Known and Loved by Glenna Marshall

 

KNOWN AND LOVED

BY GLENNA MARSHALL

Known and Loved by Glenna Marshall. It wouldn't be me reading a book without journaling my way through it! This book looks at Psalm 139.

The word "known" means a thorough examination, and intimate evaluation. God has seen every hidden corner of our hearts and every secret thought in our minds. He truly knows what's in our hearts better than we do.

But God already knows you, it is not a case of him getting to know you now. Before you even took a breath God knew you, even before you were conceived.

Then the present tense is used - God knows what we are doing now. He knows us when we lie down to rest and when we get up again. He is fully familiar with every mundane moment of our ordinary days.

When I read these words they struck me with such freshness. Imagine someone knowing all about me in the past and now in the present. If our closest and dearest knew the things we are thinking ... yet God does. No wonder the bible talks about him as a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. All our thoughts and actions - he knows about them. All our plans and dreams - he knows about them. Even if we feel like life is tough at the moment or life is lonely and we are drifting through - God knows about them. When we work with people and they fail to appreciate us for who we are or take us for granted - God knows about it.

Whatever our circumstances right now God knows about - such an amazing thought to meditate on today! 

There is another aspect to God's knowledge too. As someone who believes in God and has a personal relationship with him, it is hard to imagine that God continues to think of me personally because of my sin. Sin is a short word with a long sentence. It doesn't go away even when we have committed our lives to God. We fail and disappoint God so often. We say and do things that make us wonder never mind anyone else whether we can be truly one of God's children but here is the wonderful truth - God loves us no matter. God knows when we will get it wrong and mess up. We matter to God. He has invested so much in us to turn his back on us. And his knowledge of us is individual - he knows when people will turn against us and mock us for our faith. He knows the people that look down on us because of our faith. He knows the ones who will point the finger at us but still he loves us. He knows and understands how hard and lonely it is even when God's own children don't want to be with us or be associated with us.

When we fail God yes he disciplines us but not like any human who holds us at a distance and will not have anything to do with us. God is angry yes but not forever. He draws us back to himself and restores our relationship with him - he is the only one who can and does do this.

The psalmist says that God knows before a word is on our tongue. Such a revelation - when I think of the anger and hurt in my words sometimes it is good to know that God knows about them. He doesn't hold us at arms length when we say the wrong thing like humans do. He doesn't dwell on those words either. We are God's treasure, the one he takes delight it.

What a thought today! 

Rushing ahead but chapter 3 of Known and Loved by Glenna Marshall has spoken to me about one aspect that I am personally wrestling with - condemnation of self.

Like Glenna I accepted faith in Christ as a child. I have lived a long time as a believer. That means most of my disobedience to God has occurred and will occur as a Christian who has been raised to new life in Christ. I must fight against sins now after conversion the way other non believers have to fight before they accept Christ. Does this mean I question the genuineness of my faith and feel the shame of my sin? Maybe not as often as perhaps I should. But it does hit you like a body blow when something goes wrong and you are aware of past sins all at once at the same time (but that is the enemy at work). Does it make me feel that even now I shouldn't be sinning in this way? Yes most definitely.

God's word speaks yet again in situations like this. I am not to hide in shame nor fear that God doesn't like me anymore. This is when I need to remember to run to Jesus. 1 John 2 verses 1 to 6 shows me I don't need to condemn myself. Jesus has already paid for my sin, past, present and future. They are covered. There is no more punishment for them. Nor is there any reason 'to make things right'.

I need to learn yet again that nothing is hidden from God. Yes I need to confess present sin to God, I will be doing that every day until I die but I should not dwell on it. The Lord knows me through and through. He will accept my confession and my repentance and then ... he forgets it. So should I! And I need to learn to stay close to him more and more.

I love how Glenna Marshall in her book constantly draws you back to the bible.

In chapter 3 she uses the story found in John's gospel chapter 8. There a woman is caught in the act of adultery. It is easy to gloss over this story but fact is she was caught in the act! Under the Jewish law both people ie the man and woman should have been stoned to death. The religious leaders brought her to Jesus. They wanted to do it but also wanted to hear what Jesus himself would say in response. Jesus said "let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her". It began to dawn on those in the crowd how unqualified they were to stone her so one by one they left. When Jesus looked up he asked the woman where all her accusers where. He then told her that he didn't condemn her, that she was to go and sin no more.

In one encounter with Jesus this woman's shame and condemnation were removed and she was charged to live her life without sinning in this way again.

What a picture of what Jesus does when we come to him. Jesus took all our shame on himself on the cross. He gives us forgiveness because of his death. Our shame is washed in Jesus' blood and we are made pure. We deserve to be punished for our sin. We deserve for God to be angry. We should endure the humiliation of public exposure for sins we have committed. But Jesus did this instead for sins he did not commit. Your shame has been removed by the Saviour who loved you enough to take it upon himself.

We are told to go and sin no more. That means we don't need to hide our past sins from him. He bled for them. He died for them. He was raised to free you from them. He already knows the things you are ashamed of and what is more - he chooses to forget them.

Is this not good news? Such good news! My heart is singing right now knowing all this.

Reading and taking notes on chapter 4 of Glenna Marshall's Known and Loved tonight.

Once again Glenna refers to scripture and this chapter is full of references!

Initially Glenna takes us back to Genesis 1 and talks about how God separated the darkness and light. The dark of the night is when fear rears it's ugly head, when anxieties multiply, when sleep eludes us because the stillness of the shadows give us an opportunity to think. Darkness = shame, regret, pain, sorrow and sin. But God knows us in the dark.

Daniel 2 verse 22 "He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with him."

Then when we turn to the sermon on the mount we see that God cares about the birds of the air. We are of more value than them. God cares for us when we suffer. He is invested in our lives. We have been made in his image and he sees our suffering and sorrow.

Glenna makes a point that was made during our sermon today - Jesus is right in the situations we are in today. Psalm 23 proves this. When night seems to close in on us and pain is at its worst God is right there in the middle of it.

And the amazing truth of all is found in Romans 8 - Jesus and the Holy Spirit both are praying for us. But we need to draw near to God and let him in, to allow him to work with us through the difficult times.

I love Glenna Marshall drawing us to the story of the woman with the issue of bleeding for 12 years - the story is found in Mark 5.

For her one thing was important - to touch the hem of his garment. She swallowed her pride, the risk of embarrassment and drew near to the only one who offers lasting hope. In faith she let what was hidden come to light. Jesus was aware of all this.

When we draw near to God that is what we are doing - reaching for the hem of his robe. We are drawing near in faith, knowing that Jesus is aware of our suffering and praying for us.

He is giving us exactly what we need in the dark night of the body and soul. He is giving us mercy and grace in himself.

I have to be honest and say that I read fast, too fast at times! Lately I have become aware that I am "missing" something as I read so I am trying to slow down and savour some of what I read.

When I reached chapter 4 of Glenna Marshall's book Known and Loved I decided to stop taking written notes and just keep on reading. Then I became convicted and went back to chapter 4 again and took notes. I am glad I did because this was actually the best chapter. It so resonated with me as it was all about suffering. Glenna did a brilliant job of using scripture to make me think.

Suffering comes in many different forms not just physically. There is the mental and emotional anguish perhaps from situations and people. To recognise that God is right there with you in the midst of it all is something that I have heard repeatedly throughout my life but to experience it, well that is a different story. Also recognising other people's suffering is something I have become more aware of.

We are often told to draw near to God in these difficult times, which is easier said than done. But recognising the mental, emotional and physical agony that Jesus himself went through on the cross puts things in a totally new perspective.

For me recognising that it is not just Jesus who presently intercedes on my behalf but also his Holy Spirit was eye opening. The Holy Spirit is given to us at the time we trust Christ as Saviour and Lord. He is the inner voice of reason and help when we need it most. But why do we not ask for his help? We want to do it all by ourselves. We want to work things out in our own way but like the disciples on the boat in the middle of the storm there is a point when we realise it is not possible to ride out the storm. We need help and we need to cry out for that help. That is when we receive mercy and grace.

I am journaling chapter 5 of Glenna Marshall's book Known and Loved. I have come to this verse "you are fearfully and wonderfully made!" (Psalm 139 verse 14) 3 years ago after one of the numerous appointments for my cancer diagnosis I walked into a shop and spotted this little plate and had to buy it. It is a verse that I cling to ever since. My surgeon had told me that my lung cancer was operable and no treatment would be necessary following it. He also explained how when one part of the lung is removed the remaining parts actually heal and take the place of the part that is missing. I didn't quite understand it at the time but many months later after surgery he showed the proof through xrays. You wouldnt have guessed that the third part was ever there in the first place. Amazing how our bodies are formed. We are fearfully and wonderfully made indeed!

As I said yesterday this chapter is all about body image. I was reminded at the outset that I am created by God and in his image. My life matters to God. That brings meaning and value and purpose. Every cell has been formed by God. As you let that sink in also realise God wrote every story of my life from beginning to end, from first word to last, before I was me. This came forcefully to me as I also read Jeremiah chapter 1 when God tells his prophet that he knew all about him and that he would be a prophet before he was even born. Glenna takes us back to Genesis and relates the story of how God made everything in this world. After each act of creation God looked at it and said it was good it when he came to creating humans he said it was very good. Nothing else in this world bears the image of its maker - only humans! Everything went wrong when Adam and Eve sinned. We bear in our bodies the curse of sin and death, we are aging from the moment we take our first breath. I love this quote from Sam Allberry "Christians have been raised spiritually but not yet physically. We are running new-creation software on old-creation hardware." But one day we shall all be changed! Paul tells us that Jesus will transform our low!y body to be like his glorious body. When Jesus was raised from the dead he had a real body, it could be touched, it was not some spirit appearing before all these witnesses. So we are promised the same - all evidence of the curse of sin and death will be removed for ever. And the most wonderful thing - we will spend eternity with Christ.

Does your life matter? Do you earnestly seek after another's approval? Well you are not alone because we all do it! I found this chapter the hardest to read and I think it was because it hit home a little too much. Like me you probably are thinking, I know I am created in God's image but perhaps also like me you long for more. We want our lives to matter, to be remembered for something great. How we do that is by looking for opportunities that make people sit up and notice. We want people to know that we lived and loved and worked. What actually is more important is that God knows about every moment contained in our lifespan. In Psalm 139 David praises God for the vast extent of his thoughts - "how precious to me are your thoughts O God. How vast is the sum of them." Did you know that during our working hours we have about 6000 thoughts? Imagine how many thoughts God has of us! David goes on to say "if I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake and I am still with you." That is some number! But David realises as we all should that when we awake from our sleep God was watching out for us the whole time. God knows and sees everything but we should not be fearful, nor hide in shame. God takes pleasure in us. Now that might be hard to reconcile when we think of some of the things that we ourselves would not be happy to admit we have said or done in a day. God is good and he does not act beyond his own perfect desires. He wanted to save us so he sent his son Jesus to lay down his life. That shows the extent of his love for us. If we acknowledge our sins, repent and accept Christ as Saviour we can know that love of God. But we don't have to now convince God to keep loving us. He has already loved us with the kind of love he has for his Son. And his love endures forever. If you are in Christ you do not have to fear God's thoughts about you.

I said in a previous post that we all want to live our lives so that people will remember us. And how do we do that exactly? To serve God's kingdom purposes not our own. Not that of other people. In our efforts to make our lives matter we must do so with an eye on eternity. Our thoughts are fickle and stained by sin but God's are not. It is God's opinion that is most important and his purposes will stand forever. God will not let our lives float away without meaning. The longing to be unique and remembered is at its core, a desire to be known and loved by someone who won't forget us. This is why God's thoughts of us matter the most. Being image bearers means our lives must be connected to God for us to really find purpose and meaning. "To be in the image means that human beings were not created to stand alone. We must get our significance and security from something of ultimate value outside us. To be created in God's image means we must live for the true God or we will have to make something else God and orbit our lives around that." Tim Keller We do not have to work so hard to make a mark on this earth in order to be known and remembered. We can live small lives of ordinary faithfulness, fighting sin and loving God because he knows our names and will never forget us. We can live for our eternal city whose builder and architect is God, knowing that he will never forget or forsake us for he is not ashamed to know us. Being known and loved by God shapes our innate desires to matter into desires that matter for eternity. What matters most - you were dead in sin but Jesus made you alive. He loved you while you were a sinner. You will be known and forever loved because he died for you. That says more about you than any tombstone could.

I am still struggling with that last chapter in Known and Loved. I guess it is because of that desire to be known and loved by those around me. To be remembered. I strive too hard. I find it difficult when I am knocked off my own pedestal. I scream internally when things happen that make me look bad. I know what it means to be unappreciated in all areas of my life ... But there is one who.knows and loves me regardless of what I do and say. That matters more than anything that this life throws at me. To be surrounded by such love is like a warm blanket that I need to wrap myself in each and every moment that I live.

Reading chapter 7 of Known and Loved by Glenna Marshall in view of recent events in America has brought home the message - should I hate God's enemies? In the middle of Psalm 139 we have imprecatory poetry. David often wrote such poetry and it seems wildly out of place particularly in this psalm. Imprecatory psalms ask the Lord to enact judgment. They are prayed in tandem with God's will and his word. I have seen many use these words "come Lord Jesus come" today but wonder if many realise this is actually an imprecatory prayer? Asking Christ to return means you are asking him to come back and vanquish all our enemies sending them to hell because they have rejected Christ openly. But what about our own friends and family members who have yet to come to faith in Christ? Because if Christ were to return so many of them would be included in our request. It is God who should exact judgment, not us. We trust the Lord to make things right when the time is right. He alone will do it with equity and righteousness, his actions unstained by sin. David desires for God to slay the wicked the ones who speak against God with malicious intent. He hates them for they hate God. He loathes them for setting themselves up against this God who has set his love and affection on David. He counts as his enemies those who hate the God he loves. I We respond to Jesus by loving our enemies and praying for them. And we respond like Jesus by longing for the Father to be glorified in all the earth. He is not glorified by sinful wicked injustice. Belonging to Jesus means identifying with him. We identify with Christ in his suffering and we identify with God as the One who rules the universe and rightly deserves the worship of every bowed knee and every confusing tongue. We should hunger for the day when king Jesus the Righteous comes to set things right for good. So we pray. We pray for him to come and we pray for people to repent. And we speak the name of the great knower and Lover to all who will listen so that they too will be swept up in the never-ending love of God.

Chapter 8 - Known and Kept - what if I fear falling away?

Psalm 139 closes with David's plea for God to keep on knowing him - "search me O God and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!" Notice the shift in tense. In verse 1 David praises God because he has already searched and known him - past tense. Here David asks (or demands) that he continue to do so - now and in the future. The imperative structure of the sentences further drives home David's intent. He wants God to keep his commitment to care for him and guide him in the way he should go. He begs the Lord to keep him on the right path forever. What we learn from David's prayer is that God is not like a well-intentioned gate attendant who welcomes you and wishes you good luck without elaborating about what lies ahead. He doesn't welcome us into his family and then leave us to figure out the Christian life on our own. He continually knows our hearts, reveals our sin, guides us in the way we should go and makes us more like Jesus.

This process is what Christians call sanctification. It's the window of time in your life between your salvation (when you come to faith in Jesus) and your glorification. (when you see him face to face and are unable to sin). In that window of time God moulds you more and more into the image of his Son because he just didn't commit to save you but also to grow and shape you. He uses his word, his church, his Spirit and all kinds of trials and circumstances in life to keep us near his side. He "works all things according to the counsel of his will" which means he will do in our lives when what is for our good and for his glory - Ephesians 1 verse 11. He is committed to you, your growth and his glory in your life. God's involvement in your life doesn't end with our salvation. his love for you didn't end at the cross. It goes on and on and on. With God it isn't "welcome and good luck!" It's "welcome I am with you". Even Jesus told us "to the end of the age." Matthew 28 verse 20.

"Try me and know my thoughts" David writes in verse 23. You could translate "thoughts" as "cares". Whatever it is you're thinking or concerned about you can like David ask the Lord to sift it. You can ask him to reveal anything that doesn't need to be there and to carry anything that's too heavy for you to bear. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all yoruo anxieties on him because he cares for you 1 Peter 5 verses 5 and 7.

Peter connects the freeing release of our anxieties with God's personal care for us. You can throw your fears and concerns onto his shoulders because he loves you. The ability to cast your anxieties on the Lord, however requires that you flee from sin and resist the enemys temptation. God's love for us doesn't make rom for ongoing sin in our lives. Peter exhorts us to be humble before the Lord. David asks God to reveal his sin (Psalm 139 verse 24). Both desire the Lord to sift their thoughts and carry their concerns. To walk securely in God's love you must reckon with the sin in your heart. Sin is deceiving and will tell you all sorts of lies about God and yourself. But be sure of this - God loves you too much to let you wander away from him. He carries your burdens but he also corrects you sin. As often as we pray for him to take the anxious thoughts we carry we should also pray for him to reveal the areas of sin we've missed.

David prays "And see if there be any grievous way in me" petitioning God to reveal any sin lurking in his heart that would affect his relationship with the Lord. He appeals to God's omniscience depending on him to see what David can't to know what David has missed, to expose what David had hidden - either intentionally or not.

Asking God to reveal our sin is a right prayer and one we ought to pray regularly. We are not all knowing the way God is, and we are not always the best judges of ourselves. The author of Hebrews tells us that the deceitful nature of sin can harden our hearts, blinding us to our true condition. When our hearts are hardened by sin we wander from the faith with little idea or care of the danger beyond the path of righteousness.

In our lack of omniscience it is for our spiritual safety and personal holiness that we ask God to show us our sins to "see if there be any grievous way" in us. We need to keep a right view of who God is - holy and grievous and mighty and kind - but our sin can block the light of his glory from our eyes. And sometimes we don't even know it. So we pray like David. We ask God to reveal our sin and help us to burn it to the ground. We plead for his help and we accept his means of correction

God is with us every step of the way. He has provided what we need to stay on his path of righteousness. he has given us his word to guide us his church to protect, correct and comfort us and his Spirit to help us understand Scripture and obey it. When you pray to God to help you see and fight your sin, you must use the weapons he has provided. We must see God's love as corrective, not permissive. We must also see his correction as love not as punishment.

God is constant in his love and faithful in his deeds. He is ever steady. If he disciplines us to eradicate sin in our lives, it isn't because he's mad at us. On the contrary its because he loves us. Discipline isn't punitive if you have been saved through faith in Jesus. Paul in Romans 8 says "there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." If Jesus swallowed all of God's wrath at the cross, then there is no more punishment for you to bear in addition to that. No penance. No making it up to God. No serving out of debt, for your record of debt has been nailed to the cross and cancelled. Discipline on the other hand is something God does to help us live far from sin keeping our lives unstained by the world leads to greater joy and perseverance in Christ. God knows what we need. He knows what tempts us. He knows all the little and big areas in our lives that squelch and smother our obedience to him. So he disciplines us to bring us closer. He uses the sorrows and trials of this life to purify our faith into something strong and true. If he hated you he would not bother refining your faith.

The author of Hebrews talks about the Lord's discipline as part of our sanctification process. But its done from the point of view of God as our Father. "He disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness." Hebrews 12 verse 10

"God is treating you as sons" Hebrews 12 verse 7

This is a compassionate Father - the Father who runs to greet the prodigal son and clothes his filth with a clean robe of righteousness.

Quoting Proverbs 3 the author of Hebrews urges us not to be weary or discouraged when the Lord disciplines us. Rather view it as love. Proverbs 3 says that "the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a Father the son in whom he delights." Proverbs 3 verse 12.

God delights in his children, so he disciplines them to protect them from further sin and to help them grow in holiness.

God corrects from a place of perfect love.

If God is revealing areas of sin in your life as you have prayed for him to do - and if you feel crushed by the weight of it - do not run from God. Do not accuse him of not loving you for the misery you feel under the spotlight of correction. Do not attribute to him what you yourself tend to do in anger. Rather accept his discipline. Receive the rebukes of scripture and cherish the correction of faithful church members and pastors. View discipline as God loving you enough to pluck you from the Missouri pit and setting you on the path again by his side. He is keeping you.

Don't resist his discipline. But don't feel condemned by it either.

David's last plea is for God to lead him in "the way everlasting" verse 24. Note that David isn't taking full responsibility for his faithfulness. He is dependent on God to guide him in the way he should go. He knows that it is God who keeps him as he seeks to obey and stay on the Lord's path. What is the way everlasting? It is God's way. It is loving what God loves and hating what God hates. The way everlasting is poured with righteousness and mercy. It is travelled with obedience to his commands. It is believing in the good news of Christ crucified day after day after day. It is walking with Jesus and being moulded into his image bit by bit, from one degree of glory in the next. David helps us discern the way. "Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul." Psalm 143 verse 8. Reminders of God's steadfast love will help us know how to live which way to go, where the path of righteousness leads. As we sit on this side of the gospel story we can be reminded of God's love every time we open the bible. Saturating our lives in scripture will be absolutely necessary for discernment and growth. God uses his word to sanctify us, to keep us on the path. He guides us in the way everlasting with scripture. Even when our hearts have been cold, even wen we have been led astray by sin, even when we were "brutish" toward him in attitude. He is faithful to bring us back. Psalm 73 verse 22. "Nevertheless I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel" and afterward you will receive me to glory. Psalm 73 verses 23 and 24. God guides, leads and keeps us with his love. He is faithful to forgive us when we sin. You can trust him to finish the work of salvation he began in you. You can believe that his attitude toward you is never brutish or cold.

God will keep you on the path with his kind correction. Ask him to search your heart to reveal any sin. Then repent. And believe that he loves you still. He is the God who keeps you.

Chapter 9 - Fully Known and Fully Loved - Will God Always Love Me?

It is not enough to be aware of our flaws. Sin has always been the real problem with us. We want to find a loophole in the doctrine of sin - our natural bent toward disobedience - and work out a way for us to be worthy of God's personal, invested love. You might even think, "I know God loves me because he sent Jesus but I want him to love me for me!" We want his love to be more than the gospel proof of it.

But God's love has substance. His love is not some gauzy, ethereal reaction to you being lovable. His love is tethered to real, hard proof of its existence. It originates in him and is pinned securely to sacrifice and care, going beyond the brink to bring back an enemy, clean her up and make her a daughter, a friend, a member of a kingdom of priests. What's more, we need his love to be attached to Jesus' work at the cross. This was our only hope of receiving his love and being eternally changed by it. We often imbue God's divine love with human traits and flaws. We also confuse the way he loves with the way we want to be loved. But God's love is indelibly inked with the blood of Jesus. we cannot disconnect his love from the cross. When we read that God so loved the world, the emphasis isn't so much on the generational and geographical reach as it is the unloveliness of the people he loves.

"In John 3 verse 16 God's love in sending the Lord Jesus is to be admired not because it is extended to so big a thing as the world but to so bad a thing nor so many people, as to such wicked people." Don Carson

If God's love was contingent upon our actions, skills, character, qualities and behaviour then his love would be as slippery and elusive as our worthiness of it. We could not keep his love because we could not continue being good enough to earn it. Carson says that God's love "emanates from his own character; it is not dependent on the loveliness of the loved, external to himself." Because God is love, it is as though he says to us "I love you anyway, not because you are attractive but because it is my nature to love." He loves because he purposed to love us. It was his plan to set his affections on us, not because we deserved it or would somehow earn it. His love comes from himself, not from our worthiness. "He loves because love is one of his perfections, in perfect harmony with all his other perfections." Love that is earned by merit or attractiveness can be lost. How much better to be loved because it is God's nature to love us? How much better to be loved because God planned to save sinners through Jesus at the cross? How much better to be loved because the one who loves is love?

We cannot lose love like that. It goes far deeper than a sudden bloom of infatuation in response to a person's good features or traits. Those features or traits can be quickly lost when the ugliness of temper or selfishness or envy rise to the surface. Thankfully God's love is more than that. He loved us in our ugliest, most unlovable state. Before we ever took a breath, he knew about all the things that make us unlovable and he set his affections on us anyway. To be loved while you were the worst iteration of yourself is to reimagine the very idea of love itself.

Paul wrote that "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5 verse 8. You want to be sure that God loves you and loves you completely? You can't improve upon gospel love. This is the kind of love you're really after. God's love doesn't change in its existence or lavishness but it does change you.

In human relationships, we laud the kind of love that lets another people be themselves. And to some extent this is good and right.

God's love changes us at our very core. when he saves us through faith in Jesus, God gives us new hearts, new identities, new desires. We were dead, we made us alive. We were enemies, he made us friends. We were moved from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of Jesus. We have been transformed! And in his love, he continues to transform us. He refuses to leave us to our devices but sanctifies us instead - making us more and more like his Son. His love changes our desires, renews our minds and sets our hearts on what is above.

This is the kind of love we are desperate for. Though we might desire love that cushions and comforts, what we get is love that transforms. Love that does not let us go. Love that refuses to let us run after sin and so runs after us with correction. And that is ultimate comfort and assurance! God's love at the cross makes us worthy of it! Remember imputed righteousness? Jesus became your sin so you could become the righteousness of God. No matter who you were or how you lived before you know Jesus, God's love obliterates every shard of brokenness. He makes you brand new. "Never, never underestimate the power of the love of God to break down and transform the most amazingly hard individuals." That's what God's perfect love has done for us in Christ. Confident of this love, how then should we live?

Psalm 139 celebrates all the ways God intimately knows us, stays near us, is invested in our lives and suffuses our lives with meaning. After grappling with his omniscience and steadfast love, we must respond with faith. We must believe that we are known and loved, and we must live like we're known and loved. We acknowledge these truths about God's attitude toward us mentally while still practically living as tough his love can be won and lost ever day. But much of the Christian life is lived by faith, so we must return to proof of Go's love over and over by saturating our minds with his word. Scripture tells us what's true when our hearts feel differently.

Romans 8 verses 31 to 39

When Psalm 139 praises the expansiveness of God's knowledge, presence and love Romans 8 also extols th geographical and transcendent reach of God's love for us in Jesus. There is literally nothing in space or time that can separate us from his love. Not internal condemnation, not the worst imagined suffering, not rulers that come to power in this world, not our greatest earthly fears. Nothing can separate you from God's love.

But this close, squeezed in love is wound up tightly in the death of Jesus. So we must preach the gospel to ourselves over and over again to keep that love front and centre. When we forget Jesus we forget who we are. When we forget his sacrifice or grow cold to it, we forget that we are loved. We forget we are his Paul's praise for the certainty of God's love in Christ helps us live known and loved. He reminds us not to forget God's love, not to fear its loss and to let it motivate us to walk in obedience to him. The bible is filled with declaration of God's care for us, no doubt because we are so easily forget the nature and shape and impermeability of his love. Romans 8 reminds us that God doesn't mildly or generically love us. Rather he is for us "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8 verse 31. God's heart is inclined toward us, not away. For, not against. This truth encourages us in 2 ways. First no foe is stronger than he is. There is no adversary or opposition to God's purposes that will win in the end. He wins and because of Christ, we are eternally safe in his victory. Second God desires our good. Though he allows suffering and trials that can refine our faith and fuel our dependency on him, he does so for our best interests.

We often read Romans verse 28 in isolation, but when coupled with verse 29 its meaning is amplified. "And we know that for those who love God all things work together is good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew (or foreloved) he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." Romans 8 verses 28 and 29.

God works things together for good for those who belong to him and the reason we can be sure of this is because he has always planned to sanctify those whom he set his affections on.

Remember God doesn't "fall in love" like we do. He doesn't grow enamored with us over time. No, he set his affections upon us before the world existed his love is purposeful. Committed. Faithful. It emanates from his perfect being, not grown from our mercurial goodness.

How can we remember and feel confident in this kind of love and care? Look at Romans 8 verse 32. God didn't spare his own Son to extend saving grace, love and mercy to us. if he didn't spare Jesus' life to save us, why would he hold back what we need to live in his love? He has given us what we need to endure in this life and has promised to give his kingdom in the next. In giving his Son he gave everything. The cross is the guarantee of the continuing, unfailing generosity of God. Do not forget that God loves you. Every morning when you wake up, remember the gospel. Remember that God sent Jesus to rescue you and make you his own. He didn't do it because you were lovely or enchanting - but rather because you weren't. Because you couldn't be. I couldn't be. This is real, perfect love. When you feel like his love is dissipating in a fog of doubt, turn to his word Let the truth chase your doubts away like the warmth of the rising sun burns off the early morning mist.

Romans 8 also helps us walk through the Christian life with certainty that we can not lose God's love. Paul encourages us to enjoy the immutable love of God. In christ you cannot be condemned by your sin or the enemy. In christ you are firmly enclosed in his love. In Romans 8 verse 34 Paul tells us that Jesus' death and resurrection ensures our right standing before God. There is no more condemnation because Christ's payment secured our righteousness. Nothing that happens to you in this life can cancel out his atonement. Your heart is safe in his love. No source of physical or spiritual suffering can sever you from the love that hems you in. No even death itself.

God is always near and ever close. And nothing can get between you and his love for you. Nothing. So in a sense you can say to wickedness and trials of the world. "Do your best! I am safe in Christ." Even if you lose your life, you cannot lose his love. And in death you are with Christ, so there's not even a true loss there - only gain!

As Paul says "we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Romans 8 verse 37. God's love secured our victory over sin and death at the cross.

It is anchored in a purposeful collision of sacrifice and justice and mercy and grace. You do not have to fear losing his love. It is yours, ever yours. Live in it!

Jesus makes it clear in John 15 that we respond to God's love with obedience. "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love." (verse 10) Jesus is showing us that as he obeyed his Father as a response to the Father's love, we too obey him as a response to his love. He has shown us what obedience looks like, not only because he is holy but because obedience is the right response to love.

We don't obey to be loved. We obey because we are loved. Obedience is how we abide in his love. Jude said it this way "keep ourselves in the love of God." Jude 21. There are 2 things going on here. First we live in God's love by obeying him. Second we obey him because he enables us to with the help of his Spirit. We abide and he keeps. Its a both/and situation. Galatians 4 verses 8 and 9.

There's a demarcation love that's important to note. Being known by God means living for him rather than for yourself. Why would you want to return to the things that never satisfy and only lead you to sin when you have been known by God. Paul is reminding the Galatians of who and whose they are. You're known by God. You're loved by God. Now embrace that identity by walking in obedience to God.

Obedience isn't a drudgery response to God's love, though it may seem that way at first glance. Obedience is also a source of joy. God knows that those known and loved hearts of ours will be miserable in sin but joyful in obedience. He knows what will bring us satisfaction and what will leave us hungry and weak. When we obey his commands and live closely to his word, we will be filled with joy of Christ. Jesus said "These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full." John 15 verse 11. We have access to the joy of Jesus! As we obey God, confident of our right standing before him we ought to be the most joyful people on the earth.

We often confuse joy with being deliriously happy but joy is weightier than that. It's thicker, deeper, stouter and more complex. True biblical joy is evidenced by peace and confidence that God will make all things right in the end. It's a surety in your soul that he will right the wrongs and ends our suffering and come out the victor over the enemy. We know how this story ends. We know Christ will return, that he will vanquish his foes that we will be with him for ever. that should give us deep and abiding confidence in a world of uncertainty, suffering and looming persecution. We don't have to lose our minds in fear. We don't have to be anxious that God has forgotten us. Rather we obey him with deep seated joy that cannot be stolen from us, for God's love is the fixed point in our lives. Nothing separates us from it. Knowing who we are and whose we are should lead to evangelism. It should cultivate love for our enemies is hopes that they might become our siblings in Christ. Living loved should invigorate our efforts to get the good news of soul-transforming gospel love to those who are living in darkness. "We owe others the gospel."