A LOVE THAT NEVER FORGETS
A LOVE THAT NEVER FORGETS
The words, “I love you” are some of the most thrilling, heart-warming, consoling, and comforting words that can be expressed to an individual. Spouses are reminded by them. Children are reassured by them. Family lives by them. Friends are sworn by them. Those words captivate the spirit in a way that gives hope, confidence, and a will to keep on. We need that. And we need to say it to those we do love and hear it from the ones that love us more often. However, those words can become a frustration to those who do not hear them. After all, we are human and were built a certain way by God. The absence of those words can do irreparable damage. But equally (or more) damaging can be the expressing of those words without the backing of action. This goes deeper because of the hypocrisy that is involved. Lord knows we have too much of that going around. John writes, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3: 18). Now John wasn’t suggesting that it was wrong to express those words; he was calling for consistency in our action when those words are expressed. And the action required is an aggressive action. It is not passive at all. It manifests itself in what it does and in what it desires to do.
To give one of the greatest examples of this love is found in a statement God made to Israel in the long ago. “Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me” (Isaiah 49: 15). The context of discussion involves God’s chastisement of His people who because of God’s punishment equated it with abandonment. God responds by assuring them that this was not the case at all. He compares His love to the greatest love ever known in the physical realm—the kind and degree of love that a mother has for her child. It would be unthinkable for a sane mother to forget her baby and the child she brought into the world and cared for so compassionately. But it can happen; and it does happen. But not so with God! Now think with me for a moment the degree of this love. God’s love goes deeper than that of a mother for her child who may even forget the love deserving of her own child. This shows the frailty of humans and flawlessness of God. To put it in even more perspective, think about your loving mother. I wouldn’t trade mine in for nothing the world has to offer. And yet God’s love goes deeper than my (and yours) own mom! Again, the loving earthly mothers can not even love like God can because of their feebleness and inconsistency as human beings. But God’s love is stable, perfect, consistent, and to a degree that cannot be comprehended by our feeble minds. Oh what love! Can I talk about it? His love didn’t forget Joseph when he was sold by his brothers and sent to prison through the lies of Potiphar’s wife. His love didn’t forget the panicked Jews when Pharaoh was chasing them to a dead end Red Sea. His love didn’t forget Elijah when he felt he was all alone and wanted to die. His love didn’t forget the poor widow who gave all she had. His love didn’t forget Peter when he denied him three times. His love didn’t forget the seven persecuted churches of Christ in the book of Revelation to inspire John to write a “love letter” to them. His love didn’t forget Paul and Silas when imprisoned for their faith. His love didn’t forget a Gentile man name Cornelius when he was trying to do right. His love didn’t forget Dorcas who was full of good works, but died. Peter, by the power of God, showed He (God) didn’t forget by bringing her back to life. His love didn’t forget Lazarus even though He waited four more days before His love showed up. And, His love hasn’t forgotten you and me.
One of the dangers in living the Christian life is for us to forget about the love God has for us. Why is this danger? It is when we forget about God’s love for us that we start believing the devil’s lies and begin to exclude God out of our lives. We begin to do things our way instead of God’s way. We begin to enthrone man and his trust and dethrone God and mistrust. We take men up and bring God down. Think about it. When you do not feel loved, you begin to think and do silly things. Your life becomes incoherent and irrational. Prisons are filled with those who did not feel loved. There are many Christians today who are in spiritual prisons because they have forgotten about the never ending love of God. Their health has escaped them; their relationships have failed them; their finances are challenging them; and their faith is wrestling with them. But Paul writes, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword…For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8: 35-39). “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me” (Hebrews 13: 5-6). We need to feed on these scriptures. And as great as these verses are, there is more.
Today, in New Testament times, God has given us the ultimate proof of His love that never forgets. How did He do this? He gave us Himself! Listen to Him. “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him, nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (John 14: 16-18). He came in Spirit form on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. Those who responded to the gospel (see Acts 2: 38), were promised the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then Paul writes about this love when he says, “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you…But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you…The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us…” (Romans 8: 9-26). Just as God was with Israel under the old covenant, so, today, He is with and in His people through the Holy Spirit. So the next time you are lonely, know that you are not alone. The next time you are forsaken by others, know that God sweetly resides within. The next time doubt begins to creep, know that it is removed by God’s personal presence. You want to talk about love? God, the Creator, Sustainer, Self-Sufficient, Eternal One, invites and desires sweet intimacy with His people by placing Himself within them! Now that is: A LOVE THAT NEVER FORGETS!
~Stacey Mobley