Dec 11 Devotion: Love Beyond Comprehension

1 Peter 1:6-9

6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

         These verses in 1 Peter tell us about a love that we have for the Lord, even though we have not seen him. That is unusual. Why would we love someone that we have not seen? Of course, the Bible tells us how this is possible.

1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.

         God loved us first and because of that, we can love him back. However, this opens up another question. Why would God love us first? What is there about us that would cause him to love us? It would take many, many words to explain why, but let us look at just a few.

1 John 4:8, 16

8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

         God is love. It is an attribute of his divine nature. It is who he is. Because of this, he has always loved us.

Jeremiah 31:3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

         God draws us to himself with his lovingkindness, not because we are lovable but because of his love for us.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Romans 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

         There is nothing about us that is entitled to the love of God, deserves the love of God, or can merit the love of God. We are by nature God’s enemy.

Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

         He loves us (knowing all there is to know about us) because he chooses to love us and, in that choice, he chooses to make the way for our salvation. He loves us despite ourselves and he loved us first.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

         That really is love beyond comprehension. Let us rejoice that he loves us first in this way and that he made the way for our salvation that we can love him back.

In Christ’s Service,

Bro. Adrian Moore

2 Cor. 4:5