God, thank You for loving me with a love that never fails and never gives up. Help me stop striving to earn what You’ve already freely given. Teach me to receive Your perfect love so I can reflect it to others, even when it’s hard. Fill my heart with Your faithfulness and mercy today.
Hey everybody, this is Pastor Chuck Allen and you're listening to the Weekday podcast. Today we're beginning a chat and we're going to work through this week the fact that what only God can do is love perfectly. Nobody else can love perfectly. We can love one another, but only God can love perfectly. And today I want to explore what makes God's love so different from our human attempts at love and what we can learn from it. I've been thinking a lot lately about faithfulness and love. We live in a world where commitment seems increasingly optional. Relationships are often treated as disposable. You know, the swipe right, swipe left mentality. But there's something in our souls that longs for a love that stays, that remains faithful regardless of circumstances. You know, in my research, I've come across a fascinating study from the Gottman Institute. These folks are like leading edge that talks about relationships. And they followed couples for more than 20 years. They found that the couples who stayed together happily weren't necessarily those who had fewer problems. Instead, it was those who maintained a deep commitment to each other despite and even embracing their imperfections.
That's slightly profound. It reminds me of today's scripture from Deuteronomy 7. Beginning in verse 7, I want you to listen how a new living translation puts this. The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations. God speaking here, you see, to the nation of Israel, it says, for you were the smallest of all nations. Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That's why the Lord rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands. What strikes me about this passage is that God's love isn't based on performance. It isn't based on how big we are or our worthiness. It's not about how big our bank account is or how successful we've been. The Israelites weren't chosen as God's chosen people because they were the biggest, strongest, baddest, or most impressive nation. Actually, it was the opposite. They were the smallest. God loved them simply because, well, he loved them. And his love came with a promise of faithfulness for a thousand generations, which is infinitesimal when you think about it. You know, when I think about my own relationships, I've noticed how often my love is often conditional. And I bet yours is. I love people when they're easy to love. I love when I feel appreciated in return. I love when it doesn't cost too much. But God's love, now that, friend, that. That's entirely different. His love is a covenant, a promise that keeps regardless of how we respond. The Hebrew word here for God's unfailing love is chest. C H E S E D. It's a rich word that means steadfast, that means loving kindness, it means mercy, it means faithfulness all rolled into one word. It's a love that doesn't give up, it doesn't walk away, and it doesn't keep score. In my journey, I've had to face a lot of my own limitations. I simply cannot love with the perfect faithfulness that God does, and neither can you. And that realization has been humbling, but it's also freeing. Humbling because I can see my shortcomings. He is God, and I am not freeing because I don't have to pretend that I can love perfectly. I think that's what Dr. Brene Brown means when she talks about embracing our vulnerability, when we acknowledge our limitations that we can't love. With perfect faithfulness, we open ourselves to receiving God's perfect love. And that's where transformation begins. So today I want to invite you to reflect on this thought. Where in your life do you need to experience God's faithful love? Where have you been trying to earn love through performance? And where have you given up on relationships because faithfulness seemed impossible? Remember, friend, you're loved by a God who keeps his promises not for a year, not for a decade, but for a thousand generations. That's the kind of love that can heal our deepest wounds and teach us how to love others more faithfully. Tomorrow and later this week, we'll continue to explore all the different dimensions of God's perfect love, his rejoicing love. And until then, this is Pastor Chuck Allen reminding you, you are seen, you are known, and you are perfectly loved by God. Thanks so much, friend, for joining me on today's weekday podcast.
