1. God’s Primary Focus is on Relationship
When God’s character is presented in an inaccurate way, this important truth is usually absent.
God didn’t create us so that He could cruelly lord over us in some sick game. He created us for relationships.
Relationship with each other (which is why in Genesis 2:18 God said that it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone and thus created Eve), but also with Him–the Triune God of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
In fact, in Genesis 3:8, after Adam and Eve sinned, we read, “When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.”
Did you catch that? God visited Adam and Eve in the garden. He didn’t create them, ascend to someplace distant, and play with their lives as if they were pawns on a cheeseboard.
No, God wants an intimate relationship with His kids!
However, after sin entered the world, there was a new distance between God and humans because He is holy–which means He is 100% set apart from all wickedness and evil (including sin).
As our sinful selves, we cannot be in God’s presence. We cannot spend eternity with Him or experience a full relationship with Him.
But because God loves us and desires a relationship with us, He put a plan in place to save us–Jesus dying on the cross.
When things went wrong–due to our actions, not God’s–He implemented a solution to bring us back into full relationship with Him.
1 John 4:16-18 (NLT) says, “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.”
There are a few key things we need to note in these verses:
Firstly, notice that it says: God is love.
God doesn’t just feel love emotionally; He is love. That means it’s an intrinsic part of His character. To say that God isn’t love is like trying to say that the sun isn’t hot. Because if the sun isn’t hot, then it isn’t the sun!
Secondly, it also says: And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect.
Friend, God does not expect you to have a perfect love for Him–or anyone else. You can’t. You’re an imperfect, sinful human being.
But God can do an amazing work in us as we walk with Him. In the 20 years that I’ve been in a relationship with God, He’s molded me so that my love looks more like His love. I’m not perfect, but I am more patient, kind, and selfless than I was previously. And where I still fall short, I lean into God’s perfection and provision.
Thirdly, it says: Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.
I’m going to take some creative liberty and reword these two sentences to better convey their meaning in this instance: God’s love is perfect, which means we have no reason to fear it. If we are afraid of God or His love, to the point of expecting punishment from Him, then it’s because we haven’t truly understood or experienced His love.
In other words, God is not looking to punish you for failing to be perfect, sinless, or a faithful executor of tasks. Notice that the words “earn” or “please” weren’t included anywhere in 1 John 4:16-18.
Friend, it’s not about works. It’s about God’s character and who He is.
2. God’s Love is Accessible Without Works
Did you know that God the Father was pleased with Jesus before He’d even begun His ministry and all of the works that entailed?
Matthew 3:16-17 (NLT) says: After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”
One might be tempted to argue that naturally God the Father was pleased with Jesus, being that He’s part of the Trinity and lived a sinless and perfect life (being both fully human and fully divine).
Yet I would encourage you to look at those verses again:
God is focusing on the relationship (i.e., “my dearly loved Son”). He could have focused on Jesus through the lens of executing God’s calling and all of the works that would entail.
God is tying the relationship–not works–to His joy. God isn’t saying that His joy is a result of all of the works Jesus is about to do in His ministry. Or of the sinless life He’s led thus far. Or of how He’s cared for His mother, His community, or earned a living. No, God’s joy is directly tied to the relationship.
Friend, it’s the same for us. Sure, we are called to do good works:
We’re to help those less fortunate or the “least of these” as members of God’s kingdom.
We have a specific calling on our lives (like I do with this podcast and Relate Escape).
And other works we do as a natural response to God’s love for us.
But works are not God’s primary focus. Neither are they a method wherein God wants us to earn His love.
He already loves us! He already loves you!
We see this truth throughout Scripture. The entire Bible is one overarching story wherein we see God revealing His true character to us–including His never ending love and pursuit of us.
We see that in numerous stories as well as specific verses:
Zephaniah 3:17 (NLT): “For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”
John 3:1 (NLT): “See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!”
Romans 5:8 (NLT): “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
John 3:16-17 (NLT): “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”
Romans 8:38-39 (NLT): “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Friend, even if you haven’t been naturally aware of it, God has already been showering you with His love!
He’s ensured that you have an open path to a full, loving relationship with Him. Just the way you are!
I’ve heard it stated like this: God knew what He was buying on the cross.
He knew you wouldn’t be perfect or sinless. He knew that you would sometimes stumble and fall. If that had been a deal breaker for Him, He wouldn’t have sent Jesus!
All God wants, friend, is your heart.