Unfailing Love

“ Many are the woes of the wicked,
but the Lord’s unfailing love
surrounds the one who trusts in him.” Psalms 32:10

 As Christians, one of our favorite things to say about the love of God is that it is unconditional. This is understandable, since we are so often undeserving of His love. It is comforting to know that even when we fail to live up to His expectations He will continue to love us, that our failures cannot add to or subtract from that Godly love. But in our focus on this comforting thought, we often miss something just as important about the love of God. When we do, we leave ourselves and those we are carrying the Gospel too struggling to understand.

One of the most common complaints I hear from those searching for God but unwilling to embrace Christ is “How can a loving God allow bad things to happen?” This question comes from a lack of understanding on our part, and an inability to explain because we get the idea of love being unconditional. But, we really do not comprehend what love itself is, or the concept of what it means that it is unfailing. If we look up the word love in a dictionary, we get weak definitions about attachment and emotion that do not encompass the Godly love explained throughout the Bible. The best distillation of Biblical love is the desire for someone’s highest good. God desires the highest good for each one of us, which in the context of Christian faith is an eternal life in His kingdom with Him. That means that every action God takes or withholds on our behalf has one aim, to bring us into permanent reconciliation with Him.

The other aspect that we fail to grasp is the idea of God’s love being unfailing. The word that has come to mind for me since I began truly seeking God is a synonym, unrelenting. God’s love isn’t just dependable. It isn’t simply unending. It is an active love, unstoppable in the willingness to go to any lengths to achieve God’s goal for us. God’s love doesn’t settle for half measures. It does not settle for good enough. His love does cannot allow for the in between of the comfortable warm and fuzzy feelings that leave us open to the attacks of the world and the attacks of the enemy. His love pushes, changes, and challenges us until we come firmly and completely into relationship with Christ. His love never fails, but if we are unwilling to trust Him, we often fail to feel it, to see it or to understand it.

As we go out preaching and living the Word of Christ in our lives, let us be sure to share the unrelenting nature of God’s love with those we touch. Only that understanding will allow them to withstand the trials that will surely come. Be blessed and be a blessing.

Prayer

Father, we often grow frustrated or confused when bad things happen in our lives. We know that You love us, but we do not always understand what it means to be loved. Open our hearts, let the Spirit grant us wisdom and knowledge so that we may share the fullness of Your unconditional, unfailing love. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.