Darwin grossly missed many things, but his recognition of “survival of the fittest” is correct. In the animal world, the weak become food for the strong. When watching a herd of antelope flee an attacking pack of wild dogs, you might notice a mother and her offspring running together and think, “See how she loves her fawn.” But would she intentionally give her life for that fawn? She would not. She would outdistance her own offspring and leave it to become lunch for those dogs. Perhaps she would sense some sort of loss, but she would quickly get back to the game of life and death.
Some animals eat their own young. The praying mantis female eats the head off the male after they mate. Sea turtles bury their eggs in the sand and then leave them to hatch and fend for themselves—most do not survive. When a sow produces a litter of a greater size than her number of teats, the weaker runts have trouble accessing food at mealtime while their stronger brothers and sisters push and shove for a place under momma’s belly.
Animals do not love. Some care for their young, but they would not give their lives (on purpose) for them.
J. K. Rowling created a literary empire based on a mother’s love for her baby son. The underlying premise of her Harry Potter series is how love thwarted the dark lord’s power. Voldemort continually tried to overcome the power of the mother’s love, but it proved too much for him. The story rings true to readers because we all believe in the power of love—it’s a real thing in this world.
Some attempt to reduce the idea of love to chemical reactions in the human brain, just as they would reduce the realities of joy, peace, and hope, but even the staunchest atheists agree on the reality of human love. Life wouldn’t be worth living without love!
God Is Love
Love is not an emotion, though it produces the deepest of emotions. At its root, love is an attitude of your heart which leads you to bless, nourish, and support the object of your love. When Jesus washed His disciples’ feet (John 13), He loved them.
“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (John 4.8). How can it be said, “God is love”? Love is the inherent nature of God. He did not begin to love after He created man; He has always been love. In order to love, there must be someone to love, and we understand love bonds the Trinity. John declared, “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand” (John 3.35). Jesus said, “For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He himself is doing” (John 5.20). Jesus also said, “I do as the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know that I love the Father” (John 14.31).
The crazy, astounding thing is that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit love you and me with the same love they have for one another! Jesus said in John 10.30, “I and the Father are one.” Later in John 17.21 He prayed that His disciples “may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.” God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Why Does God Love Me?
Why does He love me? Because He loves good-looking men (hey – keep your chuckles to yourself)? Or maybe it’s because He needed someone who was incredibly smart. Perhaps He needed a leader for His army, and I was a top candidate. Did He create me because He was lonely and I’m filling a need for God? Does God love me because He needs me?
Rather, Scripture explicitly declares that God does not love us because of who we are, what we have done, or even what we will do in the future. He loves us because of who HE is.
God chose Israel, but not because of their size or strength. “The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set His love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that He swore to your fathers” (Deut. 7.6–8).
God chose Israel, but not because of how good they were. “Do not say in your heart… ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land’” (Deut. 9.4), and “the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people” (Deut. 9.6).
In Romans, Paul wrote that God chose Jacob over Essau while they were still in the womb, “though they were not yet born and had done noting either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of Him who calls—she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated’” (Rom. 9.11–13).
God Loves First
God loves, and He decides on whom He sets His love. He chooses based on His own character and not based on mine or yours. He does not look for the holiest, the worthiest, the smartest, or the strongest. He simply sets His love on us and loves us. In fact, there are not many wise, powerful, or noble of the world that the Lord calls. He chooses the weak and foolish to shame the wise and the strong (1 Cor. 1.26–27).
Do not say in your heart, “God chose me because I was smarter than my neighbor.” Do not say, “God chose me because I am willing to work hard for Him; I’ll be a great addition to His kingdom.” Do not say, “God chose me because I did ___________________” or “because I am ______________________.”
God chose you because He loves you. Period. His choosing of you is because of His character—not yours. It’s because of His worthiness—not yours. It’s because of His power—not yours. It’s because of His wisdom—not yours.
As parents take up their crying and constantly needy baby, so God takes us in His arms and loves us while we are still weak and while we are yet sinners (Rom. 5.6–8). How long does it take for a baby to return his parent’s love? It takes years, and it’s not until that child grows into adulthood that he matures to love his parents the way his parents love him (if he ever does).
Praise the Father that He first loved us.
Lord, teach us to love others like You love us, and accept our love as we keep Your commandments, even imperfect and inconsistent though we be. Teach us the power of love.