How can God love the unlovely?

First, we must be *lovable i.e. there must be something about us that God cherishes (loves) deeply. While at the same time, there is also something about us (unlovely) that God opposes. How can both of these be true and reside in the same being?

What does God cherish?

First and foremost God cherishes himself, for he is the greatest, wisest, loveliest, most beautiful, majestic and powerful being in the universe. There is no one more powerful or significant than the Creator and Sustainer of all things.

We are like God.

And because we are, we are able to enjoy and glory in who he is and to reflect something of himself back to him and out to others in a way no other created being can. Our capacity to appreciate, enjoy and reflect the infinitely valuable God is the essence of what makes us valuable. **Valuable both to others as well as to God himself.

What does God oppose?

Anything that diminishes the recognition of His great glory/value (His actual intrinsic glory can never be diminished).

Why does he oppose this? Because everything is from, through and to him. Nothing that is, would be if not for him. For Him or for us to conduct ourselves as if these things are not so is not in line with the reality of who God is and who we are. This not only dishonor's who He is as the most glorious of all beings but is also to our harm. For use to value anything above God most high (most valuable) is to live contrary to the reality of how things are designed, as well as pointing others away from what is most valuable i.e. God. This ultimately leads to their destruction and as well as ours.

So if both of these qualities (lovable and unlovely) are within us at the same time how does God reconcile these opposite attributes i.e. how does he love the unlovely?

He removed the consequences of our unloveliness by putting them on himself in and through his own son Jesus. Now that the consequences are removed he is ***free to focus in on who we are as his image bearers with the capacity to receive and give his love, honor, and glory and reflect him out to others. This should be our focus as well. The unlovely part of us is no longer ****in the picture or part of the equation, only the lovable part as originally designed. 

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*For a more in-depth discussion on being lovable vs lovely click here.

**This does not mean God needs us in the ultimate sense for all he needs is within Himself as the all-powerful, wise and loving Father, Son, and Spirit.

*** Due to the character of his nature, there are certain things God can not do. He can not “look upon” i.e. approve of rebellious unbelief/distrust (i.e. sin) that God is who He claims to be. To do so would be contrary to His very being and nature.

****Our distrust of God still matters for us, but doesn't matter for God i.e. it has no impact on God's love and commitment to us, once we are in Christ. 

A world of design and beauty

When you see a well-known landmark, such as New York City, sitting in rubble and smoke what do (did) you feel? 




Or a scene of children disfigured from war, bandaged and bloody, missing a limb or a eye etc., 

what is your reaction or feeling toward these... sadness, anguish, fear, anger? But why? What is it in us that causes us to feel these things? 

We all seem to have this internal and universal notion of what is good and beautiful and what it is not. There may be nuances of difference within various cultures, but generally speaking, we all recognize when something is *repulsive versus attractive. Most are drawn to a majestic mountain range and *repulsed by a landscape filled with destruction or someone marred from a violent act or accident.

Where does this sense of attraction and repulsion come from? 

In an accidental world that comes about by time plus chance, this attraction or repulsion should not even exist much less make sense. If there is no design, no grand purpose to our existence, or the existence of anything else, there should be no attraction or repulsion. Therefore, the notion of beauty has to be an illusion if the world happened by chance. 

In a world of design, created with specific intent by a purposeful Designer, our attraction and repulsion make perfect sense. In a world of design, things are meant to be a certain way. When they are not, we sense it and are repulsed. 

And here we are, with an unspoken universal notion of beauty, harmony, order, and a desire for all of these. As much as we try to reason away that we and our world have no purpose, meaning, and design, we cannot deny our experience, desires, preferences, and longings that tell us we and our world (universe) are more than some random cosmic accident. Our desire for beauty is our clue.

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*What is intriguing is we are awed by both the extremely beautiful or terrible. Each provokes a different kind of awe but awe just the same. There is something about seeing or experiencing things that go way beyond us and our everyday experience, things much bigger than us, things that can overpower and disrupt us. We were designed to be awed by something greater than us. We are hard-wired for meaning, purpose, and significance and drawn to anything that makes us feel this way and repulsed from anything that makes us feel the opposite. For a further discussion on awe click here.

We may be intrigued by destruction in the make-believe world of movies or curious about it in real life -- the reason traffic always slows when there is a serious accident - but do not find it pleasant, especially when it involves those closest to us who we care about most.

Participating in the promises of God

How do we engage God's promises -- and thereby God Himself?

We "plugin" to God and more fully experience his love when we are ¹singular in our focus on:

·       What He has already done for us by and in Christ as past proof of His love.  

·      What He is now doing for us as present proof of His love -- i.e. he is present with us, revealing Himself to us via His Spirit, praying for us. He is for us, not against us.

·      What He promises to do as our future hope and confirmation of His love -- i.e. we will be glorified, enter the bliss of eternity and fully partake in His glory once we behold Christ in all his unveiled beauty, wonder, and majesty. Now we only see "through a mirror dimly" (or glass darkly -- depending on the translation). 

Obedience i.e. singular focus on God - involves pushing away from anything we currently draw a sense of significance, meaning, purpose, and value from -- "If anyone would come after me, let him ²deny himself..." -- so we might draw near to him i.e. position ourselves to experience and receive meaning, purpose, and value in, through and from Him, not something else.

For example, when we feel the need to disconnect and relax, instead of ³watching our favorite show, catching up on the news, playing a game or reading an engaging mystery, fantasy, or sci-fi etc ⁴we turn to God in prayer and meditation on his promises. We remind ourselves of all that Christ did, does, and will do for us. When we do, our sight of Him becomes fuller/clearer. We are reminded again -- something we constantly need -- that "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God - i.e. words of God's promise, knowing our trust in God is strengthened when we meditate on and are reminded of those promises.

What promises exactly? 

*The promise of His love -- demonstrated by Christ sacrificing His life (past) so we might be fully restored to the Father in all His infinite love. 

*The promise of God's complete commitment of love to us now (present) by working in all things -  the good, bad, and ugly things - for our good.

*The hope (future) of experiencing the uninterrupted fullness of that love-Spirit in the presence of both Christ and the Father throughout eternity where there no longer is pain, tears or dying, only perfect unending joy.

Living out His love leads to a greater experience of it

We start out now by faith in his love already demonstrated in the past work of Christ, which leads to a present response by us of love/trust/obedience. This results in experiencing further evidence of His love in the present i.e. we receive a present, first-hand experience of His love in and by our obedience. We experience His love in some tangible way, such as answered prayer, in addition to simply believing He is for us. This isn't the full experience of His love yet to come, but it is a reminder of what God has in store for us in eternity.

So there is a cycle by which we participate in God's love. It starts with faith in His love demonstrated in the past work of Christ, which is the basis for our obedience - and the evidence of that faith -- resulting in our further experiencing that love through that obedience. Both faith in His love demonstrated by His past actions and directly experiencing that love now in some present tangible way are ⁵how we receive His love. It always begins with faith in what God has already done which leads to experiencing Him doing something now, which increases our hope of what He has in store for us in the future.  

Another way of saying it is we participate in God's love demonstrated by actions God has taken in the past -- actions that already prove His love to us - by believing in it. 

We also participate in God's love now through some manifestation of it e.g. answered prayer, a demonstration of some special circumstance/ providence as evidence God is with us, a special sense of His presence, heightened awareness and clarity of God's promises to us. 

So when we are told in His Word or given some circumstantial/providential indication we are to take a certain action, we first simply step out by faith in His love already demonstrated in the past, trusting that His direction for us is out of love and for our highest good as well as his greatest honor/glory.

Our faith is such that we know the outcome of obedience will be good -- not necessarily easy -- because He's already proven He loves us from the past actions of Christ, the greatest evidence of His love.

Rom 8:32  He who did not spare his own Son (the greatest gift) but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things (the lesser gifts)? 

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¹The following words of Christ -- with commentary -- indicate the necessity of having a singular focus:

Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

i.e. whatever it is we value (treasure) most is what we long for (desire in our heart) most.

Mat 6:22  “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 

If we value -- and therefore focus on -- the right thing -- i.e. God -- the nature of our actions will be true, right, according to our design.

Mat 6:23  but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 

If we value (focus on) the wrong things all our actions will be a lie, violating our design and resulting in complete separation from the Source of life, light and of all things, leading to our harm and eventual destruction.

Mat 6:24  “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

We either value/worship the right thing i.e. God or the wrong thing, created things; money and the things money can buy. If we love the creation over the Creator we will come to hate Him and see His commandments as interference in finding life on our terms. If we love him above the creation we will come to disdain the creation as the source of life (not the creation in itself for it is created by God and therefore good) recognizing only God is life and all created things are from Him.

²We usually don't think about what it is we are denying ourselves of. It's more a sense than an understanding i.e. we know when we do but can't necessarily put into words what it is. In essence, it is denying ourselves a sense of value, meaning, purpose, and significance -- in a word, love -- through self-achievement and self-gratification, instead of finding this in God through Christ's achievement on our behalf. To say it another way, we attempt to "self-love." The interesting part is "taking up our cross" appears to be the key way we engage and experience God's love most. Suffering is not just unavoidable, it's necessary for our transformation. Through it, we are reminded of our need for His love and the inadequacy of finding love anywhere else. 

³None of these things are bad in themselves. The issue is why do we engage in them. We are told, "...whatever you do, do all for the glory of God." There are times we can do these things for the glory of God and there are times when we don't. The intent of our hearts is the key. 

⁴This is not something we must work up the will power to do but is the organic/naturally occurring fruit of seeing and experiencing God's infinite love. We are responders to love. We love God because he first loved us. 

⁵Hope in the unobstructed and uninterrupted fullness of that love also plays a role. For a further discussion of hope click here. 

Not everyone believes what God says about why Christ took on flesh and died. Followers of Christ do.