God Loved You First

Romans 8: 35-39

            “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God’s love for us is oftentimes an incomprehensible idea; it is near impossible to wrap your minds around the lengths and depths of His love. Nothing we do or say can separate us from His love. You catch that? Nothing. That's a pretty comforting thought! But what about those of us who don’t love Him back? What about the sinners who do not acknowledge Him or His love and power? Is His love still unfailing in those cases?

Absolutely.

I have come to know people who are convinced that, because they do not have a relationship with God, He does not love them. They believe that God doesn't love sinners and they can't understand why God would want to bless them, love them, or care for them if they don't know Him. "God doesn't love sinners," they say.

First things first, we are all sinners. Romans 3 tells us that, “There is none righteous, not even one.” In one form or another, we are all flawed and sinful. God’s love doesn’t differentiate; His love is referred to as ‘unfailing’ for a reason. His love doesn’t fail; it does not fall short of expectation or give way. His love is continuous, never-ending, unceasing and certain. God loves us in all moments, not just our best ones. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,” Romans 5:8. Read that again. Christ died for us even while we were yet sinners. He didn't die for those who were perfect, which no one will ever be. No, He died because we ARE sinners.

I have a friend who struggles in his relationship with Christ. Since he doesn’t see himself at a place of “good standing” with God, he struggles to understand that God still loves him and wants to bless him. He thinks that because he spent years ignoring, disbelieving, and doubting God that he is not loved and he will be treated as such; a child unloved by God. However, God’s love is so much more than that. 1 John 4:19 says, “We love, because He first loved us.” His love isn’t based on our decision to love and accept Him. God loves us, not because we love Him, but because we are His children. God loved us first! God loves us before we even acknowledge Him, before we love Him in return, and before we invite Him into our hearts. (God even intructs us to do the same to others! Luke 6:32-35, Matthew 5:43-48). His love is not based on our performance or our love for Him. Crazy as it seems, there is nothing we can ever say or do that will make God love us more or make God love us less. Never. Nothing.

Christ died for us because we are all sinners and we are all children of God; each and every one of us. God’s love for us is unfailing, and we couldn’t escape that love if we tried. God loves us, all of us, period.

“Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:39.