large and small.

It’s as natural for God to save as it is for you to breathe. Redemption—a rich biblical word for salvation, emphasizing the idea that God brings good out of bad—is God’s nature, and it’s the nature of love.

If there is some harm that threatens you, whether spiritual, financial, physical, social, relational, or whatever, call out to God. As David prayed, “Save me in your steadfast love!” (Psalm 31:16 ESV).

Our way and God’s way

Our way: In pride, fallen people don’t want God’s help. We want to save ourselves through our own goodness and skill.

God’s way: In love, he saves those who are poor in spirit, who are humble enough to admit their need and ask for help.

Life principle: In all things, the Lord is your salvation from harm.

August 26, 2019August 16, 2019

Love That Serves

Love serves. Though God is exalted, he actually serves us.

God’s love for us leads him to do many surprising things, and perhaps the most surprising is his choice to serve us. We normally think that it is we who serve God, not God who serves us. It even sounds wrong to say the great, exalted God serves us. But in fact it is God who to an infinitely greater degree serves us because of his love for us.

He truly humbles himself to serve us. For example, changing diapers is not prestigious work, yet parents—because of love—do for their infant children what they would not lower themselves to do for others. They humble themselves and serve them.

Love serves.

Because God loves us, he serves us, not just now and then, but continually, for we continually, unceasingly need his support, for we are completely dependent on him for life, breath, and everything else—at all times. At no time are we self-sustaining. So God in love, in humility, serves us, like a restaurant server waits tables, like a nurse cares for patients.

Love serves

Jesus, who is the perfect reflection of God, made a point of this:

“¹ Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ² During supper…³Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, ⁴ rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. ⁵ Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him” (John 13:1–5, ESV).

Notice it says, “He loved them to the end.” It was love that moved Jesus to serve the twelve—even the man he knew would betray him—and it is love that moves him to lower himself and serve you, for to wash feet one must stoop.

God’s love keeps on serving

This was not a one-time aberration. “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). Everything Jesus did for us during his earthly ministry was an act of servanthood. He gave his life for others, for you.

Moreover, he is not finished. Teaching about his Second Coming, Jesus said, “Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them” (Luke 12:37). So, even when Jesus comes as the unmistakable King in power and glory, he will change his clothes, direct everyone to find a seat at the banquet table, and serve them dinner.

Why does he do this? This is not the way kings act. But it is the way God acts. He humbles himself to serve the people he loves. How can we resist loving a God like this?

Letting God serve you

Even so, it doesn’t feel right to have someone as great as Jesus serve you. Peter felt it when Jesus came to wash his feet. Lapsing into another of his “I need to straighten out Jesus” moods, Peter told him, “You shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”

Peter wisely reverted course: “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”

Our way and God’s way

Our way: We may regard serving others in humble ways as demeaning.

God’s way: The Lord shows his humble love by stooping to serve us.

Life principle: To receive God’s humble love actually takes humility, for it requires that we acknowledge how much we need him. God’s humble servanthood teaches us to serve him in return, and to serve others. To be a servant is to imitate God.

August 19, 2019June 8, 2020

A Knowing Love

We often talk about knowing God, but does God know you?

God knows everything and everyone, but he doesn’t know everyone in the same way, that is, in the same loving way.

For example, the Bible says, “If anyone loves God, he is known by God.” (1 Corinthians 8:3 ESV).

Notice that there is a way of knowing that God has only for people who love him. If—if—anyone loves God, he is known by God, it says.

What kind of special knowing does God have for those he loves and who love him?

Does God know you?

God speaks of certain people with approval. He receives and accepts them. For instance, in response to a request, God told Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name” (Exodus 33:17 ESV).

Although God knows everyone’s name, he is saying to Moses that he knows Moses as a friend. We might put it this way: we’re on a first-name basis. This kind of love is the love marked by favor, familiarity, and approval.

I live in a four-tower apartment complex with some 2,500 residents and several dozen employees. I can’t meet or know everyone, of course. When I walk down the long hallway connecting the four towers, there are many people I don’t recognize, some I recognize but don’t know yet, and others that I have met and know their names. When I’m in the hallway, I’m looking for the people I know. When I see them, I make it a point to smile, greet them, and visit when possible. My attitude toward the people I know is different than that toward strangers; it’s marked by more favor and friendliness, more love.

In some ways, this is how God knows the people of the world. God knows and loves everyone in a way, but he knows and loves his people in a greater way.

The privilege of being known

Obviously this is a great honor. Imagine getting a new job at a company with 1,000 employees, and in your first month on the job there is an all-company meeting. When you arrive at the large auditorium and check in, you receive instructions to go to a particular room before the first general session in order to meet some of the company leaders.

Immediately you feel stress, for the leaders of your company are highly respected not only in your company but throughout the profession. Your company’s CEO has written numerous books that are standard works in the field, and he speaks in conferences around the world. He is a multi-multi millionaire. You have looked up to him for years. You are an entry-level employee, and this will be the most important hour in your networking life.

When you walk into the room, to your astonishment the first person to welcome you is the CEO . To your greater astonishment, he greets you by name and remarks favorably on your education and background. You are so taken back, that you can only think to ask, “How do you know me?”

“I know you,” responds the CEO. “I know you well. In fact, I read your resume. I worked with the HR department in selecting you. I’m very careful about who we hire to be a part of the team. I want you to sit at my table and have breakfast with me.”

Later, after breakfast, in the general session of 1,000 employees, the CEO again surprises you when in his vision talk he starts out by saying, “I want to welcome <your name> as a new employee this month. I am excited to have him on our team, and I believe he will do a great job for us.”

Wow! Would you feel special? To be known by name by the owner of the company. To have him regard you as a valuable member of the team. To be greeted by name by him when he sees you in the hallway.

Knowing brings significance

To be known, truly known, by an important person is a wonderful feeling. It gives a feeling of value and significance. But being known by God is infinitely more wonderful. To be known approvingly by God is the ultimate meaning and significance of any person. In the eyes of every person in the world, you could be regarded as a nobody, but if God knows you—knows you as only he can—you are important. You have value.

Are you a follower of Jesus? Then God knows you. Knows you! Knows you by name, knows you as a friend, knows you as a father who loves you. This knowing is his choice. And now for the rest of eternity you get to know him better and better. To know and be known in pure love. As Paul writes, “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV).

Our way and God’s way

Our way: Fallen people want to be known by people, not by God. Because of their sins, fallen people prefer to hide from God, to walk in darkness.

God’s way: In love, the Lord honors you by deigning to know you, like a king leaving the throne room to walk among the common people, learn their names, and become their friends. He gives you the privilege of being known by him.

Life principle: Meaning and significance in life comes from knowing that God chooses to stoop down and know you. (see Psalm 139)

August 12, 2019July 17, 2021

Romantic Love: God Loves His Church with Intense Desire

God created his church for a love relationship with him marked by mutually intense delight and desire.

With different people, we love in different ways. The love one feels for a parent is different than one feels for a child, not more or less, but different. Likewise, love feels different for a friend than for a brother or sister; or for a teacher, coach or mentor. All these loves have different qualities, but all are love.

Romantic love differs from all other loves. Although songs, novels, and movies are written about the love of friends, teammates, family, and others, the number of songs and stories about romantic love exceeds them all by a millionfold. Any objective observer would have to conclude romantic love is the greatest and insatiable obsession of humans.

It would be surprising indeed if this singularly important love between humans had no counterpart in God, that is, if he loved like a parent, friend, or master, but not like one romantically enthralled with a spouse or lover. We might hesitate to ascribe romantic love to God, especially if we have any prudish tendencies to regard the marriage bed as unclean, which it is not (Hebrews 13:4). Romantic love is marked by desire and passion, by pleasure and delight, and it’s hard for us to think of God that way.

The God who woos and weds

Yet Scripture demands it, for God describes himself using this analogy.

Isaiah 54:5 says, “Your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name.”

God says, “I will betroth you to me forever” (Hosea 2:19).

The apostle Paul writes, quoting from Genesis 2:24, “‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:31–32, ESV).

When God forbids having idols and when he rebukes Israel for having them, he uses the language and expectations of romantic, marital love. He speaks of his own jealousy and of Israel’s adultery and whoring. He describes himself as a jilted lover:

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:4–5).

“You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, ‘He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us’?” (James 4:3–5).

“When the LORD first spoke through [the prophet] Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, ‘Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD’” (Hosea 1:2).

Marks of romantic love in God

God has romantic love for his people collectively. The Bible describes the church, not the individual Christian, as the bride of Christ. Yet as a member of the church, every individual Christian is in a sense the object of that romantic/courtship/marital love.

Romantic love has several features that compare to God’s love for his people:

Delight, ardor, desire, attraction: “The LORD your God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will be quiet in his love. He will delight in you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17, CSB). Clearly, God finds pleasure in the loving relationship he has with his people.

Wooing: “Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David” (Isaiah 55:3). “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance” (Romans 2:4).

Emotional attachment: At the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples, “When the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer’” (Luke 22:14–15). In the Old Testament era, when God spoke to his people with warning of judgment to come, Hosea spoke these surprising words from the Lord: “How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender” (Hosea 11:8).

Admiration of beauty: “I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God” (Ezekiel 16:10–14).

As this verse shows, it is important to know that God is the one who makes his people beautiful and desirable. In ourselves and apart from God’s gracious work in us, we were repulsive in our sin.

The same idea occurs here: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25–27)

“Your royal husband delights in your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord” (Psalm 45:11, NLT).

Union: Jesus said, “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:20).

Covenant: “I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, and you became mine” (Ezekiel 16:8). Jesus said,“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20).

Headship: “The husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior” (Ephesians 5:23).

Sacrificial giving: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25).

Our way and God’s way

Our way: Fallen people want to love God the way a sister loves a brother. Fallen people want to have many lovers.

God’s way: The Lord loves his people passionately and requires that we love him exclusively and passionately. God finds romantic pleasure in loving his people.

Life principle: God created his church for a love relationship with him marked by mutually intense delight and desire.

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

August 5, 2019July 25, 2019

God’s Unconditional, Conditional Love

God’s unconditional love requires everything from you.

Is God’s love unconditional? Yes.

Is God’s love conditional? Yes.

God’s unconditional love

We define unconditional love as not requiring a person being loved to fulfill any conditions. Unconditional love gives love regardless of whether the beloved deserves love or wants love. Unconditional love does not say, “I will love you if….”

Jesus said, your father who is 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 ESV). That is unconditional love.

God resembles a human father who loves his child long before the child is able to respond to that love. The father gives the child a home, pays for her food, diapers, doctor visits, clothing. His daughter returns this kindness with poopy diapers, crying in the middle of the night, and regular demands to be held and walked. Still, the father keeps giving and giving. This is unconditional love.

Scripture says, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV).

God loves people unconditionally. He loves because he loves. He loves even his enemies. He loves sinners.

Scripture says, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19 ESV).

God planned to send his Son to suffer and die for our sins before we were even born. He brought the gospel message to our ears when we did not want to hear the message and convicted us of our sin and godlessness when we did not want to be reminded of it. He poured out his wrath on his holy, beloved, precious Son so he would not have to pour wrath on us. He did this while people were still sinners. This is unconditional love.

God’s conditional love

On the other hand, conditional love says, “My love requires something from you.” Again and again the Bible shows that when God gives love he demands something.

Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21–23 ESV)

What could be more conditional than that? In effect, Jesus says, I have loved you, but if you insist on disobeying my Father and living lawlessly, depart from me. I never knew you.

That is conditional love.

God delivered the Israelites from Egypt unconditionally. He called Moses and sent him against Pharaoh with ten plagues even though the Israelites soon told Moses to leave them alone. God parted the Red Sea and set the people free. Then at Mount Sinai he gave the people his commands and taught them how to live in covenant with him. Nevertheless, again and again they refused to believe and obey God, until finally God sent them to wander for 40 years in the desert until the last of the rebellious men had died.

That is conditional love. God didn’t say he would love each of them no matter what. He said they had to keep his covenant.

One of the best-known verses in the Bible says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:16–18, ESV).

In other words, God loved the world unconditionally by sending Jesus, but the condition for escaping condemnation is believing in Jesus. If a person rejects Jesus, then God’s unconditional love does them no good at all. Meet the condition, or perish.

Elsewhere, the New Testament says, “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? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:4–5 ESV). That is conditional love. Respond to my love or suffer my wrath.

The problem with talking about God’s unconditional love

God’s unconditional love in Jesus is our song and message. Unfortunately, in our culture today, when we talk about God’s unconditional love, many people misunderstand that to mean God requires nothing from them. Many think “God loves you” means they don’t need to believe in Jesus, don’t need to repent of their sins, don’t need to pursue holiness, don’t need to worship or give thanks to God, don’t need to pay attention to the Bible, don’t need to have anything to do with the church. They think they can live however they want, or at least be a generally good person, and believe whatever they want regardless of what the Bible says, and God loves them enough to surely welcome them into heaven. Tragically, they are wrong, and ultimately dead wrong.

Our way and God’s way

Our way: Fallen sinners can misunderstand God’s love to require nothing from them.

God’s way: God’s unconditional love requires everything from us. “He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Corinthians 5:15 ESV). “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love” (John 15:10 NIV).

Life principle: Don’t choose between describing God’s love as either conditional or unconditional, for his love is both.

July 29, 2019May 25, 2020

Empowering Love

Because God loves you, he gives you strength and ability to do all that is his will.

During the summer before my senior year in college, I worked for a carpenter building houses. For my first day on the job, I brought my own hammer to work. It was a typical hammer used around the house, measuring about 13-inches long. My job was to pound large, 16-penny, framing nails into 2×4 studs to make walls. I quickly learned that my little hammer was not up for the task. It required way too many strokes to sink each nail, and I would need to sink several hundred nails each day.

My new boss let me use that for an hour or two, to make a point I suppose. Then he walked up, said, “Put that pea-shooter away,” and handed me one of his hammers. It was about four-inches longer, and heavier, and the head had sharp teeth to bite the head of the nail so as not to slip off with a glancing blow. This was a professional-grade framing hammer. It was powerful. I could sink a nail in one-third the strokes.

I had a job to do and needed power to do it. My boss empowered me with a tool.

Kinds of power

Power comes in many forms. I not only needed a professional-grade hammer for my task, I also needed energy, lots of it. I was on my feet all day, lifting heavy stuff, swinging my hammer, climbing ladders and walls. My boss was a furiously hard worker and kept his crew going at a fast pace. So, I needed food and water. How glad I was to be newly married and have a wife who woke up early to make me a filling breakfast of eggs and toast and meat, as well as to make me a big lunch to take to work with a cold thermos of water. I had a job to do and needed power to do it. Nancy empowered me with food and water.

We all need power in other forms. We can’t work successfully, for example, without wisdom, skill, motivation.

Because my new wife loved me, she met my need for food energy. Love meets the need of another.

God’s love behind your power

God loves you, and so he meets your need for power. He empowers you in many ways. He provides abilities and skills, motivations, the infilling of his Holy Spirit, wisdom, coaches and teachers, education, money and capital, tools, technology, hands and fingers that move and legs that can walk and eyes that can see and ears that hear and a brain that can think. In all these ways and more, he meets one of the greatest needs you have: the power to work, act, move, produce, achieve, build, and create.

Unless God in love chose to give you each of these empowering resources, you would be utterly impotent, weak, and incapable. “From him and through him and to him are all things” (Romans 11:36, ESV).

The apostle Paul wrote, “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient” (2 Corinthians 3:5–6).

Moses told the Israelites, “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:17–18).

Again Paul, speaking about what he had accomplished as an apostle, wrote, “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

God’s empowering love

King David recognized the connection between God’s love and his empowerment. David needed power for face-to-face combat, beginning famously against Goliath and followed throughout his lifetime with scores of battles. In Psalm 18 he describes God’s help. Notice what these select verses say about the empowering love of God:

“¹ I love you, O LORD, my strength. … ²⁹ For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. … ³² the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless. ³³ He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. ³⁴ He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. … ³⁹ For you equipped me with strength for the battle; you made those who rise against me sink under me. … ⁵⁰ Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever.” (Psalm 18:1, 29, 32–34, 39, 50)

In another Psalm he again connects God’s empowerment with his love: “¹ Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; ² he is my steadfast love” (Psalm 144:1–2).

In his love, God met David’s need for strength and skill with a sword, shield, bow and arrow.

Our way and God’s way

Our way: We might proudly rely on ourselves. We might boast and take credit for what power we have. Paul told the Corinthians, “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).

God’s way: God gives us every sort of power we need for what he wants us to do, if we will rely on him through prayer, have faith, and follow his wisdom. He is the vine, and we are the branches (John 15:1–7).

Life principle: I can do all things through him who lovingly strengthens me (Philippians 4:13 with “lovingly” added).

July 22, 2019July 11, 2019

The Inheritance: Your Father Wants to Give You All He Owns

You have a rightful claim to your heavenly Father’s kingdom and possessions, and God will ensure you receive what is rightfully yours.

Imagine how different your outlook on life would be if you were a 15-year-old son or daughter of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. At one point in 2019 he was the richest man in the world, with an estimated net worth of $170 billion. If you were one of his four offspring, you would be an heir to some or all of that money. Suppose his will stipulated that at age 25 you would receive 10 percent of the inheritance; that’s $17 billion. As a teenager, your thoughts about the future, about your plans and hopes and dreams, your sense of security—all would be different than the average person. No matter what problems or challenges you faced from now until turning 25, you would remember and console yourself with the great change that awaited you.

This is the attitude every Christian can have. We are God’s sons and daughters and thus his heirs. He owns everything and promises to give it to his children. The earth and much more we cannot yet comprehend is our inheritance.

Colossians 1:12 says Christians should be “giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light” (NIV). Notice the word “qualified.” One dictionary defines an heir as “one who is entitled to inherit property.” Notice the word “entitled.” This means the heir has a legal right to something. The children of the heavenly Father have a right to all he owns.

Your heavenly inheritance

Consider a few things Scripture teaches about your inheritance.

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people” (Ephesians 1:18 NIV).

–We need light to be given to our spiritual eyes to grasp how great our hope in this inheritance can be, how glorious this inheritance is. Its riches are infinitely greater than anything the children of Jeff Bezos will receive. The Bezos children should envy you rather than your envying them.

“All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:21–23).

–Being an heir of God literally means everything is yours, shared with all the rest of God’s children, because everything belongs to your Father. This is your Father’s world, and he delights to give it all to you. You will inherit the whole world.

–Even something negative like death is yours in the sense that Christ has transformed the death of a Christian into something he uses to bring us good. Through death we go from mortality to immortality, from perishable to imperishable, from weakness to strength. We die in union with Christ and his death, unlike those who do not follow Christ, who die in their sins in union with the devil.

“Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” (James 2:5 ESV)

–We will inherit the kingdom of God, our Father’s glorious new creation of righteousness, peace, and joy that is coming someday upon the earth. It is our right as a child of the heavenly Father.

“He saved us…so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:5–7 ESV).

–We will inherit eternal life. In Christ this is your right.

“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:16–17 ESV).

–Jesus is the heir of the Father, and we are fellow heirs with Jesus. We share in the inheritance of Jesus! What is his is ours!

–Being an heir of God requires perseverance and a willingness to suffer persecution as Jesus did in this life. You can lose your inheritance by losing your faith and falling back in love with the fallen world. Esau is the prototype of this folly:

“See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son” (Hebrews 12:16 NIV).

But for faithful believers in Christ who endure to the end, the story is altogether different:

“You know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward” (Colossians 3:24 NIV).

–Our inheritance is our reward for choosing the true God over false gods.

“By faith he [Abraham] went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise” (Hebrews 11:9 ESV).

–God promised Abraham amazing things, including that he would be singularly blessed, have a great name, be a blessing to the world, and receive the promised land (Genesis 12:1–3; 15:7). Genesis shows that these promises were Abraham’s possession, and therefore they became the inheritance, the heritage, of his son Isaac, and then of his grandson Jacob. They inherited not only property from Abraham but also promises, the promises God gave Abraham. But Abraham has many more heirs, as the following verse reveals:

“If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:29 ESV)

–That’s right, the glorious truth is that through faith in Jesus Christ we also become the heirs of Abraham and therefore we inherit many of his promises. We are entitled to share in what God promised Abraham.

–Our response to all these glorious promises should be praise and confidence:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3–4 NIV).

The Father’s heart

In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the wonderful, loving father told his oldest son something that reflects the heart of our heavenly Father toward us: “He said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours” (Luke 15:31). Those words make God’s heart personal and direct to you. Memorize and meditate on them until you believe them with all your heart, and no matter what life throws at you, you can go through every day with firm hope in the inheritance that awaits you.

Ah, Jeff Bezos, you are but a pauper compared to my heavenly Father, and unless your children are followers of Jesus Christ, they too are paupers compared to me.

Our way and God’s way

Our way: The original lie that Satan spoke to Eve in the Garden called into question the goodness of God (see Genesis 3:1, 5), and fallen humans have been swallowing that lie ever since. We may think the Father is holding back his best from us.

God’s way: The Father’s loving generosity is without limit. All he has is ours.

Life principle: We should set all our hope in the gracious inheritance we will receive when Jesus Christ is revealed from heaven. We should sacrifice anything that would compromise it.

July 8, 2019May 18, 2020

Your Heavenly Father Loves to Protect You

What does it mean that God our heavenly Father protects us, since he also allows the evils that occur in our world?

When our sons were young, we went several times for family outings to Starved Rock State Park in Central Illinois. It’s a beautiful, rocky area with many cliffs and gorges. It’s also a dangerous area if you don’t follow the rules. Every year, people fall and die. So, it’s not only a fun place for a family trip but also a nervous place for parents. You want boys to explore and be adventurous, and you don’t want to hold their hand or warn them continually against doing this or that, but the reality is you want to protect them from the real possibility of harm and death.

As a loving Father, our God in heaven has a similar desire to protect his children. King David took comfort from knowing that God resembled a good shepherd who had a rod and staff always ready at his side to fight off hungry wolves and bears (Psalm 23:4). God promises, “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name” (Psalm 91:14, ESV). “The Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one” (2 Thessalonians 3:3, NIV).

Our favorite Bible stories often are about God’s ability to protect his people. Daniel in the lion’s den. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. The apostle Peter delivered from a dungeon by an angel.

God is constantly protecting us from a thousand potential harms of which we are not aware. If he withdrew his protection, we would succumb to untold numbers of germs, demons, and accidents. Never does a moment pass that God has not protected you from harm.

Anomalies

However, both the Bible and human experience attest that protection is not the whole story. There are exceptions to the rule. Evil things happen even to God’s people. Job lost everything for a time. Joseph was sold into slavery and taken to Egypt. Cain murdered Abel. John the Baptist was beheaded. The apostle Paul was beaten, stoned, and jailed many times. Stephen was stoned to death. Harmful things have happened to you and those you love.

What makes that especially difficult for believers in the God of the Bible is, we understand that he is all-powerful and all-knowing. He is not in a dualistic battle with evil he cannot contain. Satan and his demons are not all-powerful. They were created by God and have continuing existence only by God’s will. Our Father in heaven must ultimately allow what happens because he foreknows all and enables everything to exist. He is sovereign, never doing evil, but allowing it.

So, God is our Father in the sense that he wants to protect his children from harm but also that he allows them to go through hard, painful things so that they will grow mature, strong, and capable. He occasionally allows harm for the sake of a higher good (Romans 8:28). It’s not ordinary. It’s temporary. But it’s no accident or oversight, for the arm of the Almighty is not too short to protect us.

For example, when my sons came to the age when they would begin middle school and high school, I hated the thought of it. I knew how cruel kids can be to each other. But I also knew my sons had to keep growing and face the world as it is. Although I wanted to shelter them completely from harm, I knew it would be better for them to grow stronger and wiser through the challenges ahead of them.

Can we expect to be protected?

So, where does that leave us in our desire for God’s protection?

1. We should pray for our Father’s protection and expect it.

Our loving heavenly Father delights in protecting us, and as a result his protection is normal and continuous for us in countless unseen ways. So we should never—never—fear.

Psalm 91 describes the normal experience and expectation of God’s people:

“¹ He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. ² I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’

³ For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. ⁴ He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

⁵ You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, ⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

⁷ A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. ⁸ You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.

⁹ Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge— ¹⁰ no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.

¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. ¹² On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.

¹³ You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. ¹⁴ ‘Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.

¹⁵ When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. ¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.’” (Psalm 91:1–16)

2. In those exceptional times when God chooses for us the alternative good that will come through suffering, we should trust him and still pray and believe for deliverance.

Paul wrote: “We felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again” (2 Corinthians 1:9–10).

3. If we believe and trust him, our Father always delivers us from evil, either now or in heaven.

When Paul was in prison, he wrote:

“The Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (2 Timothy 4:17–18).

4. If we believe and trust him, our Father always gives us the strength, courage, and comfort to overcome pain and hardship.

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction” (2 Corinthians 1:3–4)

5. If we believe and trust him, God always protects us from the ultimate evil, which is harm coming to one’s soul.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 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 ESV).

Therefore, beloved child of a protective Father, never fear.