Loving the Unlovely

When considering the attributes of God, there is certainly much to consider. There is so much, in fact, that our finite minds cannot possibly grasp the depth of who He is. One of the more mind-boggling attributes of God is His love. That the perfect One would love unworthy sinners is one of the more humbling ideas conveyed in Scripture. Consider the following excerpt from Dr. Lawson’s Made in Our Image.

If we are to rightly understand God’s love, we must comprehend the fact that God has chosen to love those who are under His wrath. In other words, we do not deserve God’s love. There is nothing in us to attract or prompt His love. He chooses to love us simply because He is love. Sin had ruined our lives. God loved us in spite of ourselves, not because of ourselves.

Commenting on God’s gracious love, the apostle Paul wrote, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). This is what we were when God exercised His great love toward us—sinners. In fact, Paul identifies us as “enemies” of God (v.10). In other words, we were living in a state of self-declared war against Him. And to make matters worse, He was at war with us. Yet, it was when we were hostile foes and bitter adversaries that God chose to love us.

Describing just how unlovely we were when God loved us, the apostle Paul wrote:

You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. (Ephesians 2:1-2)

Like dead fish floating downstream in the polluted waters of this world’s corrupt system, we were nothing more than spiritual corpses, following the devil and living a lifestyle of disobedience to God.

Yet despite our wickedness and depravity, God chose to love us. Paul wrote: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4-5). The apostle John pointed out that God chose to love us simply because He is love (I John 4:8-9).

All quotations taken from Made in Our Image, by Steven Lawson.