God's Unfailing Love

SCRIPTURE: Jer. 18:10-13
“When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the LORD decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the LORD our God?’ then say to them, ‘It is because your fathers forsook me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law. But you have behaved more wickedly than your fathers. See how each of you is following the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying me. So I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’

OBSERVATIONS: The people the prophet sent to speak to are completely unaware of their sin or what they have done to bring God's judgment down upon themselves. They think God is unfair in punishing them. After all, they still go to temple and give lip service to worshiping God. And how, exactly, does God's judgment fit in with with His loving nature? What about "unconditional love"? Unconditional love is not God's love; it is Satan's counterfeit to God's unfailing love. Unconditional love will love me no matter what I do. I can be evil and still be loved. Unfailing love means that whatever evil I do, I always have a way back to into God's love. No amount of evil or rebellion can change God's love for me. But I must repent of my evil as a condition to come back into God's favor and love. Unfailing love is the only way righteousness and mercy can coexist.

APPLICATION: What was true back then is still true today. There are many who think that they do not deserve any punishment from God because He should love them unconditionally. They do not understand that unconditional love is evil. It treats those who do wrong the same as those who do right. No thanks. I will be thankful that God's love is unfailing; therefore it leads me to righteousness. That is good for me and everyone around me.

PRAYER: May I be like You, Lord, and learn to love others with an unfailing love that will always accept them back without reservation no matter how many times they stray. But may I also always uphold the standards of rightousness that benefit everyone. In Jesus' Name, Amen.