Devotional: Unfailing Love
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
-Romans 8:38-39
I can’t think of a better section of Scripture to rest assure that nothing, absolutely nothing, can remove or change God’s love for you. God’s love for you never had a beginning and it will never have an ending. His entire mission for our creation was for us to share in His love through relationship. We don’t deserve an ounce of His love, yet He poured it out freely.
Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Ephesians 2:4-5 tells us the same thing: “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” I can’t forget to mention John 3:16, which says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
God’s motivation for sending Jesus to die in our place was love. In order to have full reconciliation with Him, someone had to pay the penalty for our transgressions against Him and His perfection. It’s because of His great love for us that HE chose to cover that penalty for us.
Based simply on what Jesus did for us, it is clear that love functions through selflessness, not selfishness.
Psalm 8:4-5 says, “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor.”
We are like little ants compared to God in His glory and splendor! We don’t even compare to His angels, yet His love is so relentless toward us.
What is love?
When we look at the word “love” within the Old Testament, the Hebrew word is ḥeseḏ, which translates to different words such as, “mercy,” “kindness,” “lovingkindness,” and “goodness.”
In Greek, the word for “love” is agapē, which translates to “affection,” “good will,” “love,” “benevolence,” and “brotherly love.”
The idea of love, however, gets convoluted because of how it is thrown around in our language. But, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 gives us the details of what pure love looks like:
it’s patient (longsuffering)
it does not envy
it does not boast
it isn’t proud
it doesn’t dishonor others
it isn’t selfish
it’s not easily angered
it keeps no record of wrongs
it finds joy with truth
it does not find joy in evil
it protects
it hopes
it perseveres
it never fails
One of the most astounding things about love is that God is love (1 John 4:8). It’s not just a trait He possesses; He is the embodiment of love.
With the list above, replace each “it” with “God.” How does that change your understanding of His character? Are any of those traits a new way you view God?
I love the last detail in the list: love never fails. That is why the title of this devotional is focused on God’s unfailing love. If love expresses all the previous traits, but it could fail or falter, then it loses its meaning. The fact that love will never fail is what makes it so powerful.
It is how we are secure in God’s devotion to us.
Reflections of His love:
I’m not a parent, but I know how my parents feel about me. They would never stop loving me, no matter what I have done or what I will do. Their love for me is not dependent on my actions; they love me simply because I exist.
God gave us the symbolism of a parent-child relationship to provide us with a small glimpse of His unfailing love for us. Our relationships with our parents are meant to reflect His relationship with us. This makes sense why the fifth of the Ten Commandments says to honor your mother and father and why we call God our Father.
God also gave us the symbolism of a husband-wife relationship to reflect the commitment of His steadfast love. One of the reasons why “do not commit adultery” is part of the Ten Commandments is because God views the marriage covenant seriously since it is a reflection of us and Him. The husband reflects Christ and the wife reflects believers. Like a man who pursues a woman, Christ initiates a relationship with us and we have the choice to accept or deny. 1 John 4:19 says, “We love because He loved us first.” It’s His steadfast love that draws us to Him.
Another way marriage reflects God’s unfailing love is that no matter what comes our way, He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). There are trials in marriage, but you work through them together. There are trials in life, but we work through them with God.
All in all, how we relate to others in every type of relationship should reflect how God loves us. In times of hurt and betrayal, in times of harmony and peace, God’s love inside of us should never cease for those He puts in our path.
How should this knowledge of God’s love change the way we live?
How many times have we failed to love others? Or how many times have we allowed our pride and self-centeredness to overshadow our commitment to others? I know I am guilty of that.
When tempted to operate unlovingly, this thought helps me: “If the Creator of the universe loves me unconditionally (despite my many flaws), who am I to not love others despite their flaws?”
He has empowered us through His Spirit to express His love to others. In fact, Jesus tells us that all the commandments can be summed up as “love God and love others.”
If you remind yourself daily (and in each moment) of God’s steadfast love for you, then your mind and heart will transform to operate in love instead of selfishness.
Take a moment: Do you find yourself doubting His unfailing love?
Sometimes we think that God’s love for us falters when we sin or disobey (which isn’t true).
If we don’t have confidence in God’s love for us, it causes us to run-away from Him, instead of toward Him. It seeps out in how we treat others because we forget that we have received His love freely, therefore, we should freely give it.
Meditate on Romans 8:38-39 and 1 John 4:18 which says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear has to do with punishment.”
1 Peter 4:8 is another powerful verse to focus on, especially when people mistreat you: “And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.’”
Living with confidence that God will never cease to love you is what it means to live by faith.
-Alina