Lately, I’ve questioned God’s love. Not the fact that he loves us, but what God’s love really looks like. How it plays out in our lives. And I’ve come to this conclusion: a lot of people are confused about God’s love. God’s love is not some free, fair, all forgiving thing. It’s bold, it’s bloody, and it’s brutal to sin and self, and many folks don’t want to go there.

As for all forgiving love, there is something profound God does not forgive: the rejection of his Son, Jesus Christ. If we reject Jesus, we will never experience God’s forgiveness, and without God’s forgiveness, we cannot truly know his love.

So what does God’s love look like?

Last month, I went to a Christian camp in the foothills with my 8 year old son. While there, the guide of our group had us memorize the scripture, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, for the day. Each time she spoke this scripture to our class of third graders and their parents, she used sign language, too. “Rejoice in the Lord always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” When our guide said Christ Jesus, she pointed to the palms of her hands, the sign for Jesus Christ. Around this time, I was reading the book of Isaiah and this scripture had grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go. “I have engraved you on the palms of my hands,” Isaiah 49:16. 

As the day wore on at this camp, and our guide recited her verse again and again, pointing to her palms when she said, “Christ Jesus” the magnitude of the sign pierced my understanding. I realized each time Jesus sees the scars on his hands, he sees me. The sinner he died for. The sinner he loves. That day, watching that guide make the sign for Christ Jesus over and over, I knew what it meant to be forever engraved on Christ’s hands.

I’ve often heard people say, “God loves me.” The interesting thing about this is they usually say it with defiance in their voice. Often when they are flat out disobeying God and embracing a life of sin. And here is the point I really want to make: God measures love by obedience.

The Bible says, “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love” John 15:10.  

God measured Jesus’ love by his obedience to go to the cross. The night before he died, Jesus asked his Heavenly Father while praying in the Garden of Gethsemane if he could avoid the cross, if he could save sinners some other way, but God had decided the cross was the only way. Christ will always bear the marks on his hands of the cross because of his love for the Father and his love for sinners.

In the Bible, the Song of Solomon is often pointed out as revelation of God’s love. “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, Like a mighty flame” Song of Solomon 8:6.

God isn’t playing around with his love. God’s love is strong as death. We shouldn’t play around with God’s love, either. If you haven’t embraced God’s forgiveness through accepting Christ’s death for your sins, then displaying a life of obedience and love for the Lord, there’s no need to argue over God’s love for you. The Bible says God loves you. In all your sin and rebellion, God loves you. He died for you. He loves you. The question is, “Will you love Him?”