Sometimes I want to ponder a truth that is broader than any one scripture can capture. Last year I really felt called to take some time to meditate on God’s love. [Doubting his love has been a recurring issue in my life. He speaks to it; I accept the truth; I forget it. I think I never gave enough time to pondering the truth for it to become a heart-felt reality.] I could have chosen a number of scriptures to meditate on to do this, but instead I chose a topical approach: I began with the truth that God is love. This means that God’s attributes are also the attributes of his love. Here are some attributes of God I looked at, considering how they express his love.
- Infinite: This one is key for me. I have six children and it is clear to me that, on a human level, the more people there are to love, the less time I have to give to the individuals I love. God does not have this issue. He exists outside of time and space, hence he can give me the full attention I need at any given time—all the while doing the same for everyone else, in addition to running the universe and keeping time moving toward his desired end. When he has fully given his love to everyone, the amount of love he has left over is infinite. His love will never fall short.
- Omniscient: God, who knows all, knows me better than I know myself. He will never be mistaken about what is best for me. He knows every joy and every sorrow I face or have faced. He knows the truths I have hidden from myself, the hurts I have buried, and the dreams I have not yet dreamed. His love is a knowledge-filled love. He understands what lies at the root of my sins, failures, and weaknesses. He knows the parts of me that yearn for him and truly desire to live for the praise of his glory. I need not fear that if God really knew me, he would not love me.
- Eternal: My personal experience is that even the people I most treasure sometimes irritate me and I do not truly love them in that particular moment. God’s love does not ebb and flow but is consistent. While the way he shows his love for me varies based on my need—loving encouragement will look different than loving rebuke, for example—it is always love. It is a love I can be confident will last.
- Faithful: God always acts with integrity. As he already has all knowledge and is already fully mature, he is unchanging—and so is his love. God’s love is not a response to who I am, it is the expression of who he is. I do not have to worry about what kind of mood he’s in today or if he will feel like making time for me today. His love is faithful because he is faithful.
Of course, since God is infinite, there are many more qualities that can be looked at. It’s worthwhile to take a look at any of God’s attributes and ask ourselves the question, “Is there something here that would help me to trust God’s love more if I took the time to ponder how this attribute expresses his love?”
One side note: Something I did not plan, but I think God did, is that while I was meditating on God’s love I was also doing a scripture study in Matthew. It was a study where I divided the book up into four-chapter segments and read through one segment daily until I completed a word study on that segment. During the time I was meditating on God’s love I was reading the last four chapters of Matthew daily. Reading every single day about his time in the garden and his experience after his arrest gave an added emphasis to the truth that God loves me. I have never been so profoundly moved by the knowledge that I do not deserve his gift. The good news is that Jesus did not consider my merit; he acted out of his love.