I Have Loved Thee

Read: Jeremiah 31:3

Many people cherish holidays such as Valentine’s Day because it is a national day in the United States to express “love” to someone. There are many different interpretations of what love is, what love means and what love does. Today I want to share with you what God has said regarding “everlasting love”.

No matter the persuasion of life, condition of heart and mind or background, we are born into this world with a nature that craves affection, affirmation and love. We want to be known, recognized and accepted. We are a very needy people and must often be reminded that we are loved. We cannot function properly without knowing we are loved. I believe that one of the most important things we can discover in this life is how much God loves us.

There is a saying which states “looking for love in all the wrong places” and we are guilty of this. We have a tendency to pursue material things, status and relationships who on its face appear to be the answer, only for us to discover that it is not. We are unable to articulate our inner needs and at best what we often describe as our need are material and fleshly things that will never bring complete satisfaction to us. Because God has put eternity in our hearts, the nature of mankind will always crave in this lifetime, the one thing that only God can give and that is everlasting love.

The way in which mankind conducts itself is indicative of the fact that we are missing something. We are not whole.

The soul is screaming for love, true love, pure love, self-sacrificing love. Where can we find and receive such love in this life? It can only come from God. It can only come from a relationship with Him, knowing Him, having time in His presence and hearing from Him through His Word. In Jeremiah 31:3, God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah by stating “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”.

Everlasting means: time out of mind (past or future), eternity; always, eternal, perpetual.

beginning of the world and without end.

When God says that “I have loved thee with an everlasting love, He is speaking in the past tense to indicate He loved us in the beginning, in the present tense He is loving us now and He is going to love us in the future. This also means that whether we make a life choice to walk with God or not, He loves us. This thought is sobering and yet liberating. This thought is also frightful in that many people will miss out on what God has to offer them and find themselves in a Christ-less grave with no hopes or opportunity to enjoy eternal life in God.

The everlasting love of God is timeless and pierces through dispensations and atmospheres. His love is a form of light. We cannot even begin to fathom the depths of God’s everlasting love towards us. His love is incomparable and is Supreme above all other things. He loves us more purely and more deeply than our own blood relatives, more than the mother and father who conceived us. His everlasting love is part of the human DNA code and no matter what we try to change about our own physiological characteristics, no matter what feelings we try to mute or erase, the soul and spirit will.

default to that innate desire to be one in love, one in communion and one in fellowship with God our magnanimous creator.

When we discover and experience the love of God it opens to us a new world and a perspective, we’ve never known before. We begin to make better decisions and we begin to see that life matters and that we are important to God. God teaches us how to love one another and to love our neighbor by the very love He shows to us. There is no other example to follow except the love which comes from God.

Mankind doesn’t need to be taught how to be selfish or how to lust for other things because that is our sin nature, however, we must be taught love because it was lost in relationship in the fall of Adam and Eve.

If you ever find yourself questioning whether or not you are loved, remember that God’s love for us is historic, ancient, timeless, pure, and everlasting.

It is true that we can do nothing to make God love us anymore, His everlasting love is fixed and firm. The love of God has no boundaries, is not circumstantial, it is not partial, and it is given freely because He is simply God. It is charity that is to say affection, good will, and benevolence.

God’s love towards us doesn’t supersede His standard for holiness, His requirements for salvation to enter heaven, and His ability to righteously judge and chastise mankind for the life they have lived. Many people take the love of God as a license to sin and to do whatever they please as if because of his love He won’t judge them.

By doing so they tempt God. Why do we do such things to the God that loves us? Because we are selfish and always trying to preserve our own interest. We are always looking for ways to appease the flesh.

The nature of God and His attributes cannot exist separate from one another but must work in tandem. At the same time, He is One Lord and God, He is also love, joy, peace, longsuffering, a judge, a banner, a battle axe, a healer, redeemer, and Savior to name a few.

God’s love for us as His created beings does not guarantee us a place in heaven without our response of submission and obedience to Him. Neither does His love take the place of repentance and baptism in His name to be saved.

Because He is a loving God and because He is good, we are compelled to love Him in return. When we come to discover His everlasting love, it works to exact and draw a certain response from mankind. It works like a magnetic force drawing the negative soul to the positive God. It works to keep us connected to Him.

One of the most important things we can discover in this life is how much God loves us. One of the most important decisions we can make is to love Him return and to keep His commandments. We will never find true love when we search for it by way of the world systems. The love that the world has to offer is a trap and snare and counterfeit in comparison to the everlasting love that God offers. Do not allow yourself to be deceived in any but rather look to Lord to fulfill the inner longing in your heart.

May our Lord continue to open your eyes and may He bless you with all spiritual comprehension and understanding of His everlasting love. May He give you discernment to know the distinction. May He continue to draw you into His love. I pray that you keep yourself in the love of God.