You can do nothing to cause God to love you. That may seem like a shocking statement in a society where we assume that nobody will like us unless we do something meritorious, noteworthy, or spectacular. People often do and say bizarre things merely to attract attention to themselves. Even adverse attention is better than no attention at all. Feeling unloved, feeling the indifference of people around us, is a bane of today's world.

So, is it true that I don't have to do something to cause God to love me? Is it really true that I can do nothing to cause God to love me less or more? Scripture addresses this question straightforwardly:

"I (God) have loved you (God's people) with an everlasting (never-ending) love; I (God) have drawn (attracted you to Myself) you with loving-kindness (the Old Testament word for grace, meaning that grace is the means of God drawing people to Himself and everlasting love the motivation)" Jeremiah 31:3.

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." I John 4:10.

"We love because he first loved us." I John 4:19.

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved." Ephesians 2:4-5.

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that….nothing….in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:37-39. (Read the whole chapter for the complete context.)

The Holy Spirit through scripture is teaching us that God is determined to love His people. If we are individually numbered among spiritual Israel, Abraham's children according to the promise, God has said that his love falls upon us. We are enwrapped in sovereign love, initiated by God, assured by God, not based on our initiative or inherent goodness or obedience, but entirely flowing from the heart of God!

The sinful human heart naturally resists such love, but grace breaks through our resistance and rebellion and conquers. Your stubborn will, and mine, eventually submits, because we are no match for the power of God's love. If God chooses to love you, and thus to save you, and you choose to walk away from God and resist his will to love, who do you think will win? When God's love draws, it changes hearts and wills. You are no match for God, and you should be grateful for that. If God were not all-powerful, given your inclination to sin, and mine, neither of us would ever be saved. How wonderful that God is absolutely determined to love us. When perfect love and perfect power are combined, not the tiny and puny resistance of my fallen heart, nor the awesome powers of the demonic realm can prevail. God, who rules over all created reality, will win.

Thank you, Father, that you are determined to love me, in spite of myself!