Amazing Love

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 1 John 3:1

Have you ever felt that God is ready to give up on you because you have stumbled and fallen? Do you ever fear that you have hit the limit of God’s tolerance for your failure and you are out of the reach of His grace? I have met a lot of Christians like that. They think that God is upset with them, and that He has already given up on them because their daily performance is less than perfect. It’s true that the walk of faith can sometimes be interrupted by moments of personal unbelief or rebellion, or even satanic deception. It’s during those moments when we think that God has surely lost His patience with us and is ready to give up on us. The temptation is to give up, stop walking by faith altogether, slump dejectedly by the side of the road, and wonder, “What’s the use?”

The primary truth you need to know about God in order for your faith to remain strong is that His love and acceptance is unconditional. When your walk of faith is strong, God loves you. When your walk of faith is weak, God loves you. Whether you’re strong one moment or weak the next, God still loves you. God’s love for you is the great eternal constant in the midst of all the inconsistencies of your daily walk.

The apostle John wrote: “I write this to you so that you will not sin” (1 John 2:1, NIV). Of course God wants us to live right, but He has also made provision for our failure so His love continues to be constant in spite of what we do: “And if anybody sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (2:1-2).

An article in National Geographic several years ago provided a penetrating picture of God’s love. After a forest fi re in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno’s damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrifi ed in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick. When he struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother’s wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have fl own to safety but had refused to abandon her babies.

When the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings could live. “He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will fi nd refuge” (Ps. 91:4, NIV).