The Love of God

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If we could comprehend the love of God, even if in a small measure, we would not be tempted to leave Him. Then again, we are human, and humans forget, so we probably still would. Humans tend to live in the present, always desiring something new and exciting, yet an unbridled heart only leads to chasing dreams, while hoping to find happiness around the next corner.

Many will ask, “If God is love, why does He allow all this evil?” Another may wonder why evil things happened to them. This is one of the mysteries of God.

It is God’s love which gives us the power of choice. He could have created us to serve Him without any choice, but what honor is there in that? Therefore, God created us with the ability to choose good or evil, Him or Satan. Love would not be love if it were not a voluntary choice. God never forces, for one cannot be compelled to love. This means that evil is indirectly present because of love. Evil happens when humans choose to do evil; love happens when humans choose God’s love. Why God at times intervenes while other times He does not, is not something He has revealed to us. Perhaps one day we will understand it all. No matter, evil does not take away God’s love or the choice of humans to tap into the power of His love.

Our love is human love, which is not the same as God’s love. There may be some similarities, but our human love is earthly and tends to be self-serving in comparison to God’s love.

The purest form of love on earth that I can think of is the love of a mother to her child and a child to his or her mother. Even a father’s love is different. For a mother, her child came from her and is as much a part of her as can be. This creates a bond that is not possible in any other way. True, not all mothers love their child, and neither do all children love their mothers. Yet there is an inexplicable connection that can only be found in a mother-child bond. A father’s love is similar, but it does not possess a mother’s heart. A father’s love for his child is different from a mother, for he did not carry the child in a womb and give birth to them.

Ah, but maybe it is not for me to compare the love of a father and mother to their child. What do I know about it? If you take the most loving father and the most loving mother, their love still is not comparable to the love God has for the humans He has created. He has both created them and given them life. In a way His love is both the love of a father and mother combined. Yet His love is altogether different than human love. John 3:16 says: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

It is not my intention to try to describe the love of God. In fact, I think it impossible for the human heart to understand it enough to write about it, yet there are a few things we know: His love and power are omnipotent and He is omnipresent. This means that He is all powerful and loving, and everywhere.

God’s love is not always a warm feeling of peace, love, and joy. Sometimes it is a bit of correction and a bit of loneliness, as He draws us back to Him. His love is not harsh nor is it unfair. He loves everyone equally, even if they do not serve Him. He knows the future of every man, woman, and child who have lived and who will live. He knows the choices they will make. He knows if they will choose Him or if they will hate Him. He knows if they will become His child, or if they will end up as a prisoner on skid row. He knows if they will be an oppressor in the holocaust or if they will be an innocent prisoner in a death camp. He knows all these things, yet He still would save any one of them at a moment’s notice if they would turn to Him and repent of their sin. That is beyond our human capacity or comprehension. We want justice for wrong. We want to see someone punished for the crime they inflict on another. Yet God sees the heart. He knows what formed them. He knows that man must pay for his wrongdoings, but His grace reaches out to the guilty just the same. He wants to save each man, woman, and child. That is love. Love in the purest form possible.

What we often forget is that we are the prisoner, we are the persecutor, we are the one who spurns God’s love. We are the one He came seeking and saved. We are no better than the worst, because sin separates us from God, and sin will never enter heaven. Only the love of God through Christ makes us worthy of glory.

Our earthly love is always mixed with our earthly, humanness; unlike God who has no sin, and no evil tendencies. He is not selfish but created a whole beautiful world for us to enjoy. All for our benefit. Then we as humans chose to listen to Satan’s lies and reject God. But He did not reject us. Once again, His love created a way to preserve us, to win us back, and save us. To do so meant sacrificing His only Son, begotten of Him, full of His love. Then we rejected Him and killed Him, nailing Him to a cross. But His love conquered death, rose again in life and is now interceding for us at the right hand of the throne of God.

Words fail to express it, and the human heart cannot comprehend it, but one day, if we love Him, we will feel and experience that love in its fullness. Not in human limitations, but in the complete fullness of its heavenly dimension.

Humans are loving and sacrifice great things because of love. When God’s love is in the human heart it extends far beyond what natural human love is capable of understanding. God gives that love in our hearts as a foretaste of heaven here on earth. His love in the human heart, is the characteristic of His children. His love is the only thing that will cross the border from this life to the next. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV

The writing of this article was inspired by this song written by Frederick M. Lehman.

 

The Love of God

 

1 The love of God is greater far

Than tongue or pen can ever tell;

It goes beyond the highest star,

And reaches to the lowest hell;

The guilty pair, bowed down with care,

God gave His Son to win;

His erring child He reconciled,

And pardoned from his sin.

 

Refrain:

O love of God, how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure:

The saints’ and angels’ song!

 

2 When years of time shall pass away

And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,

When men who here refuse to pray,

On rocks and hills and mountains call,

God’s love so pure shall still endure,

All measureless and strong;

Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—

The saints’ and angels’ song. [Refrain]

 

3 Could we with ink the ocean fill

And were the skies of parchment made,

Were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill

And ev’ry man a scribe by trade,

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Tho’ stretched from sky to sky. [Refrain]

Jeff Goertzen 1/31/2026