Romans 5:5-8 NASB
[5] and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. [6] For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. [7] For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. [8] But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. …
There are a few things in these verses that the Lord is really ministering to me this morning concerning his love for us, and the nature of his love in general. The first thing I want you to notice is that the love of God, whatever it is like, has been poured out into all of our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Another thing that were told in these verses is that God put on a demonstration of what his love is like when Jesus died for us. As a matter-of-fact, the word “demonstrate” is better translated “to commend.” God is saying here, “let me commend my love to you, or let me show you what my love is really like, and this is what it is like; while you were still a sinner I gave my only son for you. God loved us even when we are lost and had done not one thing to earn his love. As a matter-of-fact, in our lost condition we were living in rebellion towards him, and yet in that condition, how see how much he loved us. So this tells us that God’s love for us is unconditional and has nothing to do with what we deserve or how we perform. It is not something that we can earn; it is only something that we can celebrate, and say yes to for no to
Another thing that were told about the love of God here, is that God has a heart for the helpless. He loves the helpless, and in those times even as a Christian, when I feel most helpless, GOD pours out his love the most. It is not that God loves us more because we are helpless, because God’s love is the same, for those who are saved and for those who were lost, and for those were strong and for those were weak, but he has a great passion for the helpless, loves to come to the helpless in rescue. He doesn’t condemn us for our helplessness, but instead is our helplessness becomes an opportunity for Him to demonstrate his great love and strength. That’s why it says 2 Corinthians 12 that in our weakness, His strength is made perfect.
The last thing that I want you to see is that in verse 6 it says “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Because of his great love for us God does everything in our lives at the right time. It is so easy for us to be deceived by the devil into complaining and questioning as to why things are happening the way they are happening in our lives, and why God is letting them happen, and why he hasn’t stepped in and done something about it yet. Have you ever asked the question, “why am I, or we, going through this right now, and why doesn’t God deliver.” Remember, God’s love for you has nothing to do with performance on your part, so he is not withdrawn from you because you’ve not done something wrong, and is not offended with your helplessness. The truth is God does everything in The Fullness of Time. He does everything at the right time, and you know that he loves you and therefore the timing of all this, and the timing of your deliverance will be just at the right time, because of his love for you. This is such a liberating thing to trust in. Remember what Galatians says, “faith always works through love.” The more you discover about the nature of His love, and how his love operates, the more faith you will walk in.