Jealous Love

Last Sunday, a fiery old preacher ranted that God doesn't love everybody. He quoted Psalm 5:5 which says that God "hates all workers of iniquity." In that case, God hates everybody, because we all sin. 1 John 1:8 says "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." In reality, in the Psalm that the preacher quoted, the Hebrew word for "hate" indicates enmity. It's not that God doesn't love sinners, but those who live in rebellion against Him are choosing to be His enemies. However, Jesus taught that we should love our enemies. And Jesus never espoused something that He didn't practice. Yes, God loves His enemies. Romans 5:8 says "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." This shows that God loved us before we were saved. And of course there is John 3:16 that says "For God so loved the world." Yes, that refers to the people in the world.

Why is this important? I feel the need to contend for the charitable love of God, because that cardinal truth is the only hope this world has. If God only loves us when we love Him, then we are in trouble because that kind of love is no different than any other love. That kind of love won't save us. That's a narcisistic love. But God's love is an agape love, which surpasses affections and conditions. We must remember that we only loved God because He first loved us. There was no other love for us to draw upon. We were helpless. That kind of divine love is not within us. But God's heroic love came to our rescue, and gave us the ability to love rightly.
Romans 2:4 reminds us that God's lovingkindness leads us to repentance. God's impending wrath may drive us to repent out of sheer terror. But God desires our love more than our fear. His lovingkindness persists to win over our hearts with His gentle outstretched hand, as if trying to earn the trust of a skiddish animal. 2 Corrinthians 7:10 adds that "godly sorrow brings repentance." If you love someone then you don't want to hurt them. When they grieve, you grieve. Love always opens the door to potential heartache. God loves us enough to become vulnerable to how we feel about Him. He is jealous for us, like a husband is jealous for his wife and doesn't want to share her with another dude. God is so jealous for us that he doesn't want to share us with the idols and devils of this world. And He is so jealous for us that he doesn't want us to give ourselves over to death and hell. He wants to spend an eternity with us. When we practice sin, we are cheating on God and trampling on His heart and it shows that we don't really care about Him. But if we truly love Him, then our sin toward God should produce in us a godly sorrow. We will want to tell God we are sorry, because we truly are sorry. It will not be an obligatory sorrow, but a heartfelt sorrow that churns our stomachs. I hate hurting people that I love. I hate hurting God. It all comes back to love.

Honestly, I don't like to dwell on the wrathful side of God, but it's not going to go away. I know God's wrath is fueled by His just nature, but I think it is also tempered with His jealous love. The absence of love is indifference. God is not indifferent. Sometimes, anger is the posterity of love (not in an abusive sense). The people that I get mad at the most are the people that I love the most. They have exclusive access to my innermost parts and are most able to prick my heart. God is angered by our sin because of His jealous love for us. Our sin distances us from Him, and He wants us to draw nearer. The pinnacle of God's wrath is the removal of His presence, because in His presence is absolute goodness and felicity. When we speak of God's wrath we are not alluding to a hot-tempered God who constantly flies off the handle, but we are talking about a God who is longsuffering and is willing that none should perish. But if a person tells God to "get lost" enough times, then they will eventually get their wish and they will find themselves in a place devoid of beauty. The only reason there is good in this world is because God has not abandoned it. This is not a God-forsaken planet. . .it is a God-forsaking planet.

We will not fully appreciate heaven, until we realize hell. We will not fully appreciate grace, until we realize sin. Likewise, it is healthy and realistic to view God's kindness in contrast to His wrath. We could easily become like that little girl who thinks she has her daddy wrapped around her little finger. And if we're not careful, we could begin to see God as a big pushover who is easy to manipulate and take advantage of. But God is not so easily fooled. His love is not blind. And those who test the limits of His patience will find themselves falling over the edge. There is a side to love that is terrifying. Hell has no fury like a God scorned.