GOD LOVES us AND WANTS A RELATIONSHIP WITH us
The Bible says that God has a deep and tender feeling of affection and attachment for each of us, and he has an enduring concern for our individual well-being.
He’s not remote and unknowable as many people believe. On the contrary, he wants to have a personal relationship with each one of us.
The Bible says that God is love – not just that he has love, but that he is love. Said another way, the character of God is everything communicated to us by the wonderful and powerful word love.
Relational love must have an object and the object must have freedom to love or not love in return. To be meaningful and satisfying, love requires free will, even though this sometimes results in the pain of rejection (see Topic 6). God will tolerate a person’s rejection only for a while – this lifetime, which could be cut short at any moment – and then God won’t offer his love any more. Separation from God’s love is called hell (see Topics 50 and 51).
GOD’S LOVE DISTINGUISHES CHRISTIANITY FROM RELIGION
If God were only holy, sinful man couldn’t have a close personal relationship with him. But the Bible says that, besides being holy, God is also love.
The Greek manuscripts from which our English Bibles are translated use multiple words for ‘love’ which convey more precise meanings than our single word. The manuscripts use a word meaning sensual love (eros), another word meaning friendship love (philos), and another word meaning unmerited and caring love (agape). It’s the latter word that’s used to describe God’s love for man.
This agape kind of love means much more than warm feelings. It means thoroughly enjoying a deep and intimate relationship and giving unselfishly in practical ways to meet the needs of the loved one.
It’s at this point where Christianity is in sharp contrast to the religions of the world (see Topics 11-14):
- RELIGION is man reaching up to God... trying in vain to please him with rituals and good works, in fear.
- CHRISTIANITY is God reaching down to man... in the person of Jesus Christ, in love.
Christianity is usually referred to as a religion – and in the sociological sense it is – but essentially it’s a love relationship between God and man.
GOD’S LOVE IS UNIVERSAL AND UNCONDITIONAL
God loves everyone in the world personally and impartially. His love is superior love because it’s steady and rational, not changing by moods, senses or response. His love isn’t caused by anything in the people he loves. It flows from his own character.
Human love is often sacrificial and beneficial, but it rarely seeks the well-being of undeserving people.
We usually put conditions on our love, but God’s love is unconditional.
We often love because certain people are attractive to us, or respond well to us, but God loves because it’s his nature to love. No one is at a disadvantage with God because of birth or upbringing, because of appearance or inabilities, or because of past sins.
God loves even the worst sinner. It’s not necessary to clean up our life before experiencing, enjoying and benefiting from his love (see Topic 58).
