https://odb.org/2024/04/30/we-cant-out-love-god
I think it’s a given that we can not out-love God as much as we can not outgive God. It is obviously so because He is the creator, the supreme being who existed before anything at the beginning and will be there at the end of time. He is all-knowing and omnipresent. On top of all that, God is love. He is the personification of love. We also know that we love Him because He first loved us. It was Jesus who called us first to be with the Father as the Holy Spirit convicts.
But some of us may have difficulty accepting God’s love because of our perception of who He is, coloured by our relationship with our own earthly father. We may see Him as strict, fierce, and always wanting to mete out punishment. Thus, we are intimidated in the presence of God. We are afraid and unsure of ourselves. Fortunately, how we perceive Him does not change Him from what He is. He is still love, and He is still the God who gave Israel many, many chances to repent before He allowed their enemies to overpower them. Even after they were taken into exile, He brought them back to Israel to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and the Temple. God loved Israel despite her insolence and disobedience and rebellious ways.
The second thing is that God’s love also empowers us to love others. He heals us of our painful past experiences. He restores us from what the locusts have eaten away over the years. He makes us whole again so that we may love others again. It is He who enables us to trust others again even if we may have been deceived before. The betrayals and disappointments of the past are in the past. We don’t look back, but look ahead to what God has in store for us in Christ. We look towards what Jesus has prepared for us in the future and for the future.
The message this morning is to accept God’s love and begin to love again. Believe in Him. Trust Him. He will transform us. We will once again be that loving and trusting person we were! Praise the Lord, for He is good, all the time! Amen!
Ronnie's Thoughts 