Does God Love You? Yes and No

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"All people are loved through God’s benevolence, but only some are loved through His covenant."

As I start this column, I am thinking about the hit television show from years ago, Touched by an Angel. It portrayed a beautiful female angel in the show telling people, “God loves you,” with an Irish accent. I used to love walking around the house and repeating it, just like the angel sounded. 

It is a famous phrase that nearly every preacher in the world regularly lays ahold of and declares to children, youth and adults of all ages. Perhaps you have been told this, or even stated it to others. Often it is used with the non-religious, believing it can warm a cold heart, break down the walls of spiritual resistance or prepare a lost soul to enter into God’s kingdom.

Where does the phrase come from? The Bible, and from one of its most recognized verses, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” And from Romans 5:8, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” There are other verses as well.  

There are two kinds of divine love expressed in God’s Word; a benevolent and covenant love. Benevolent love is found in John 3:16. The word for love in the passage refers to taking pleasure in, or longing for. One could rewrite the verse to get a better understanding like this, “For God so longed for the world, that he gave his only Son…” Or Romans 5:8 could be stated “but God shows his longing for us in that…” These verses are more like a description of God’s love toward a general audience, versus a direct statement like we have made it to be. It is a love that expresses His passionate desire for all people to believe in His Son and be set free from their sins. 

Covenant love is found in Jesus’ words to His disciples, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” (John 15:9) There are places in the Bible like this, where God has said in essence “I love you,” but it is only found in direct statements to His chosen people Israel, and to Jesus’ appointed disciples. It is a love that comes out of a covenant relationship; which God has with those who have repented of their sin, placed their faith in Christ, and walk faithfully with Him. 

All people are loved through God’s benevolence, but only some are loved through His covenant.

Sometimes people can misunderstand God’s benevolent love and feel it means they are accepted by God and forgiven automatically without conditions. This is a grave mistake with serious implications. Listen to what God detests, “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. (Proverbs 6:16-19) 

Even though God longs for the world to be saved, He will not tolerate its evil. For He has laid down a warning. John 3:16 states “…that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” 

To believe is to entrust one’s entire life under the authority of the Kingship of Jesus. If a person refuses that command, then he will perish, meaning he will be destroyed under the wrath of God forever. However, if one turns from their disobedience and responds to God’s benevolent love, then he will receive the gift of eternal life and the blessed promise of forgiveness, that comes through the death and resurrection of God’s only Son. Then he will enter into God’s sacred covenant love. 

A prayer for you – Lord God, help people to understand the truth of your love. Let them not be deceived, believing you require nothing of them. Open their eyes, that they would respond to your divine kindness by leaving their sinful ways and placing their faith in you. Bring precious souls into your covenant love today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

You’re The Man!

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"There is one standard every man is to be judged by. One! And whose standard is that? God’s. All others are just opinions, but only one really counts."

You are the man! If you have never had someone tell you that before, then let me be the first.  

It seems these days, men are put down constantly. On one hand some middle age men are told, “You work too much and never have time for your family.” On the other hand, it is voiced to some younger men, “You are on your phone constantly and play video games all day. You are lazy. Get a job!” To some men it is also conveyed, “You are too harsh and blow up all the time.” While to other men it is said, “You are too passive and never say anything.” Then around Father’s Day each year some dads always seem to hear, “You are a dead-beat dad, and your kids are going to end up in jail.”

These messages are conflicting and condemning. They do not give men something to live up to, but produce a sense of rejection. Despite that, can we ask, “Are any of those statements true?” To be honest, sometimes they are. It depends on the man. But that is not the point!

By what standard is a man to be judged? By his family, girlfriend, society, his religion, by movies, social media or his own personal opinion? There is one standard every man is to be judged by. One! And whose standard is that? God’s. All others are just opinions, but only one really counts.

God is the Creator of every man and thereby sets the standard for which they are to live. Here are three of God’s standards.

1.    Be a man of peace. It is written, “A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.” (Proverbs 15:18) A man is to put away his quick and hot temper. He should restrain himself, and seek to be a person of peace and work to create such an environment wherever he is.

2.    Be a man of purity and faithfulness. The Scripture teaches, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” (Hebrews 13:4) A man is to walk in purity, abstaining from sex outside of marriage, and be faithful toward his wife in marriage.

3.    Be a man of love. The Bible says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39) A man is to love the Lord God with all his being. Not some, but all. All of his intellect, passions, spiritual life and physical being. And a man is to love others, just as he would want to be loved, laying down his life for the good of his neighbor.

Are you such a man?

One is not merely identified outwardly as a man, but his true essence is identified inwardly. Is he a man of peace? Is he a man of purity and faithfulness? Is he a man of love for God and others? Men, I challenge you to be who God created you to be. He made you with a purpose, and did not make a mistake.

But you say, “I have failed.” We all have. There is only one man who has never failed. Jesus. Yet in His perfection, the Author of life died and rose again that all might be as He. Through Him, all men can be made new. They can be freed from the things that have controlled and ruined their life up to this day. Admit your sin before God, place your faith in Him and live according to His ways. Then you can truly be the man you were born to be.          

A prayer for you – Lord God, thank you for every man you have made. They are precious in your sight. Yet, they have done wrong. Evil things have enslaved their minds and hearts. Deliver them this hour. Bring them to call upon you and be set free. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Is Your Marriage Headed Toward Divorce?

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"What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."  (Matt. 19:6)

June 23, 2002 I married Kathe Lloyd. After we had known each other for several years, I approached her and asked, “You are someone I would be interested in marrying someday. Would you like to start dating?” And so we began, then got engaged, married, and had a hope like so many, that we would have a good marriage and a long life together. After all these years, despite some minor and major differences, we have been able by the power of God to love, forgive and still be together.

Unfortunately, for millions of others their story is different. Their marriages have ended in divorce or are headed that way. Our family is no different. Between Kathe’s side of the family and mine, there have been 16 divorces, spanning three generations. Plus, since God called me into the ministry in 1990, I have seen up-close story after story of tragic endings to marriages.

What does God have to say about all this? He created the first man and woman, then officiated humankind’s first wedding ceremony. Unfortunately, after that perfect wedding held in the spectacular Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and the corrupting influence of evil entered into the world. This influence affected Adam and Eve’s own family and has every other family down to us. Consequently, multitudes of marriages have ended in divorce for most of human history. Even so, God has continually fought back against these forces that seek to destroy what He instituted.

When our wise Creator sent His beloved Son from heaven to earth, He addressed the massive divorce problem in His own culture. “…Pharisees came up to [Jesus] and tested him by asking, ‘Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?’ He answered, ‘Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,’ and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.’ They said to him, ‘Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?’ He said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so…” (Matthew 19:3-8)

You can see Jesus was facing a situation in which people were not seeking to save their marriages, but instead they were trying to find a religious or legal rationale to end their marriage. How did Jesus respond? He took people back to the beginning, to the first wedding in the Garden of Eden, to show them what their Creator’s perfect standard was, and still is, for marriage. For He said, “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Even in the face of widespread divorce and evil everywhere, God’s command has not changed. But Jesus’ opponents, who obviously wanted divorce to always be an option, pressed Jesus on why God (through Moses) allowed for it. Jesus gave a bold and direct answer, “Because of the hardness of your hearts…” Or put in other words, “Because of the evil within you.” This is the deeper reason why couples end up in the courthouse.

Is your marriage headed toward divorce? Is your hardness of heart causing the trouble? Often there is one spouse, where if he or she changes course, the marriage stands a chance at avoiding divorce. If you are that spouse, I pray that you will examine your heart. Then humble yourself before God. Admit your failings to Him, and cry out with all your being for Him to save you and your marriage. It may seem impossible because of what you have done, but with God nothing is impossible.

A prayer for you – Lord God, Jesus came to die and rise again that sin would not triumph. Defeat the sin of divorce that is knocking at the doors of so many homes. May spouses turn to you in desperation to save their marriage. Perform miracles, O God! In Jesus’ name. Amen.