A Great Love

Through [Christ] we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.  Romans 5:2-5

Our hearts are prone to ignore, discredit, and even forget the greatest love in the word. It is a love of so great a measure that we could never define or fully comprehend it. We forget that God pursues us, cares for us, and draws us to Himself. And therein lies a great danger. For in dismissing this great love, we begin living as though our lives are merely about ourselves. 

Suffering only intensifies this forgetfulness. We easily fall prey to the lie that our circumstances define God’s love for us, and wrongfully conclude that trials, sorrow, and difficulty mean that His love is being withheld. Perhaps in your grief you feel as though you have to earn back His love and favor—as if your suffering was caused by some great failing on your part. Or, perhaps, you struggle to believe that the Lord has ever loved you or that He’s even there. 

You cannot measure God’s love for you based upon how much wealth, success, or comfort you’re currently experiencing. God’s love is not His sparing you of pain and difficulty. The greatest measure of His love was demonstrated on the cross, when God gave us Himself and an imperishable inheritance, through the death of His Son on our behalf. 

“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins”  1 John 4:10

With Christ’s death on the cross, God, in His love, gave us the most beautiful and eternally satisfying gift possible: Himself. We have been offered the joyous experience of knowing and walking with God. In every moment it is worth every bit of effort to remember this love that we have been given.

However, love is not merely what God has done for us, although this is marvelous indeed. Love is who He is. In as much as God is divine, and spirit, and sovereign, He is love. It is not something that He chooses to be. It is inherently, essentially, and eternally who He is. Everything we know about God, every action of His throughout all of history, is completely and necessarily bound up in His love.

Not only is God’s love eternal, it is immutable. It does not swell and subside as does our finite love for one another. It is not limited in its scope or extent, nor is it irrevocable. It is a love that brings steadfast confidence, because it was granted to us even when we were yet His enemies (Romans 5:8-11). How incomprehensible! How wonderful! Our love falls desolately flat in comparison. 

In the midst of your grief, I implore you to reflect on God’s great love. When it feels as though everything around you gives way, His love upholds you. When the days are covered in darkness, His love lights your path. When each moment seems to be marked by loss, there there can still be hope and joy, because throughout the Spirit His love has been poured into your heart. That doesn’t mean that the suffering ceases. But you can be sure that you are not alone in the midst of it, for His love will meet you there.

Ashlee is the Editorial Coordinator for Hope Mommies and author of I AM (Hope Mommies, 2017) and Identity (Hope Mommies, 2018). She and her husband, Jesse, live in Milwaukee with their children—five on earth and two in heaven.

  Are you a writer who would like to join the blog team? Learn more and apply here.