The Steadfast Love of the Lord

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness,” Lamentations 3:22-23. Truly God has shown men and women what great and marvelous love he has for us. When Solomon wrote the words quoted above he was expressing an enduring truth about God. God loves everyone, and his mercy will never fail. His love and mercy are new each and every morning.

The Apostle John wrote the following about God in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” From this passage we see that people are so precious to God that he was willing to offer his only son for our sins. Paul further expresses God’s love in Romans 5:8 “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” When we were still sinners God was willing to send his son to die upon the cross for our sins. God’s love is simply amazing.

It is God’s love that both sets the standard and truly defines love. John stated in 1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” We learn what true love is by looking to God. True love is seen in God because he loved us first, even though we were sinners and living wrongly. This did not stop God’s mercy; he loved us anyway and sent Jesus to the cross for us. It is easy to love someone who loves you in return, as Jesus stated in Luke 6:32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” God loved us enough that he was willing to send his son to the cross even though we did not love him in return. We owe God our love.

What can we do to show God that we do indeed love him in return? Jesus answers this question in John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” We show our love for God in return by obeying the commands that Jesus gave to us. Jesus also said in John 15:14 “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” In order to show God that we love him and desire to be his friends, we must decide to obey him in every aspect. Not only do we obey God to show him our love and friendship, but also our obedience is done cheerfully, willingly, and with joy. John said in 1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” We truly love God when we obey his commandments and realize that his commandments are not a burden, but a blessing!

Not only does obeying God prove our love and friendship for him, it also puts us in a saved condition before him. The Hebrew writer states in Hebrews 5:9 “And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.” Jesus is our source of “eternal salvation” if we love him enough to obey his commands. John likewise states in 1 John 2:5 “But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him.” The love of God is perfected, or made complete, when we love God enough to keep, or obey, his word. This is the only way that we can know that “we are in him”, when we are obedient to the commands.

I would like to encourage everyone who reads this article to study the bible earnestly and openmindedly in order to learn to obey the commands given to us by God. The Apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” By serious study of the word of God we can show ourselves approved by God, a people that are obedient to his commands, and learn to correctly apply the word of God.