1 John 4:19 (Love)

"We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

Recently, I have been gripped by the chorus of a new song by Lauren Daigle called, "Love Like This." It is a beautiful melody of praise and worship to God which simply begs the question, "What have I done to deserve love like this?"

In many ways, it is extremely difficult for me to wrap my head around the enormity of that question and unpack its meaning without becoming very emotional and vulnerable.

When I look back upon my past failures and the see the wake of destruction my sins have caused over my lifetime, I am hard-pressed to find any semblance of justification why God would not only forgive my sins but save a wretch like me. 

The reality is that God has saved and redeemed me by His own volition because He loves me with a love that is indescribable, unfathomable, priceless and eternal—and truthfully, I deserve none of it because I'm not entitled to it (quite the contrary). However, I am foolish if I do not recognize that His saving love is both UNCONDITIONAL and CONDITIONAL, which is not how most people view God's love.

In our present culture which dismisses God's wrath or minimizes it as if the fire and brimstone sermons Jonathan Edwards or Charles Spurgeon once preached were non-relevant in today's society, love is the overwhelming alternative to God's character that most people cling to and focus their attention upon when it comes to eternity.

No one wants to accept that God would ever sentence anyone to never-ending torment in hell where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, because that in and of itself seems as unloving as it gets.

Yet the Bible is clear that God is just and will judge mankind when we pass from this earth according to the decisions we make, especially as it relates to our relationship (or lack thereof) with Him. In other words, His love is magnified because of His wrath toward sin.

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil" (2 Corinthians 5:10).

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth" (Romans 1:18).

"For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, 'As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.' So then each of us will give an account of himself to God" (Romans 14:10–12).

The clear takeaway from Scripture is that each one of us will give an account on judgment day to Almighty God, the eternal judge and ruler over all creation.

And whether we enter the gates of heaven or perish in hell to be tortured and tormented for all eternity hinges upon whether we have accepted JESUS as our personal Lord and Savior, which is not an exaggeration or scare tactic—that is simply the cold, hard reality of eternity as presented in Scripture, the absolute truth of God's Word.

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:1–10).

Jesus said, "I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36–37).

Whether we like it or not, God can, does and will judge the sin of man, and we are left with the monumental decision of whether we accept eternity on God's terms as stated in Scripture or choose the alternative.

Again, Jesus clearly warned, "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters" (Luke 11:23), because rejecting Christ is rejecting His free gift of salvation based on faith alone so no man can boast that he saved himself.

In other words, our response to God's love is CONDITIONAL, yet His love in an of itself is UNCONDITIONAL because it is not contingent upon our response. It existed before we did, and it is the reason He chose to not only send Jesus to preach the Gospel message of salvation for all mankind to hear, repent and believe, but sacrificed His sinless Son unto death on a cross to provide a way of escape for mankind to be reconciled to Himself.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God" (John 3:16–18).

Therefore, "What have I done to deserve a love like this?" The answer is nothing because His love is UNCONDITIONAL in that He sent Jesus to die on our behalf to justify His righteous wrath against sin, but CONDITIONAL in that we must respond in faith by accepting God's free gift of salvation and surrendering our pride and selfish will at the foot of the cross.

The sad reality is that gift is perceived as an ultimatum for many to justify their rejection of God and declare Him unloving for mandating conditional, non-negotiable terms regarding His grace. They determine salvation is not free at all and they are correct, because an immeasurable price was paid which we cannot fathom.

"Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:4–11).

Bottom-line: "We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19), and the unconditional love that existed before creation has been poured out to those who conditionally receive salvation by grace through faith alone.

Granted, people will willingly choose to reject God's saving love despite the warnings passed down through the generations by the prophets, disciples, and Jesus Himself, but we must choose for ourselves whether we will submit and obey what the Bible teaches and receive eternity in heaven, or hardheartedly embrace relative truth by rejecting God altogether and even the notion that heaven or hell exists.

Therefore, let us choose wisely for we have been forewarned according to Scripture as to the conditional, unconditional love God graciously provides those who place their eternal trust in Him.

"And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (Joshua 24:15).

"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them" (Deuteronomy 30:19–20).