Perfect Love

In reading the Bible have you ever suddenly happened upon this passage and then pulled back in disbelief? The idea that God should “rebuke and chasten” may seem incomprehensible; but remember, it is the glorified, risen Christ who spoke these words. And when you look straight at the heart of their meaning, you will find that there is great joy there.
For one thing, it does not mean that God’s love for a person is in proportion to the amount of suffering and sorrow the person has experienced. There are those who think it is. They seem to believe that Christianity is almost synonymous with scourge and punishment.

But God never takes revenge or penalizes.

He only loves. However, if we separate ourselves from this marvelous love, we bring punishment and rebuke upon ourselves. God’s love and goodness stand out in relief against our rebellion, and in that moment of discord we shall feel rebuked.

If only we could speak to Simon Peter about this. Or to Paul, to David, or to the Samaritan woman at the well. At some time in their life they each felt rebuked by God because they were not following in the path of obedience.

A wise man once wrote, “When love comes, fear goes.” I know so many Christians who are tormented by feelings of self-doubt, worthlessness, and sinfulness. They think they must do something to make God love them more. Yet the Apostle John said that, “as He (Jesus) is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17). In other words, we share the same confidence that Jesus has in knowing that the Father loves us with perfect love.

Because Jesus accomplished our redemption on the cross, all judgement for sin is behind Him and us, and the sin question is forever settled. We now face no condemnation.

This removes fear. For as John wrote, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.” The fear of which John spoke is fear of judgement. But we have nothing to fear, for “there is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 8:1). Fear is driven out by God’s perfect love.

We are forgiven for all our sins, held fast by God’s love and destined to enjoy eternal fellowship with Him, not because of anything we have done but because He has done everything for us. “In this love, not that we love God, but that He loved us.” (1 John 4:10). That is perfect love.

To Peter, Jesus said, “Simon, Simon… I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.” (Luke 22:31-32). But before the next morning Peter had denied his Lord. The record says of this event, “And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.”

(v. 62). What was it that rebuked and punished Peter? Why did he weep? If Jesus had spoken harshly to him the day before, he might have denied Him without much regret; but the Lord had only looked upon him in deep, lasting love. That was Peter’s greatest punishment and his harshest rebuke. God never punishes by any means other than love.

God loves the world. He loves everyone. Oh, there are many things in the world that are evil. Sorrow, tears, suffering and pain form an endless parade. Certainly everything in the universe is not good. Saint and sinner dwell together and God deals with both. He loves both. Men love sin and hate the sinner; but God hates sin and loves the sinner. He loves all under all circumstances and at all times. Years ago, Bernard de Clairvaux expressed the thought in this manner:
“Do you wake?” Well, He too is awake. If you arise in the nighttime, if you anticipate to the utmost your earliest awakening, you will already find Him walking; you can never anticipate His awakeness. In such an intercourse you will always be rash if you attribute any priority and predominate share to yourself; for God loves more than you and before you loved at all.”

We cannot see everything at one time, nor can we understand the relationship of the disconnected events that seem to make up our existence. Some things we shall not understand until we find greater wisdom in a higher world. But Jesus declared that God is wise, that He is love, that He is righteous and that He is interested in every creature.

Adolphe Monod, the famous French evangelical preacher who died in 1856, said just a short time before dying, “I have strength for nothing more than to think about the love of God; He has loved us – that is the whole of dogmatics; let us love him—that is the sum total of the ethics of the Gospel.”
Indeed, God is love and it is a perfect love.
AMEN.

Xavior Rajah Chelliah, Canada