"...for the Lord disciplines the He loves, and punishes every son whom He receives."
Hebrews 12:6
To finish out the focus on the love coming from God, specifically, I have two final points that must be delved into. The first was eluded to in the initial post on this topic, and it comes from Hebrews 12:6, referenced above. It is a hard truth, but one that must be further examined.
He punishes us... yes, our God of love punishes us. And He does so out of pure love for us. Because He is immutable, and His character is therefore immutable, His love is unchanging. Therefore, since we know from the Bible that He hates sin and cannot look upon it, it stands to reason that He must issue loving correction when it is needed for each of us. And I can tell you from a plethora of personal experiences that I have received said correction every single time I have needed it. And while there was a time in my life that I, too, was guilty of asking why God would do such a thing, I understand now that it was and sometimes still is an absolute necessity for me.
And if it is not a necessity for you, then please call me today, right now, and tell me how you figured out how to not need correction. (Reference Proverbs 12:1)
Secondly...
"Love is patient; love is kind. Love does not envy; is not boastful; is not conceited; does not act improperly; is not selfish; is not provoked; does not keep a record of wrongs; finds no joy in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."
"Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, 13
To understand the way God loves us, the best example comes from these words of Paul to the church in Corinth. I mentioned in an earlier post that His love is easily described as being equal to His grace, in that it covers all things. But when I read the passage above, I realize that there are very few relationships I have which can be categorized by all of the tenets laid forth.
To truly show the faithful love to one another that God shows to us is difficult, because it means we HAVE TO look past all the hurt and all the wrongs and all the "I can't believe" statements about what has already happened. It is over, whatever it was, and that wrong exists no more unless it is allowed to exist in the mind. God sees all things in one frame, and He forgave us and loves us anyway, even though He knows all the wrong we have ever done and all that we still will do. To show this fruit of the Spirit, we must endeavor to do the same. And it begins with the CHOICE to look past what has hurt us.
The beginning of this has already been powerful, and it will only grow from here. We will move on to how we should love each other, and examine more words from Paul and from Jesus to look at how we are commanded to love. But for now, take time to think about how you can more readily express to others the kind of love that God shows to you, starting with your spouse and them moving outward from him/her. I promise... it will bless you!
God bless you all!!!
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