I've often noticed that these types of conditional things can be accompanied by a sort of anxiety. Just a feeling really, something inside of us that occasionally rears up its ugly head and says, "I hope I've successfully met all the necessary pre-requisites in order to keep a relationship going." It takes work and effort, and can sometimes be quite exhausting.
Is that the way God's promises work in the Bible also? Do we need to act perfect and say the right things all the time in order to get the approved stamp? Some people would seem to think so. Indeed, walk into some churches wearing the wrong clothes, and it's one strike against you from the jump.
But I would like to contend here, that when it comes to the promises of the Bible, we aren't banking on just a feeling as it pertains to God's love for us. I would like to further contend, that when it comes to God's covenants, the hard work was already accomplished by Him (and not us). This changes the balance of things. It changes the nature of our relationship with God; or at least it should.
Humbling, isn't it? When we stop to think about it, the Christian faith is a story about a Holy God coming down to man, and not just man trying to work his way up to God.
Honestly, there will be times when we don't 'feel' God's love in our life. I'm often enthralled with the writings of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Everyone knows that there is hardly a greater example of sainthood to be found anywhere in the world. She took in the poor, the hungry, and the sick. She gave faithfully of herself, and had scarcely any personal wealth to speak of. She was God's worker in a time of need.
But yet she often wrote about the 'dark of night.' A term which describes a certain emptiness of the soul. It would appear, that even Mother Teresa went through spells here and there when God seemed distant, or not there at all.
I can pretty much guarantee that if Mother Teresa struggled with her faith from time to time, all of us will be in the same boat at some point in our faith journey!
So how do we counteract this darkness of the soul, when God seems distant and our faith seems strained? I think one of the main things to remember is that we need to stay in the Word (keep reading the Bible). As we thumb through the pages and read Scriptures like John 3:16, it is difficult to see anything other than a creator who loves us and cares deeply for us. Go ahead and try it. Put down this article right now, and open the Bible up and begin reading. Tell me it doesn't sound like a love letter written to a people in need.
Israel kept messing up, and God forgave them. King David committed adultery and tried to have his mistress' husband murdered, yet God called him a man after His own heart. The Pharisees insulted and abandoned Jesus on the cross, but he prayed that his heavenly Father might forgive them, as they knew not what they did.
It is good to read these truths over and over again. Even better to commit them to memory.
Try this one from Hebrews 13:5 ... it says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." A short verse but a powerful one. When the God who made everything and everyone says that He will never forsake you, you may count on that statement as true. As true as the promise that the sun will come up tomorrow. And it is true, whether or not we feel it. He loves us whether or not we notice it in our daily lives. His words are so much more than just a feeling.
Do you believe this? I hope so. Salvation is open to anyone who calls on the name of the Lord. This means that if you repent of sin and trust in Jesus, you have the great privilege and opportunity of spending eternity with the only being who will love you no matter what, all the time, and forever.
Jesus has already done the heavy lifting. As Scripture says, his death on the cross finished the atonement for sin once and for all time. God extends the offer, and we should accept the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. It is the final chapter in a celestial love letter written to you and I. A letter that isn't dependent on conditional and temporal demands.
How long will God's patient love for us endure I wonder? After all, in a world where over a million unborn children are put to death each year, where the love of many run cold, and where God is often slandered and insulted, and where pornography runs rampant ... when will enough be enough?
Notice what Matthew 28:20 says about God's gracious love. It reads "... I am with you always, even to the end of the age." This is part of what is known as the Great Commission - where Jesus instructs his followers to carry on the faith after He is gone. He promises us that he will be with us, even until the end of all things.
This type of love is too good to be ignored. Even though we don't see it much in today's world, it is still available to anyone who answers God's call by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. This is just as true today as it was two-thousand years ago.
Resting on the fact that God loves us is so much more than just a feeling. Emotions may come and go, but it appears that God remains steadfast in His position. A position that says we were worth dying for, we are worth forgiving, and that we are worth saving.
In some ways, I believe this truth is the most important thing that anyone can take away from the Christian tradition. The idea that we are loved, and that it will endure forever. I am afraid however, because there is so much white noise out there today. So much Godless talk, greed, envy, and strife in our culture. So many other ideas competing for our time and attention.
Go back to the Bible and open it up. Thumb through the pages that record the history of a Holy God who became man, and then went willingly to be crucified so that you and I could be forgiven. Then look me in the eye, and tell me that you don't feel loved.
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