This passage from Romans, Chapter 8 speaks of a love that cannot be fully expressed inhuman terms – nor can it be fully duplicated by human beings. We speak of this love being expressed through sacrifice, through selflessness, through the gifts with which our Heavenly Father blesses us daily – But I would contend that this love, HIS love, is most fully understood by us as a decision. God’s love is a choice and He has made the choice to love you regardless of how YOU feel about HIM. Did you get that? You see, we most often relate to God’s selfless love by thinking of it in the same terms as our human, selfish, love. We are always wondering what conditions He is placing n His love for us – or what, in our more wretched moments, what He can do for us or give to us because He claims to love us.
Admit it, it’s true – and that’s ok, for now, but part of the sanctification process – the process that we as submitted followers of Christ go through in order to reflect holiness – is to also understand the power of God’s CHOICE for while we were still sinners, He died for us so that we can be saved from the power of sin and death and enter into a relationship with Him that will last into eternity. THAT is the power of His CHOICE. If He made demands of us we would never be worthy. It is what He does, has done, not what we have done – or can ever do.
He loves us simply because, well, He loves us – because He chooses to. It is pure Love and pure selflessness. It is pure Agape love and, if we choose to believe that Jesus is the Christ and that He died as atonement for your sins, we can receive that Agape love and, in our best moments, reflect it back to a dying world. Amen.