One Defining Word

October 3
There is one defining word about God, and that word is ‘LOVE.’ Yes, He is holy; yes, His holiness requires Him to exercise judgment. Yes, there is a penalty to those who turn away from the grace He extends whereby His righteousness is placed as a covering upon sinful man. But though He may be required by His holiness to address sin and its consequences, His nature is love.

Because He loves, He desires that all men place their sins under the blood of Jesus. For whatever reason within each bosom, some men do, and some men do not exercise the prerogative to receive forgiveness and cleansing from the Lord. Yet, whether they do or whether they don’t, the God of all mankind loves them. Even while they were yet sinners, He loved them and Jesus died for them (Romans 5:8).

Jesus loves everyone, but perhaps John felt His love the most, for he called himself ‘the beloved Apostle.’ Equipped with his profound revelation of Christ’s love, he said in I John 4:7-12, “…we should love each other because love comes from God. Everyone who loves becomes God’s child and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love…

"…This is real love: not our love for God but God’s love for us in sending His Son to take away our sins…if God loves us that much, we also should love one another…if we love each other, God lives in us and His love is made perfect in us.” Some people find it easy to execute judgment upon those they feel fall short of their concept of God. What they fail to see is that in so doing, they themselves miss Him entirely by missing His love.