Always….
Without Christ, there is never an always. Without Him there’s no lasting hope, and even the greatest love stories come to an end. But with the Lord, there is always an always. The psalmist said, “I have set the Lord always before me,” and Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you always” (Psalm 16:8; Matthew 28:20, emphasis added). The apostle Paul said, “We are always confident… that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord…. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord… and thus we shall always be with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:6, 8; 1 Thessalonians 4:17, emphasis added).
Human love is a powerful force, but it’s a pale reflection of God’s love. God has always loved you and always will, and His love hand-carved a stairway to heaven so we can be with Him—and He with us—world without end.
Four-Dimensional Love
Ephesians 3:18-19 puts this as well as any passage in the Bible as the apostle Paul prays for his readers to “comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.”
We can gain insight on this passage from the writing of Arthur T. Pierson: “Paul… treats the love of God as a cube, having breadth and length, depth and height. The reason is that the cube in the Bible is treated as the perfection of form. Every side of a cube is a perfect square, and from every angle it presents the same appearance …. If we turn to the Book of Revelation and see the Holy Jerusalem let down from God out of heaven, we find that the length, and breadth, and height of it were equal. It was still the perfection of symmetry.”[1]
How interesting that Paul describes the love of God in terms of a cube. Seen from without, it has a perfect symmetry of form and measurement. But seen from within, it surpasses knowledge. God’s love is infinite and eternal, exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think.
God’s Love Is Always Wide
The first thing to see about the love of God is its breadth. God’s love is broad enough for anyone and everyone who will respond to it. The Bible says, “He died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15). His love knows no limits, has no boundaries, allows no prejudices, and excludes no sinners when they come to Him in repentance and faith. When Jesus stretched His arms out on the cross, He was embracing every man, woman, boy, and girl who had ever lived or would ever live. His palms were outstretched in your direction, and His reach is infinite and always.
God’s Love Is Always Long
What about the length of God’s love? How long has He loved us? He has always loved us, and He always will. He loves us with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3). There was never a time when God did not love you. He knew and loved you before time began (2 Timothy 1:9), before you were born (Jeremiah 1:5), and before you were able to love Him in return (1 John 4:19).
His love has no expiration date; it cannot decrease, fluctuate, or fail. It’s as steady in the future as in the past, and its duration is as endless as His very being. His love is always.
God’s Love Is Always Deep
How deep is His love? It’s deep enough to get to the bottom of all our sins and sorrows. Romans 8:39 says, “Neither height nor depth…will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (NIV 1984). No matter how far we fall or how low we go, God’s love is deeper still.
God’s Love Is Always High
There’s also the height of His love. His love is as high as the heavens. It lifts us up on eagle’s wings, it sets us on a high place, it carries us all the way to the Celestial City. No wonder Paul’s great prayer for the Ephesians was for them to comprehend and to know this love which passes knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:18-19).
Remind yourself today: He always loves me.
David Jeremiah is the senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church and the founder and host of Turning Point for God. For more information about Dr. Jeremiah or Turning Point, visit www.DavidJeremiah.org.
