“I Have Loved You With An Everlasting Love”

Jeremiah 31:3 “ the Lord appeared to him from far away.  I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.”

God loves us with an everlasting love.  Did you know that?  Did you know that there is nothing you can do to lose God’s love?  Sometimes I know that we feel unlovable.  Sometimes that’s after we have done something that we feel is wrong and sometimes that’s after someone else has done or said something to us.  However, God never stops loving us.  He loved us before we were even born and His love is everlasting, it never goes away.  

I remember hearing a story once, I think it might have been Jeff Cavins, in the Great Adventure Bible Story, but I am not sure.  Anyway, whoever was telling the story was talking about how God does not need anything from us.  This was vastly different from the other Gods at the time.  The other Gods got more power the more people worshipped them.  They were almost fighting for people to worship them.  Some of them even required human child sacrifices.  However, our God was completely self sufficient and did not need anything from us.  

I remember the person saying that this is the reason that some people turned from those other God’s to our God, the one true God.  They turned to God because of His everlasting love.  They turned to God because He loved them just for who they were.  They did not need to do anything to earn that love.  That love was just there.  This was something they had not experienced before.  

The next line in the verse is also an important line.  “Therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.”  This is important because God is always faithful to His word.  This is something we talked a lot about last week but I think it is important to touch on it again as it is amazing.  I think sometimes we may think that God stops loving us when we sin in some way.  Or that he stops answering our prayers when we have sinned against Him.  However, this verse dispels that belief.  God continues His faithfulness to us, even when we mess up.  

Look how many times He was faithful to the Israelites after they messed up.  In Matthew 18:21-22 it says, “Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.”  If Jesus is telling us to forgive seventy-seven time, then how much more will our father in heaven forgive us?

There is a song called “Reckless Love” by Cory Asbury.  It is a great song about how amazing God’s love is.  The song first talks about how good God has been to him.  The chorus says, Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.  Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the 99.  And I couldn't earn it, I don't deserve it, still You give yourself away”  When he mentions leaves the 99 is talking about Matthew 18:12-14 when Jesus tells the parable, “What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.”  

God does not want to lose any of his sheep.  He will not stop looking for us when we are lost.  He will not stop loving us and hoping that we turn back to Him.  Then the song goes on to say, “When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me.  You have been so, so good to me.  When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me.  You have been so, so kind to me”  This is so true, when we have sinned and pulled away from God, or fractured our relationship with Him, He is still fighting for us and still loving us.  When we don’t feel worthy, God is still there doing all He can for us.  

This last part of the song is my favorite and it is a part I think we all need to hear because it the truth.  “There's no shadow You won't light up, mountain You won't climb up, coming after me.  There’s no wall You won't kick down, lie You won't tear down, coming after me.”  There is nothing that God won’t do to chase after His children to try and save them.  He gave His only son on the cross for us.  There is nothing hidden in the darkness that will prevent him from finding you.  There’s no wall He won’t kick down and lie He won’t tear down.  

I think I like that part the best because when I think of it I think of a father searching everywhere for his child.  Have you even seen the movie “Taken” with Liam Neeson?  In the movie Liam Neeson is a father who’s daughter goes to Europe on vacation with a friend.  However, in the movie his daughter is taken by sex traffickers.  She calls her dad when she sees someone breaking into the house.  Liam is some type of government spy in the movie and he stops at nothing to get his daughter back.  He does whatever it takes to find her and get her back.  If a mere human will go through all of that to get his daughter back, how much more do you think your Father in heaven will do to get you back?  

I know people who have often wondered if they are worth loving.  When I tell them the things I am telling you, they say that they know God feels that way about other people, but they tell me I don’t understand what they have done, or where they have been.  If you are listening to this and you think that this is true for some people, but that it is not true for you, I want you to hear me.  GOD LOVES YOU!!  He loves you right where you are at.  You don’t have to change in anyway for Him to love you.  He loves your perfectly right now, right where you are at.  Also, God’s love is everlasting.  It never fades.  It is always there no matter what we do or what happens to us.  Also, God remains faithful to us.  He keeps His promises.  If we are lost He will come and chase after us and find us.   He will be there for us whenever we decide to turn back to Him.  He will welcome us home with open arms and he will say to us, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”

Dear heavenly father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. We thank you for loving us with an everlasting love, with a reckless love that will chase us down and leave the 99 to come and save us. Lord God we're so very thankful that you love us so much and even though we can't earn your love and definitely don't deserve your love you give it to us freely anyway. Lord I ask that you reach out to anyone hearing this that has trouble believing you could love them. I ask that you surround them with your love, that you rain down love and grace on them.  I ask that you open their minds and hearts to the idea of you loving them just as they are.  Lord, I ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen

Here are the lyrics for Reckless Love by Cory Asbury:

Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me

You have been so, so good to me

Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me

You have been so so kind to me

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the 99

And I couldn't earn it

I don't deserve it, still You give yourself away

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me

You have been so, so good to me

When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me

You have been so, so kind to me

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending reckless love of God

Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the 99

And I couldn't earn it

I don't deserve it, still You give yourself away

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending reckless love of God

There's no shadow You won't light up

Mountain You won't climb up

Coming after me

There's no wall You won't kick down

Lie You won't tear down

Coming after me

There's no shadow You won't light up

Mountain You won't climb up

Coming after me

There's no wall You won't kick down

Lie You won't tear down

Coming after me

There's no shadow You won't light up

Mountain You won't climb up

Coming after me

There's no wall You won't kick down

Lie You won't tear down

Coming after me

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending reckless love of God

Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the 99

I couldn't earn it, I don't deserve it, still You give yourself away

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending reckless love of God

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