“What the World Needs Now Is Love” is a 1965 classic composed by Burt Bacharach with lyrics by Hal David.

The is  a gentle prayer reflecting that while the earth has an abundance of physical resources like mountains and rivers, universal love is in short supply for everyone. For as long as I can remember, the church has always taught one biblical truth in a consistent fashion…God does not base this unconditional love on human goodness or merit, it is good that we remember His love for humanity, unconditional love was granted while we were still in active rebellion against God. A couple of the key versus we might do well to remember would be from Romans 5:8 “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”… and also one verse that is universally remembered John 3:16. “for God, so love the world that he gave his only son…”  We are reminded in Romans 8:38–39, it is made clear that there’s nothing that will be able to separate us from the love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Repentance, the Greek word for repentance means a change of mind, heart, and direction so it’s turning away from the sins that are turning us away from God. It is not considered as a way to earn God’s initial love, but the required procedure to receive his pardon and salvation. It is not at all a stretch to go from love to kindness. Kindness is a result of love, a loving patience, and it’s used to draw people to repent rather than to just give them a license to continue in a sin without consequence. It is written that God’s kindness is intended to lead us to repentance. This is the part that is so hard for many of us to understand and for many of our churches today to put into practice. It is pretty much universally recognized in the theological world. God’s love is freely given it is not earned, yet we need to emphasize that receiving the full benefit of his covenant mercy involves acknowledging our own sins and turning to him for forgiveness.

I would be one of the first to admit that at times I become confused about this business of forgiveness and unconditional   state of being. We have to allow ourselves to be reminded of the fact that Christ did die for us even while we were sinners. I think I’ll go with the thought, that this unconditional love is exactly that, it’s unconditional. It’s a gift you can’t earn. So what is it really?  I’ve read recently one author referred to it as a divine rescue. If I try to put it in a layman’s point of view it works a little better for me, takes on a little better response. We are reminded it is by grace that we have been saved, and that’s scripture… so this is my view. God looks down upon his people and he loves us and he’s not willing to lose any of us at all. His unconditional love is exactly that and in that response he gives us this divine rescue. I call it repentance. I do a lot of reading in research for these blogs. It really has nothing to do with my brilliance as much as it does with the hard work and effort and love of others for The Word. Got Questions sums it up rather well in my opinion. The question is asked. Does God love everyone? Well, the answer is yes his love is unconditional. Does God love Christians in a different way than he loves non-Christians.? Answer here as given by these folks, is yes. So why is that? It’s because believers have exercised faith in God’s Son, that is why they’re saved. This unconditional love that God has for everyone is brought about by our faith in him and his son in receiving Jesus Christ as our savior. In that sense, it becomes a conditional covenant and it is granted to those who receive Jesus as their savior.

As we close today’s blog I’ll leave you with this thought that a Pastor once had always closed or even sometimes open the service with these very significant words…God loves you and there’s nothing you can do about it. God loves you and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Life is Good

jk