After food and water, the greatest need in every
human heart is to be deeply loved, valued, and
accepted just for who we are. Here's the question.
How do you get that kind of love? That's what
we'll explore today. Welcome to this edition
of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. The mission
of this daily program is to intentionally disciple
Christians through the insightful Bible teaching
of Chip Ingram. And in just a minute, he'll continue
his series, The Real God. By digging into the
characteristic of God, we tend to focus on the
most, his love. And today, Chip takes us on a
journey to better understand and appreciate this
attribute in a way we may never have before.
Well, there's a lot to get to, so let's get going.
Here now is Chip with his message, The Love of
God. Can you imagine what would happen? Hypothetically,
what if you loved 50 % more beginning tomorrow
for the rest of your life? Just 50 % more. You
loved your friends 50 % more. You loved your
coworkers 50 % more. What if the people sitting
down at the United Nations would just love one
another 50 % more than they do now? That people
would start forgiving and listening instead of
battling and positioning. What would happen if
in the Middle East, People from diverse backgrounds
would love one another just 50 % more. What would
happen if in their inner city and in the suburbs,
people would love one another just 50 % more?
Can you imagine the difference that it would
make in the world? See, there's an amazing thing
going on. I don't think I could make the statement,
what the world needs now is love, sweet love.
It's what everyone needs, what everyone wants.
I don't think I could get hardly a person in
the world to raise their hand and say, excuse
me, I disagree. We don't need any more love.
People being kind to one another, forgiving one
another, taking care of each other, family staying
together, people being sensitive. I'll tell you
what, we got enough of that as there is. Now,
think this through though. If universally we
agree that the world needs love, And we all need
to be loved. Why is there such little love? It's
kind of amazing, isn't it? I put a little statement
of three facts about love. Fact number one, it's
a universal need. We are all looking for love.
I have never met a person who's not looking for
love. From the moment you came out of the womb,
you were looking for someone to hold you, feed
you, protect you, love you. When you got older,
you were looking for someone to look into your
eye and say, you matter, you're secure, you're
significant. When you blew it or you failed,
you wanted someone to say, you know what? I forgive
you. I'm still for you. Everybody is desperately
looking and wanting to be loved. Fact number
one. Fact number two is there's a universal solution
to the universal need. God loves all people everywhere
and longs to meet the deepest needs of their
heart for love. God loves everyone. He's demonstrated
his love. His heart breaks when he sees what
happens to people. He wants to heal. He wants
to forgive. He wants to encourage. He wants to
affirm. He wants to support. He wants to redirect.
He wants to guide. He wants to hold. He wants
to heal. You have a universal need over here
of people desperately wanting to be loved. And
you have over here a omnipresent, all -wise,
all -knowing creator who wants to love and has
already loved the world. Fact number three, we
have a universal disconnect. There's a tragic
disconnection. You have this unbelievable need
and this supernatural, unlimited, boundless availability.
And nevertheless, most people remain starved
for love. They're starved for love. Imagine if
you can, can I give you a word picture? Imagine
all the people of the world on every continent.
South America, North America, Australia, Europe,
China, Asia, every continent, all the people,
all six plus billion some people. And imagine
them all standing shoulder to shoulder with this
universal need to be loved. And then imagine
that they're in some continent in the center
and we've packed them all together. And every
ocean is instead of water, every lake, every
stream is turned into liquid love. Imagine that
word picture. It's liquid love. And there's three
reasons, all these 6 billion people starving
for love. And there's all this love, but some
of those people have never seen the ocean. Some
of those people were brought up or lived in a
desert. They aren't loved because they're not
aware that there's an ocean of love available.
Some people have no idea that God cares for them
and loves them. Some of those people have tasted.
And they know about God's love, but they've not
received it. They were stacked all together,
all these people in the world, and someone took
them over to the ocean or to a stream or to a
lake, and it's just flowing with liquid love.
And you can dive in. You can take a bottle. You
can drink it. You can take a bath in it. You
can get in the barrels. You can get it in the
jugs. You can take it home with you. And it's
a sense of well -being and purpose and significance
and an overwhelming sense of your importance
and security, unconditional, given by God. But
there's countless numbers of people that get
to the edge of the ocean and they intellectually
agree there's an ocean full of love. And for
whatever reason, I'm not worthy of that love.
I'm afraid if I would receive that love, what
the demands might be on me. But there are some
people that aren't loved because they don't know
they're loved. There's a lot of people who are
aware that they are loved, but they're standing
on the shore and they've never received it. And
then there's a whole nother set of people that
at least once or twice, they have jumped into
the lake and they've taken maybe a water bottle
full of love and they've tasted it and they've
experienced it and it's changed their life and
they've gotten back out on the shore and it was
overwhelming, but it was so good and so amazing.
They start to confuse it with other kinds of
love, like how their dad or their mom or an ex
-mate or a boss. And they're so afraid that I
don't want to get. too radically involved in
this kind of love and they had this experience
and for the life of them, they don't know how
to touch it or taste it again. And it just comes
in little windows and they can't quite figure
it out, but it often comes when they're so desperate
and so thirsty and there's no place else to go.
They dive back into the ocean or the lake or
the stream of love and they taste it in their
lowest times and darkest moments. And then somehow
when they get filled just enough with love to
get on their own, they start living their own
way again. I would say that's at least a decent
picture of a universal need, a universal solution,
and a very tragic disconnect among both believers
and unbelievers. Brennan Manning in his little
book called Abba's Child quotes Henry Nowen and
talks about what's the root cause behind Christians.
not experiencing the love of God. I think his
words are instructive. Now in rights over the
years, I've come to realize that the greatest
trap in our life is not success, popularity,
or power, but self rejection. Follow his logic
closely. Success, popularity, and power can indeed
present a great temptation, but their seductive
quality often comes from the way They are a part
of a much larger temptation to self -rejection.
When we have come to believe in the voices that
call us worthless, unlovable, when we have voices
that you're not worthy, you don't measure up
as the idea, when we carry in our hearts shame
and guilt in a sense that we are unlovable, then
he goes on to say, success, popularity, and power
are easily perceived as attractive solutions.
The real trap, however, is self -rejection. Self
-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual
life because it contradicts the sacred voice
that God calls us the beloved. We are beloved
in Christ. We are in Christ. Being the beloved
constitutes the core truth of our existence.
I have... Been on a very interesting journey
like many of you. And in the first decade, I
learned many of the disciplines of the Christian
life and learned to read my Bible and study and
pray and share my faith. And then in the next
decade, probably learned a little bit more about
ministry. And then probably in the last 12 to
15 years, began to learn more about the disciplines
of the Christian life and have read very widely
from a lot of different backgrounds. And I'm
convinced that if you put a gun to my head and
said, What's maybe the biggest discovery about
what it means to have a relationship with Christ?
I would say it's coming to believe and accept
that God really loves me completely apart from
my performance. And separating that love from
the love that I've received from people, separating
that love from the kind of love that you get
if you can do this or because you can do that,
separating it from things that feel so close
to love, like being admired. Things that feel
so close to being loved, like being affirmed
or encouraged or valued because you can do this
or you own that or can give this or can empower
others in a certain way. And I think at the core
of the existence of God's heart, at least in
what I'm learning, and as I've read many of the
people that have walked much deeper in the Christian
life than me, it comes to the sense that believing,
just as you are, not if this gets cleaned up,
not because you do this or do that, but just
as you are because of who God is, that you are
the object of his affection and that all these
things about purity and all these things about
caring for others and all these things about
life transformation really start. if they're
genuine, at the very, very core of our existence,
when we begin to see ourselves as God sees us,
as precious, as valuable, as unconditionally
loved, as the object of his affection and concern.
as the one who thinks about us because he is
in the eternal and he can think about all of
us simultaneously and know all of our thoughts,
all of our issues, all of our concerns. And if
I can learn that, then it begins to remove me
from trying to perform to earn his favor or trying
to impress you to make you somehow think I'm
either better or more spiritual or more kind
or whatever. Because if I can't experience God's
love, Human love is a good second best. But then
what you all keep doing to me is you keep letting
me down. And every time I try and find that unquenchable
love in another human being, and whether it's
in my wife or whether it's in a close friend
or whether it's in being a dad or whether it's
with a ministry partner, these human frail pieces
of dust just... keep letting me down. And somewhere
along the line, I feel manipulated and I feel
used and I feel abused. And then that's very
painful, except it gets worse because then I
look in the mirror and I find that I am using
and manipulating and abusing others so that I
can feel better about myself. And I would say
at the core of our heart and our lives is beginning
to grasp the love of God. And so I think now
it has a point that's very well taken. And so
I would like to spend the remainder of our time
seeing if we can take a crack, a journey of understanding
what it would be like in increasing progressive
measures. Maybe we won't dive into the ocean
of God's liquid love, but I'd like to at least
all of us get a little water bottle on a regular
basis. And maybe some of us could get some gallon
containers. And long -term, my dream is that
I'd like to kind of get one of those big tankers
like they have the gasoline and the truck in,
and I'd like to get that thing and back it in
and get a hose that comes out of it and have
that pouring through that ocean in that tanker
so I could go out and I could pour out that liquid
love to other people with the belief that the
more I give and the more I spread unconditionally
of who God has given to me. is that there is
a dynamic principle of the universe of our Lord
Jesus, that as I give, it will be given good
measure, pressed down, shaken together, and I'll
never run out. Because what I think we taste
of God's love is normally about a thimble full
in an ocean. And the love that is available to
us 24 -7, totally apart from our performance,
our background, how intelligent we are, our personality,
what we've done, what we haven't done, what we've
read, what we haven't read, is not just all the
oceans, but all the oceans on all the planets
and all the world of all the time. It is boundless
and limitless. And there's nothing that brings
greater honor to God if we could learn to receive
it. How great a love the Father has on us, has
lavished upon us that we should be called the
children of God. So let's talk about what love
is. Let's see if we can move it from that concept
intellectual in our head down to our hearts.
For me, it's God's love is his holy disposition
toward all that he's created that compels him
to express unconditional affection and selective
correction to provide the highest and best quality
of existence, both now and forever for the objects
of his love. Let me unpack that just a little
because the words were actually chosen fairly
carefully. God's love is holy. In other words,
we learned that word, right? It means separate,
Markov. It's totally other. I want you to know
it's not like the love of a human being. It's
a different kind of love. It's a different category.
And it's a holy disposition. It's just the way
he feels, the way he thinks all the time about
you. And it's that he's created, he has this
holy disposition that compels him to do two things.
He's just compelled, not because of something
in you, but because of something in him to express
unconditional affection. I mean, I don't want
to get like ooey gooey here, but he just wants
to hug you all the time. And he wants to express
hugs and smiles and affirmation. You're, you
know, some of you here are parents. You know
how you feel about your kids. You know what,
how it is to hold them close. You know what it's
like to tuck them in. It is unconditional affection.
But notice God's love isn't just this ooey gooey
goodness of wellbeing, but it's a holy disposition
that compels him toward unconditional affection
and selective correction. See, God loves me so
much that anytime my life, my thought, my relationship,
my finances, and my priorities are moving me
toward unhealthy things that will do damage to
me and damage to others, his love does what?
He brings about correction. See, that's what
God's love is. He's compelled to do it, but why?
In order to provide the highest and best quality
of existence. You know, the abundant life Jesus
talked about, that's just another way of saying
it. The highest, best, what's it mean? Life that's
really life. Living to the brim, living fulfilled,
living not dependent on people's response, but
something that wells up inside where the deepest
longings and thirsts of your soul are satisfied.
That's what God wants for you. And you know what
that is? That is experiencing the love of God.
And so that's the goal. And so he's compelled
by a holy disposition to constantly give unconditional,
not based on your performance, affection and
selective correction. It's selective. I use that
word because there's a lot of times I'm veering
off, I'm veering off, I'm veering off. And his
mercy and his long suffering says, you know,
Chip could use a little spanking right now, but
I'm just hoping he's going to catch on a little
bit later. I'm just going to keep loving him.
It's selective correction. Anytime he can withhold
what's justly due, it's called mercy. He does.
Because I'm the object of his affection. And
by the way, this isn't after you become a Christian.
Does the scripture say God so loved the believers
that he gave his only son? God so loved the world.
He feels, are you ready? This is how he feels
about Saddam Hussein. This is how he feels about
Hitler. This is how he feels about the two little
10 -year -old boys that raped a seven -year -old
girl. This is how he feels about people that
in a moment of uncontrolled rage abuse one of
their kids physically or sexually. God's love
is other and so absolutely beyond what we can
grasp. And so that's kind of my definition. The
characteristics of this love, and I call it agape
love. The New Testament writers actually made
up that word. They just didn't have a good word
so that, you know, we're going to take this word
agape and let's kind of sanctify it, put it in
the New Testament so it doesn't get confused
with storge or eros or some of these other kind
of loves that the Greek language was familiar
with. And the characteristics are interesting.
It's a giving love. It's a sacrificial love.
It's an unconditional love. And it's a boundless
love. God's love is expressed primarily through
his goodness, mercy, long -suffering, and grace.
And I have a quote here from one of my professors.
I really like what Dr. Ryrie says here. He says,
the love of God is like a tree, and then there
are branches of its expression, and they are
primarily his goodness, mercy, long -suffering,
and grace. And he says, although there are distinctions
as you study these words, they're really not
exact. God's goodness may be defined as his benevolent
concern for his creatures. Did you ever just
think of God as the today, this moment? He's
concerned about you. You know how some of you
moms are? Hey, call me when you get there. Call
me. I want to know you made it okay. The God
of the universe sort of has that attitude. Hey,
I'm just, I'm checking on you. I want to make
sure everything's okay. Is that how you think
of him? Or do you think of him as far away, hard
to get to, wish you could get his attention?
The love of God is expressed in his goodness.
It's also divined as a benevolent concern for
his creatures, as well as mercy is the aspect
of his goodness that causes him to show pity
and compassion. Have you ever just really blown
it and just felt so shameful and so bad and just
like, you're not. you're not even lovable. I
mean, forget by God, by anybody. The love of
God is expressed in his mercy. And he just looks
down and says, this didn't surprise me at all.
I'm not even shocked. In fact, before the foundations
of the earth, when the God has been determining
what the price tag of men's freedom would be,
Jesus knew that he would come and he would hang
on a cross for that very shameful sin. It goes
on to say that, His long suffering speaks of
his self -restraint in the face of provocation.
Have you ever thought of God exercising self
-restraint? I mean, you know, like you really
need a spanking and he just, well, wait a couple
more days. You know, you just got a really rotten
attitude or you're involved in some blatant sin,
you know, and the consequences should be swift,
but he just loves you so much. God is practicing
self -restraint in his relationship with you.
Why? Because he loves you. And then the final
word there is grace. His unmerited favor shown
primarily through Christ, which makes possible
a relationship with him. You're listening to
Living on the Edge. We'll return you to Chip's
message in just a minute. But let me quickly
share with you, God has called us to do incredible
ministry work all around the world. And when
you partner with us financially, you're a part
of what we do. So if you'd like to join us, go
to livingontheedge .org. We appreciate you giving
whatever God leads you to give. Well, with that,
here's Chip. I've taken all that I've learned
about God's love, and I thought if I could put
it in a few statements, a few simple statements
to get it from this. God loves me and I have
these feelings now and then, and okay, it's goodness
and it's mercy and it's long suffering. And,
you know, I get a little flash of it, but I wanted
to give you maybe a little summary of what it
would look like if you could see specifically
what it feels like and how God thinks about you.
So you could start to move it from up here, intellectual
to down here to spiritual and emotional. And
as I read these, what I'd like you to do is think
about just this question, kind of lean back.
Is this how I see God? Is this how I see God?
And if sort of that quick gut reaction is, I
might intellectually believe God is that way,
but that is not how I see God or think of how
he sees me. Then what you know is you have some
renewal of the mind to do. Statement number one,
God loves for you means. His thoughts, intentions,
desires, and plans for you are always for your
good and never for your harm. We looked at, you
know, Jeremiah 29, 11, and James 1. But think
of that. Do you kind of in your heart of hearts
think that his desires and intents, his plans,
they're always for your good? He's just a very
safe, safe person to be with. And the plans for
the future that he has for you, his desires for
you, oh. It's always for your welfare. See, if
you understand the love of God, that's what you'll
think. God's love for you means that he is kind.
He's open. He's approachable. He's frank. And
he's eager to be your friend. Do you see him
that member? I don't call you slaves because
a slave doesn't know what his master is doing.
I've called you my friends for all things. The
father has made known to me. I've revealed to
you. Do you see him as open and friendly or is
he distant and unapproachable? And you know,
you gotta be good to be on good terms. And when
you're good, he'll listen to you. But if you
struggled, he probably doesn't. God's love means
that 24 seven, he's open, he's kind, he's approachable.
God's love for you means he emotionally identifies
with your pain, your joy, your hopes and dreams.
And he's chosen to allow your happiness to affect
his own. Have you thought of the, you know, when
you're in pain and when you're hurt, is he on
the other side of the fence and he's maybe kind
of causing it? Or is he on the side of the fence
behind you with his arm around you and your joys
bring actually happiness to the heart of God
and your hurts and your struggles bring tears.
Have you ever thought of that? Have you ever
thought that when Jesus' friend Lazarus died
in John 11, that he wept, that he hurt? That
he felt for Mary and he felt for Martha and it
broke his heart when he saw what a fallen world
and death did. Is that how you see God? That
when you're really struggling, instead of being
down on you, he weeps with you. God's love for
you means forth that he takes pleasure in you
just for who you are, totally apart from your
performance or your accomplishments. He's the
God of Zephaniah 3. He's the God that is mighty.
He is the God who is with you. He is the God
that when there's confusion all around says,
just let me quiet you with my love and let me
sing over you in rejoicing. Is that how you see
him? You know who I'm describing? I'm describing
the God of the Bible. This is the God of the
Bible. Finally. God's love for you means he's
actively and creatively orchestrating people's
circumstances and events to express his affection
and selective correction to provide for your
highest good. Do you think of this God who is
not only loving, but he's actively orchestrating
and allowing relationships and events and circumstances.
so that he could express affection through a
person, affection through a job promotion, affection
through a discovery of a spiritual gift, affection
through a new friend that really understands
you, affection through a relationship that you
never thought you would have, affection because
your body wasn't working and for reasons that
none of us understand why or when or how, but
rather than through medicine, he decided just
to touch your body. Or does he also in his love
just... So care that selectively brings circumstances
and people to bring about selective correction
and bring some pain and discouragement and some
depression. And maybe you lose a job. Maybe you
lose a friend because he wants to get your attention.
Maybe your 401k went bloop and maybe your business
is going south because just little by little,
you didn't mean to, but you're drifting. You're
drifting. And he's so jealous and he so loves
you and he sees where that's going to head. But
he does some things that make you mad at first.
But like watching the little kid run out into
the street, he runs out after you, grabs you
by the neck, jerks you back so the car doesn't
hit you, and then out of love gives you a little
whack on the rear end and says to you, honey,
don't go there anymore. You're too precious.
You know, some of you may say to yourself, like
I have struggled with, you know, of all the ones,
this is kind of the neat. If this were true,
it would be really neat. You know, that one on
justice was kind of hard to take. The holiness
was a little overwhelming. The wisdom I kind
of liked. But boy, this would feed my soul. This
would change my life. Is it really true? And
so what I'd like to do is I'd like to demonstrate
from scripture that this is the God that loves
you and loves me. I'd like to walk through how
God reveals his love to us through about one,
two, three, four, five, oh, six different things.
God reveals his love to us first through creation.
Are you ready for this? He made you for himself.
Do you ever think about this way? You know, Genesis
chapter one, verse 26 and 27, then God said,
let us make man in our own image, in our own
likeness, and let them rule over the fish of
the sea and the birds of the air and the livestock
and over the earth and over all the creatures
that move along the ground. So God created man
in his own image. In the image of God, he created
him male and female. He created them. He created
you in his own image. You're like him. And he
creates this. paradise and he wants to have a
relationship with you. And then in Colossians
1 16, you learn for by him, Jesus, all things
were created, things in heaven, things on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers
or rulers or authorities, all things were created
by him. And I love this for him. You know, it's
easy to think, oh, the earth was created for
him. Angels were created for him. Everything
was created for him. Watch this. You, you, were
created for him. He made you so he could be with
you. I remember when I was a little boy, I mean,
it's so in our DNA because we're in God's image.
I remember going to the beach as a little boy
and you know, when you play in the sand and it
was that kind of wet kind of sand where you could
build stuff. I took about three hours. I mean,
I dug the hole and got it. I thought it was real
deep, but it seemed kind of deep. And then I
built this wall and I was making this castle.
And it was like on a cartoon. Some big kid I
didn't know, three hours. You feel bad for me
already, don't you? Tell you what, ladies in
the front row here, they're going to be permanent
prayer partners. Oh man, Chip, he's probably
psychologically damaged for years. But seriously,
this big kid comes and he kicks it all down.
I'm five years old and I can still remember it.
And I created sand, castle from a little water.
And this is how it made me feel. Why? Because
what I make for me matters to me. And what God
makes for him matters to him. And he made you.
He made you. That's how much you matter. This
is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And you've
been listening to part one of Chip's message,
The Love of God, from our series, The Real God.
In just a minute, Chip will share some helpful
application for us to think about. But right
now, Chip's here in studio to pass along a really
important message to all of you. Chip? Thanks,
Dave. I want to talk to those of you who partner
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listeners, tap donate. Thanks. We appreciate
whatever you can do to help. Well, here again
is Chip. In today's program, I tried to do something
that I know is impossible. I tried to describe
the love of God. And we did go over a definition,
and it's a good place to start. Let me read it
for you one more time. God's love is his holy
disposition toward all that he's created that
compels him to express unconditional affection
and selective correction to provide the highest
and best quality of existence both now and forever
for the object of his love. And you know, that's
a good definition. I think it's pretty accurate
and biblical, but it doesn't get down to the
emotional level. I want you to hear today. I
want to sink in how God really feels about you
totally apart from your performance. And so listen,
will you? Will you lean back if possible right
now? This is the God of the universe. His thoughts,
his intentions, his desires, and his plans for
you are always for your good and never for your
harm. Let that sink in. Everything he has lined
up for your life. is to bring something good
and wonderful to you because he loves you. Second,
he's kind. He's open. He's approachable. He's
frank. And he's eager to be your friend. He's
not hard to get to know. He's not demanding.
He's not unreasonable. Third, he emotionally
identifies with your pain, your joy, your hopes,
your dreams, and he's actually allowed your happiness
to impact him. It's like a parent. I mean, when
your kids are doing well, there's joy in your
heart. And when they're hurting and in pain,
there's sorrow in your heart. Could you grasp
today that the God who created all that there
is, that's how he feels about you in your present
situation. And fourth, he takes pleasure in you
just for who you are. I mean, if you don't do
anything today, if you don't do any good works,
although there are valuable and important and
all the rest, it doesn't affect his love. It's
not based on that. And finally, I want to remind
you today and take this with you all throughout
the day that he is actively and creatively orchestrating
people and circumstances and events this day
for you to express his affection and occasionally
some selective correction because you're his
child and you matter. Like the little song says,
Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells
me so. And you are the object of that love today.
Bask in it, will you? Enjoy it. Great application
for us to think about, Chip. Thanks. Well, be
sure to join us next time as Chip continues his
series, The Real God. Until then, I'm Dave Drewy
saying thanks for listening to this edition of
Living on the Edge.