Sabbath: God Loves Freely
Daily Lesson for Sabbath 28th of December 2024
Image © Pacific Press
Read for This Week’s Study
Exodus 33:15-22; Hosea 14:1-4; Revelation 4:11; John 17:24; Matthew 22:1-14; John 10:17-18.
Memory Text:
“ ‘I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him’ ” (Hosea 14:4, NKJV).
Though Peter had denied Jesus three times, just as Jesus had predicted (Matthew 26:34), these denials were not the end of the story. After the Resurrection, Jesus asked Peter, “ ‘Do you love Me more than these?’ ” And Peter replied, “ ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’ ” And Jesus said, “ ‘Tend My lambs.’ ” Then, Jesus again asked Peter, “ ‘Do you love Me?’ ” And Peter replied, “ ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’ ” And Jesus said, “ ‘Shepherd My sheep.’ ” Then, yet again, a third time Jesus asked Peter, “ ‘Do you love Me?’ ” And “Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, ‘Do you love Me?’ ” And Peter replied, “ ‘Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.’ ” And Jesus said, “ ‘Tend My sheep’ ” (John 21:15-17, NASB 1995). Just as Peter had denied Jesus three times, Jesus—by way of the crucial question, “ ‘Do you love Me?’ ”—restored Peter three times.
However different our circumstances may be from Peter’s, in many ways the principle is the same. That is, the question that Jesus had asked Peter is really the ultimate question that God poses to each of us in our time and place: Do you love Me?
Everything depends on our answer to that question.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, January 4.
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God is love should be the first words we hear when we wake up in the morning. This is His trait and when we pray we'd be like Him, may we understand this.
“Will your anchor hold in the storms of life?” I believe Peter would have answered that he loved Jesus before he denied Him. How was Peter’s love doing when he later dissembled with the Jews? (Galatians 2:11-14). The point is that our love for God is flawed but thankfully His love for us is not and His love, not mine, is the anchor of my hope. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10. And then, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another”. 1 John 4:11
Love is a thread that runs through the major religions of the world (Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity). The key difference is that Christian love is unconditional, sacrificial, and redemptive (John 3:16). This love is far beyond what human faculties can fathom. This love is self-denial. It is not part of human nature. It is foundational to God's nature. The Bible narrative indicates that it is the greatest of God’s nature. “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). In fact, everything that God does is motivated by love (Lamentations 3: 22-23). The Bible is explicit in saying that justice flows from God’s love (Psalms 33: 5, Psalms 146:7-9). God’s love is expressed in the execution of justice (Isaiah 61:8).
It is comforting to know and understand that God’s love has no strings attached. He loves us freely. While we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). How can the Creator die for what He created? He could have made a new creation but decided to die to redeem his creation. This is “strange” love! Dear God, please help us to have this “strange” love.