What Is God’s Love Like?
** Visit our new devotional blog: http://talk.thelife.com/
“Fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. Only fools despise wisdom and discipline??? (Proverbs 1:7).
“Are we to fear or love God?” asked our facilitator in a small group.
After a brief discussion we concluded that we are to do both: fear and love God. How can that be?
Fear without love makes God a merciless judge waiting to pounce on us if we do wrong. We don’t want to get near a God like that.
Love without fear, however, makes God to be a comedian who wants everyone to just be happy— the old man in the sky with flowing white hair patting everyone on the head, mumbling, “Bless you. Everything will be just fine.” That’s not love. It’s sentimental fluff.
Because God is awesome and holy, we fear Him. Because God is kind and good, we love Him.
In C.S. Lewis’ book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the children are to meet Aslan, the lion king of Narnia and they are afraid. “Is he tame?” one asks.
“Oh, no,” Mr. Beaver says. “You have every right to be afraid of him, for he is fierce.”
Then he smiles at the children, “but don’t be afraid, Aslan is not tame but he is good.”
We are to fear God, to honor and respect Him, to live in awe of His power, and to obey His Word. But because we know He is good, we also love and trust Him.
Consider a child who loves and trusts his father. He knows his father will provide for him, look after him, protect him, stand by him and fight for him. Still, when he’s been naughty, he’s afraid all the same. Why? “What will dad do to me now?” he worries. He knows that he’s done something to displease his father and there will be consequences.
And what does a loving father do? Excuse bad behavior? Allow it to continue? No. Because he loves his child deeply, he’ll allow him or her to face the consequences. Otherwise, the child will not learn about the real world. The child will not grow and mature and learn from his or her mistakes.
Real love takes the long-term view. It punishes to prevent more harm. It disciplines to create more growth. It sometimes withholds what we think is good to give us something better.
Thus, the love of God is both tough and tender. Our response to a God like that is to fear and love Him.
~Father, I thank You that You love me enough to discipline me.
About the Author
This devotional was written by Helen Lescheid. Learn more about Helen: http://www.talk.thelife.com/helen-lescheid/
Questions
1. Do you find it more natural to fear or to love God?
2. How has your view of God become tamed?
3. How have you experienced God’s tough love? His tender love?
Post your comments on TruthMedia’s women’s devotional blog. Visit http://talk.thelife.com/ and just click on the word “Comment” (no need to register). Also, you can join the live chat today at 10:30 am Eastern: http://www.christianwomentoday.com/chat/minidevos.html
Related Article
The Fear of the Lord
http://www.retirementwithapurpose.com/devotionals/promises/1515.html
This devotional is protected by copyright laws and may not be reprinted or posted to a site without permission from TruthMedia Internet Group. All readers are welcome to forward the devotional to a friend or link to it. If you would like to seek permission to reprint the devotional in full, please contact us:
http://www.truthmedia.com/contact/index.html
16 Responses to “What Is God’s Love Like?”
Leave a Reply
Start a Conversation
Media
What Do You Fear?
What do you fear, and why? Is it holding you back from realizing your full potential?
>Watch
- Contact
- |
- Advertising
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Link to Us
- |
- Media Releases
- |
- What we believe
In regards to your question Brigitte. We went to a Family Life conference. They are put on by Family Life, you can go to their webiste, http://www.familylife.com. They are held all throughtout the year, except summers. They are put on all over canada. It is worth every penny.
We have been twice now and both times it has rekindled something in a way only the Lord could have done!
Hope you choose to go. It will be a weekend to remember!
Me Again…just wanted to thank you as well Ev! You must have been posting at the same time as I was…good to see the website for the Weekend to Remember Conferences and great to have that resource at our fingertips!
Also, wanted to invite all of you ladies to attend our Devotional Chats in our chat room every morning, Monday to Friday at 10:30 am est, in our women’s chat room on the http://www.christianwomentoday.com site. Just click on the Enter Chat and join us in the Lighthouse. We daily discuss the three questions that you will now be finding in your devotional for just 15 minutes. See you in chat!
Thanks for the comment. If I keep “listening”, I’ll keep learning, right?
This is awesome Ladies! As someone who enjoys blogging and reading other blogs, I am really looking forward to participating in this community! Thanks for sharing your story Tracy…If we truly believe that God is who we say He says, nothing is impossible with Him, not broken marriages or other difficult relationships. Should be great to read this month’s devotionals!
And Elaine, I too love that quote….good but not tame! Other Heavenly Father moved the mountains into place….definitely not tame!
I found the passage I mentioned earlier. It’s Hebrews 12: “1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
4Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
5And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
11Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
12Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
14Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
15Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
16Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
17For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
18For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
19And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
20(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
21And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
22But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
23To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
25See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
26Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29For our God is a consuming fire.”
FamilyLife offers amazing weekends called A Weekend to Remember for couples. For a schedule of Canadian conferences, go to http://www.familylifecanada.com and for conferences in the U.S. and elsewhere, go to http://www.familylife.com
Tracy that is such an awesome testimony.
What type of family life conference did you go to? I would love to attend something like that with my husband, I can imagine that would be a life altering event.
I enjoyed this article. It was just what I needed to hear first thing this Monday morning. God is good and praise Him for his mercy on us!
To what Brigitte said, Yes, it is hard to stand on God’s promises when life is tough. I have struggled with this. But I decided I had to really put my trust in Him! Not just say “I belive.” My husband and I, were seperated for 3 months(we have 2 kids) and at the end of April, we decided we would go to a Family Life conference. And before this conference we really had not talked much at all. God moved mountains while we were there and yes, His grace is sufficent for me!
When times are tough. That is when we need top the most trut Him and lean on His promises!
God is soooooo good!
IN reply to Elaine… great definition.
Yes it does because often times, when we are going thru a trial or a storm in our life… its hard to continue to stand on FAITH that GOD is working ALL things together for the good.
Thanks for creating a community site for us, CWT. Good thoughts Helen.
Could it be that to fear the Lord means to have deep reverence and respect for His position and authority yet complete trust in His use of it in my life?
I love the “not tame but good” word picture!
I can trust His goodness always and it calls me to obedience as I realize His awesome power!
Thoughts?
Thank GOD for this BLOG! I have been aware of several blogs over the last couple of years and finally one that speaks about GOD. I have been receiving your daily devotionals for a few years and many times they have arrived in my inbox at the appropiate time, it is so amazing.
I have printed many of them and keep them in my daily reading Bible to go over them.
I look forward to sharing on this blog with many other Christian women…
As for Fear and love… I find it more natural to LOVE GOD… but I have grown to understand that because he is our father… just as the example was given in the devotional. We obey our parents who love us, but know to fear them just the same, as they have to discipline us when we disobey them.
I think GOD is the same as a parent. We must fear him to know that we have to follow the commands of his word, or we will pay the consequences.
In terms of Gramma’s question… I interpret that as PERFECT Love casts out the fear to love unconditionally from your heart. I think of it as the fear of loving with your whole heart.
But we must Fear GOD in order to obey him. Because when you don’t fear him you are inclined to live according to your own standards and ways.
I’m excited to see what God will do through this blog. I think it’s an amazing idea and quite a blessing. I loved the comparison of our relationship to God to that of a small child and his father because ours is just like that. The best part is that God is the perfect Father. I can’t remember where the passage is, but there is a passage in the new testament that talks about how God doesn’t punish us because he wants to hurt us, but that He punishes out of His great love for us. It’s along the same lines of “withholding something we think is good so He can give us something better”. Those are the things I will be meditating on, today. If I find that passage, again, I’ll post it. Or if someone else remembers where it is, feel free to post it. God bless you all.
Thanks for opening this website. And thanks to Helen for putting together this devotional. It is a nice way to start a new month. I look forward to “investigating relationships” with you all. This particular subject — although experiencing a personal relationship with Christ helps one understand,there’s still the puzzle on top of the “fear and love” part of “perfect love casts out all fear”. Anyone got any hints on how this all fits together? Thanks. Hope everyone has a truly great day.
Thank you for the beautiful article. It is an eye opener for the one who blames God for all the bad things that happen around us. “How can a loving God do this to me”? Yes, your article has the answer.
I really enjoyed this one & it touched my heart as it also touched the hearts of some of my friends that I passed it along too. Keep up the good work and many blessings to you and yours for today !!
Welcome to the new women’s devotional blog! We hope this will become a familiar and cozy spot for you — a place to connect with others like yourself who are reading, processing and seeking to apply God’s Word each day.
This month’s devotions all center on the theme, “complicated relationships.” Our writers will address marriage, friendship, family and church relationships, drawing connections to our Ultimate Relationship: with God our Maker and Father.
The May issues of our online magazines also tackle complicated relationships. I think you’ll enjoy browsing through them… and passing them on to a friend:
http://www.christianwomentoday.com
http://www.womentodaymagazine.com
http://www.mentodayonline.com
May your Monday be full of hope and peace,
Stacy Wiebe
Senior Editor
TruthMedia
P.S. Please post your thought’s on today’s devotional. Let’s get the discussion started!