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Thought Provoking...

I found this to be quite thought provoking. Have you ever thought about this?

There is such a thing as unconditional love in God, but it's not what most people mean by it.

It's not a saving love that he has for everybody. Else everybody would be saved, since they would not have to meet any conditions, not even faith. But Jesus said everybody is not saved (Matthew 25:46).


It's not the love that justifies sinners since the Bible says we are justified by faith, and faith is a condition (Romans 5:1).

It's not the love of working all things together for our good because Paul says that happens "to those who love God" (Romans 8:28).

It's not the love of the most intimate fellowship with the Father because Jesus said, "He who loves me will be loved by my Father" (John 14:21). And James said, "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you" (James 4:8).

It's not the love that will admit us into heaven when we die because John says, "Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Revelation 2:10). And faithfulness is a condition.

How then does God love unconditionally? Two ways (at least):


He loves us with electing love unconditionally. "He chose us in him before the foundation of the world . . . for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 1:4-5).

He does not base this election on foreseeing our faith. On the contrary, our faith is the result of being chosen and appointed to believe, as Acts 13:48 says, "As many as were appointed to eternal life believed."

He loves us with regenerating love before we meet any condition. The new birth is not God's response to our meeting the condition of faith. On the contrary, the new birth enables us to believe. "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been [already!] born of God," (1John 5:1). "[We] were born, not . . . of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:13).

Let us pray that thousands of people who speak of the unconditional love of God would discover the biblical meaning of what they say. If that happened many would find their feet on solid ground.

John Piper

Comments

Mel said…
This one really threw me for a loop, actually. I have to think about it, pray about it, and research it some more. So what do we say to people? "God might love you, if you choose to accept what He did to redeem you." ??
Dianna Wood said…
Understanding how God loves is a very soul enriching study. Since "God is Love" one must also gain a better overall understanding of all of God's attributes in order to understand how God's love is manifested to His creatures.

I would recommend going to this link: http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/Gods-Attributes/The-Love-of-God/ and reading all that you can.

Perhaps this analogy might shed a bit of light on your question:

If your son (heaven forbid) grew up to me a serial killer and was to receive the death penalty for his crimes; would you stop loving him?

How would your love be manifested? Would you feel he deserved to be put to death, and yet still have a love for him in your heart?

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