In her 1985 song, "Greatest Love Of All,"1 Whitney Houston claimed that the greatest love of all was to love yourself: "Learning to love yourself. It is the greatest love of all." However, the Bible has a different idea about what is the greatest love.
According to the Bible, the love of God is described as being great and almost beyond comprehension. God's love is compared to the height of the heavens above the earth and even beyond.
One of the most famous of all is John 3:16 where it says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” What other Scriptures declare that God truly loves us in an unconditional way!!! 1 John 4:7-8 says: 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
We are the apple of His eye, He rejoices over us, He sings over us, He abounds in love over us, He has the compassion of a Father over us, He delights over us…and this love is from everlasting to everlasting. What more solid proof can there be???? God can not lie and God tells us in dozens of Scriptures that He loves those whom he calls His own:
· Zechariah 2:8b “for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye.”
· Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”
· Jeremiah 32:41 “I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.”
· Psalm 103:4 “who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.”
· Psalm 103:8 “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”
· Psalm 103:13 “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.”
· Psalm 103:17 “But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children.”
Am I Deserving of His Love?
This is an easy one to answer. No, I am not deserving of His love. Why you ask????
During Jesus sacrifice at Calvary: Peter denied Him, the Jews Crucified Him, Judas betrayed Him, the Council illegally tried Him, Pontius Pilate unjustly condemned Him
What did Jesus do? He said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). When I am at my worst, Jesus is at His best. When I least deserved grace, His grace is the absolute most. While I had nothing to show Him to give me mercy, He took everything to show His mercy for me.
God gives me what I least deserve (called grace) and withholds what I do deserve (called mercy). I should be careful to ask God for justice because if He truly gave me justice, I couldn’t stand.
If I think God should give me what we deserve, I would all utterly perish. Jesus Christ got what He did not deserve so I could receive what I do not deserve. This is what isn’t fair: that I did not get what we deserved, while He got what He did not deserve. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that life is fair. If it was fair, then Jesus would not have died. He was completely innocent and without sin….yet I am completely guilty and a sinner. Because it wasn’t fair to Jesus, I can be declared righteous by His atoning work on the cross.
The conclusion is that, no, I am not deserving, but as a child of God I make mistakes and I repent. In a much greater way, God loves me despite my despicable, sinful nature. That is love that is unconditional – not conditioned – even with my wilful disobedience.
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