Inseparable Love

This article is by Melvin Woods:

Love is a word that is easy to roll off the tongue. It is so commonplace that it is easy to be desensitized as to what it actually is. Even still, it has the ability to conjure individually distinct and vastly different feelings and images, depending on the person and their experience. Is it possible to get to the basics of what it is and more specifically to discern what is the nature and essence of divine love? Is it possible to find it here and now? The Bible has a lot to say about love, and perhaps in a few verses we can better see what divine love is along with its profound implications. To take just a couple of examples:

This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 Jn 4:10)

But God shows his love toward us,  that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8)

God’s love is demonstrated in the sacrificial death of his son for ungodly people.  Sometimes referred to as stiff-necked people. Those that are unreformed recidivists, and can’t get their act together. Divine love is poured out on those that cannot measure up to it and to those that are not in the current state to reciprocate it. God’s love is not quid pro quo.

Jesus, the total embodiment of this love, goes so far as to seek out people that fit this description. “For the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk 19:10).  A good example of this is Zacchaeus and Paul’s conversion along with the parables of the lost coin, lost sheep, and lost son. Jesus is the seeker and the only one seeking. The power of this love is so strong that the lost have no choice to be found. Jesus will not lose any that he’s been given (Jn 18:9).

This is a consistent theme throughout the Bible. A great example is God telling Hosea to take an unfaithful wife. Who does a thing like that? Who could love like that? Divine love seeks and chooses the despicable (1 Cor 1:28) and totally absolves it. Speaking to his disciples “Jesus answered them, have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? (Jn 6:70)”  This is exactly what Jesus is after and what divine love is designed to do. It can’t help but do this. It is a total enveloping loving embrace of the offender.

Further, Jesus is not only searching for, but he rather enjoys, the company of sinful people, more so than the religious crowd. Turns out sinful people love his company too. After Jesus calls Levi the tax collector, Levi decides to throw Jesus a party at his house. The Gospel accounts are clear on who is attending; many sinners and many tax collectors. Could you imagine what that type of crowd is capable of and experienced? The Gospels push it even more by saying “they followed him” (Mk 2:15-16). Many were astonished at the company that this rabbi kept.

This brings a great perspective on Jesus’ teaching on loving the enemy (Mt 5:44).  Jesus, actively seeks and loves unconditionally his enemies, whether it be the Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots (or us). He is the one who perfectly does good to those that hate him. It’s absurd!

God is longsuffering with those that are counter to him and unrelenting in his ability to reconcile those that are counter to him. Divine love is an extremely stubborn love that refuses to condemn sinners, but instead it reconciles them. One thing God is not is punitive towards sinners. Our sins do not elicit a response of judgment or anger from God, but the opposite (Ps 103:10). Paul explains this further by saying God calls people something they are not (Rom 4:17). He’s not putting sinners on parole, holding them accountable, having them work steps, or putting them through a restoration process. He simply pronounces forgiveness and calls us righteous. He’s not in denial, it’s just that what he says goes.

Such a love is inseparable from us. Romans 8 reaches the culmination of Paul’s argument in stating that nothing can separate us from the love of God. We have been reconciled and made one with God and there isn’t anything we can do to undo it. He’s gone to great lengths to remove any obstacle that could separate us. There was a wall dividing us, and he broke it down. He abolished legalism so no rule could keep us apart. Reconciliation and peace was accomplished through him and we are made one (Eph 2:14-16).

There is no distance we have to travel to get to this love. No pilgrimage is required, no conference you need to attend, you don’t have to go to the holy land. It is not beholden to a calendar date, cycles of the moon, or a particular season. There is no building or sacred place we need to seek out to access it. God is no longer dwelling in man made facilities (Acts 17:48). When the temple veil was torn from top to bottom it was to symbolize God has left the building. He had a change of address.

Where then is the dwelling place of this love? King David was fortunate to find out that God was behind him and right in front of him. It would be impossible for him to run from his presence (Ps 139:5-8). And when Jesus was asked when the kingdom would come he replied by saying it is within us (Lk 17:21).

Any perceived distance is a lie. We can’t run from him. He’s in you and there’s nothing that would make him leave. He can’t be evicted. God is like a divine squatter, an unconditional divine love squatter. You are inseparable.