THE PERMANENCY OF GOD'S LOVE

This topic defines God's commitment or ability to love us in Christ. The duration of God's love for us is everlasting while the durability of the love is permanent. His love never fails. Therefore, as we look at today's Scripture, our understanding and imagination about this love would be awakened.

Reference: Romans 8:39 New Living Translation (NLT) "No power in the sky above or in the earth below--indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

God's love was revealed to us in Christ Jesus and nothing can pull us away from it, except we denounce it. In Romans 8:38 (NIV), Paul specifically revealed His convictions: 'For I am convinced that neither death nor life...' Paul is absolutely sure that nothing can separate us from God's love in Christ Jesus, even death. In wedding ceremonies, we hear couple make a vow to each other, "Till death do us part", which means that death is the only factor that has the tendency to separate any couple who is determined to keep the marital vow to the end. Though death is powerful enough to tear a married couple apart, it is not strong enough to do the separation, when it comes to God's love. God's love for us is not just about permanence, we have been merged with it forever.

Man's love for God can wax cold, just as Jesus mentioned in Matthew 24:12 (KJV), "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." To wax cold is to reduce in temperature. When a Christian begins to do things their own way, and not for the glory of God, or to honour Christ, the zeal they have for God will diminish. Their love toward God and the gospel will "grow cold." But even as that happens, God's love for us is always intact. In other words, to God, it is impossible to disentangle or separate from us His love because we are inextricably linked to it.

God's love for us is so strong that no power in the sky above or in the earth below can handle it. Powers that be, whether from above or beneath may try to challenge the oneness we have with God's love, but they can never succeed. Paul listed everything that can test His love for us from our experiences, to powerful forces, and even the natural and supernatural worlds. He also listed the present and future, and then concluded that nothing in all creation is able to separate us from the love of God. Powers here also include hostile governments in the physical world.

Beloved, we are loved by God unconditionally. Have you really thought about this love? Have you come to conclusion that you have been eternally saved, through faith in Christ because of this love? This is a love that produces eternal life, which means perpetuity of ages. No matter what, God's love abound in your life forever. Therefore, you must act like it, live like it, and grow in it.

To embrace this love fully, Paul prayed that we may have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is (Ephesians 3:18). He used those measurements as symbolic terms to communicate to us the extent of God's love, in every possible dimension, so we can comprehend and grow in our understanding of it. This applies to everyone of us in Christ.

Since we need enabling power to understand God's love, it means that it requires us to exercise our faith, which goes beyond this knowledge. We must put the love to work. Simply put, to experience how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is, the knowledge about Christ should translate into living for Christ. Though God's love is unfathomable, we can grow in our understanding of this love, by yielding daily and living according to the dictates of God's Spirit.

Scripture Reading - Psalm 86:15; 1 Chronicles 16:34; Psalm 36:7; John 3:16; Romans 5:5; 1 John 4:7-8.

Exuberant Declaration: I have an inseparable oneness with God's unfailing love. His love is an anchor for my soul and I live to attain the experience of its breadth, length, height and depth. By the Spirit of God, I'm daily enabled to enjoy the rich profusion of divine blessing through the love of God. Hallelujah!