knowing God’s love, which is very different from the worldly kind of love we are familiar with.  God’s love is ultimately expressed in this Bible verse, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  God’s love is unconditional and selfless, even to the point of dying for us. These are characteristics that are not common with worldly love that is based on our feelings and emotions and usually motivated by self-fulfillment.

Forgiveness

I think we can all agree that one of the hardest things for a person to do is to admit they were wrong and to say they’re sorry.  It is an admission that we are not perfect and therefore may instill fear of being rejected.  If the wrong has caused any inconvenience or pain, this may instill fear as well, because it cannot be fixed, erased, or undone.  When there is emotional damage from a wrong we have done, there is only one remedy, and that is forgiveness, if the hurt person is willing to forgive.  If we can step away from pride or remove the fear, then we will be able to face the consequences of our error, and be at peace. To admit our failure in any given circumstance is to accept, with relief, the reality that no one is perfect. 

If we find it hard to admit our wrong-doings against one another, imagine how hard it is to admit we have sinned before God, who rightly stands to judge us and condemn us to death for doing so.  But because He is the very essence of love, He has taken away that fear if we are willing to receive it. 

It can be just as hard to accept the free salvation of God as it is to admit we were wrong. Unconditional love hurts when we realize the cost involved in order for God to save us.

God’s only Son was willing to step out of His comfort zone and into an evil, fallen, corrupt world to face rejection, torture and abuse. 

He, who was sinless, took upon Himself all the sins of the world in order to atone for the punishment that we deserved.

He, who is life, was willing to experience death in order to set us free from its bondage.

This He did for us freely, and as hard as it is to accept such an undeservingly unconditional love of another Kind, if we are wise enough to see it for what it is, it should produce in us its desired result – humility, which is a noble and freeing characteristic of the kingdom of God yet foolish in the eyes of the world.

We can have a reverent fear of God and believe and receive His requirements of us, as expressed in Micah 6:8, “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” or we can have the fear of man and be conscientious of living up to the unrealistic, shallow hard-hearted standards of the world.

Don’t Be Deceived

Jesus came to seek and save those who are sinners, the lost; so if you think you are too sinful for God to possibly love you, it’s time for you to realize just how wrong that belief is and to see who is behind the lies and deception that is keeping you in bondage from receiving the most needed, longed-for freedom Jesus has specifically said He has provided for you.

If God is real, and Jesus is real, then the Devil is real also.  So you can imagine what they spend all of their time being occupied with.  God is revealing His unconditional love that was ultimately expressed through the sacrificial atonement of His Son Jesus, and now through the power of the Holy Spirit He is witnessing to the whole world of the reality of His love. The Devil is anti-God, so he is consumed with lying about Gods truth (Mat. 4:1-10; Jn. 8:44), tempting us to be immoral so we will feel unworthy of God’s forgiveness and filling us with condemnation, shame, and fear (Rev. 12:10).  He wants to do everything he can to kill and destroy us to no end (1 Pet. 5:8). But God has conquered his power over us, as well as the power of death (Heb. 2:14).  So we can be free of the Devil’s bondage if we choose to believe in the salvation God has provided for us.

Am I a Sinner?

For Some reason many people have the idea that God’s love is conditional, “He only loves me when I’m good.” If that were the case, then God could never love anyone, because no matter how good we think we are, since the original sin of Adam, we are all by nature born into sin.

It is for the sinner, the ungodly, whom Christ came to die for in order to take away the sin of the world.  If we were sinless, we wouldn’t need a Savior, right?  God’s nature is love, and therefore capable of loving us in our sinful condition, “When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Mark 2:17).

So, being that we have a sinful nature, to be a “sinner” is not so much about what we do but about who we are.  We now have the choice to remain in our sinful nature and be rebellious toward God, taking pleasure in being evil or we can be made righteous before God, a position He enables us to be in by receiving the righteous presence of Jesus that cleanses us from our sinful nature completely and in finality, making us the redeemed children of God.  Once we have been made righteous, we are no longer considered as sinners in God’s eyes.  When we sin in our state of righteousness, (which in inevitable during Satan’s short reign on earth), we are to forgive one another “seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22), until all things are restored and made new in the end, “…and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, ²¹ whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:20-21).

The Bible declares there is no one who is good (Romans 3:11-12), there is not one ounce of our fallen nature that is of good quality, so there is nothing good we can ever do to earn our favor with God.  Why is this so?  Because anything we do for God is of the “flesh,” our fallen nature, and therefore, we would be receiving the glory for our works that is reserved for God alone.  It is of the “flesh” to say “Look what I can do for God.” It is of the Holy Spirit filled Christian to say “Look what God can do through me.”  That is why the Bible tells us to “crucify the flesh,” in Galatians 5:24; Romans 6:6; Ephesians 4:22; and Mark 8:34. Our “flesh” can never be improved when it comes to being right in God’s eyes, but we can be redeemed and made new through the Holy Spirit.

His Love Will Set You Free

Having received Christ as our Savior, when we are tempted to sin we can now submit to the power of the Holy Spirit and be free of guilt, even if in our weakness we fail, because salvation is once and for all.  That is true freedom, knowing it is not by our works (which fail us) that we are made right with God, but by our hearts desire to serve Him and love everything about His approachable, loving nature revealed through His law.  The law of His Spirit of life fulfilled the law of the written code we could not keep (Romans 8:2).  This revelation of God’s unconditional love expressed through His gracious provision of salvation, which He paid dearly for through the sacrifice of His only Son Jesus Christ, is our joy and motivation to honor and love the Lord in return, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5).

When it comes to our salvation, we need to recognize that we have a sin nature as a result of the original sin of Adam, as well as having committed our own personal sins before God.  If you have the wrong conception of God, you will most likely be reluctant to admit your sinfulness.  If you have a true understanding of why He created us, why He gave us the honor of having a free-will to decide for ourselves if we desire to worship Him as Lord for all eternity, and how He knew beforehand the inevitable would happen of our falling into temptation and so providing the ultimate rescue plan that would restore our relationship with Him if we are willing to receive it; we would most likely be convinced of His unconditional love for us that will enable us to overcome our fear of punishment and therefore, enabling us to confess our sins and trust Him with taking away all of our guilt and shame. The only people who should fear punishment are those who hate God and reject His free gift of salvation.  But who would refuse the love of God?

Here’s a good article about God’s love:  Billy Graham on Experiencing God’s Love: https://billygraham.org/story/billy-graham-on-experiencing-gods-love/

The book Christ Crucified, Lectures on 1 Corinthians 2 by Adolph Saphir goes deep into the scriptural meaning of God’s love. You can read it for free online at: Christ crucified: lectures on I Corinthians ii : Adolph Saphir : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive