Love. How we love to love. We love this brand of coffee. We love that movie. We love this holiday. We love pie, or ice cream, or cookies. We just love to love. Yet, we really do not understand love. We attach that word “love” to things we like, or our personal preferences. Is that really “love?”
Love, as we are told often, is not just emotions, although it does touch our emotions. Love is action. Like the action our Father God took when His creation rebelled against Him. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave (sacrificed) his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” [John 3:16 NLT]
Love always seeks what is best. That “best” might involve restraint or even discipline. God’s love does not let us run wild. His love keeps us from sin. “For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” [Hebrews 12:6 NLT]
The LORD does discipline … but never to destroy us. He disciplines us to restore us to right standing with Him. (Isaiah 38:16: Lord, your discipline is good, for it leads to life and health. You restore my health and allow me to live! [NLT])
When we consider God’s love for us, it is so much more than just a feeling. He is the God of all comfort and compassion, and He loved His own with a sacrificial love. He will do what is best … even if what is best is to discipline so that we might be restored to right relationship with Him. Glory!
