The Misunderstood

By Ekpo Bassey

From the Garden of Eden, where blaming games originated and through that, our God has been misunderstood. This is the main theme of this book, that we see how God is viewed as the originator of our problems. In reality, He is there to protect and save us from all unrighteousness. The problem we have is that we do not exercise the patience to wait on God’s timing on whatever circumstances that we are challenged with. Therefore, we then apply human reasoning to our circumstances instead of viewing things in God’s perspective. To borrow my spiritual father Charles Stanley’s saying, we should obey God and leave all consequences to Him. If we learn to trust God and obey Him, even if it doesn’t seem favorable to our human reasoning, we are positioned to be successful. I have a strong confidence in the Lord that this book will open the eyes of people to see that God is a loving Father to all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685703431

Book preview

Chapter 1

God’s Love Manifested

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.

—John 3:16 (KJV)

Although our Lord God is a Spirit and known as EL Shaddai, who is our supplier, is and all enough that He is, He still requires using an object or vessel to perform and carry out His purposes, and hence the need for creation. This is not to say that the Lord was unable to do by Himself, for after all, he existed before the foundation of the earth. But the question is, how would one come to have known about or of Him without the created? How would one have come to know how magnificent, glorious, perfect, and all the attributes ascribed to Him without the creation? Therefore, God needed a body to work with, so as to establish relationship that will demonstrate His love through it and invariably reveal His greatest attribute of who He is and that is He is love.

Before the fall of man, the Lord demonstrated His unrevealed love for man in that before the creation of the world, He had a redemptive plan that His Son, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God would be slain for humanity’s sin.

The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13:8)

There is nothing that takes our God as a surprise because He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). He knew that man would fall when He created Adam, yet He showed His relationship with him and Eve, walking with them in the cool of the day in the perfect paradise of the Garden of Eden. Despite the disobedience of Adam and Eve, the Lord further displayed His Love for them by making the coats of skins and clothed them. That was a foreshadow of the blood sacrifice that would take place in fullness of time. Because to make coat of skins would presuppose the death of an animal. Furthermore, the Lord demonstrated His love in not allowing that man should live in perpetual pain and suffering from the wages of sin. Therefore, He drove the man out of the garden and placed the cherubim with the flaming sword at the east of the Garden of Eden to guard the tree of life, lest man took ahold of it (Genesis 3:24). The driving of man out of Eden was an act of grace and judgment. Imagine man to have remained in the garden, he would have eaten the tree of life and remained in his perpetual sin with pain and suffering without redemption. Thank God for the preservation of the tree of life, which symbolizes the eternal life He has made available to humankind. This is love, and with this loving kindness, how could God be misunderstood?

His Love Being Misunderstood

From Genesis to Revelation, God has demonstrated His great love toward His people through prophets, apostles, and even His Son. While in Egypt, in bondage in the house of Pharaoh, the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, and in His loving kindness He heard their cry and was concerned about their sufferings. Through the leadership of Moses and Aaron, God brought them out and set a beautiful land before them with encouraging words not to fear or be discouraged.

Go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, and neither be discouraged. (Deuteronomy 1:21 KJV)

God gave the children of Israel these words of confidence, thus assuring their victory as their enemies would not be able to resist their invasion, of the promised land rich in milk and honey. However, they requested that Moses should send men to verify the land to see what is there and to know the way they would travel. Right there their request indicated their misunderstanding and mistrust of the Word of the Lord who said they should go up and possess it. Moses did not deny their request; rather, he was pleased with it. Twelve men were sent as spies and came back to confirm that the land was just as they were told.

And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless! (Numbers 13:27, 28a KJV)

The word nevertheless is to me synonymous to the word but. In other words, the land was good and perfect, yet we are not confident on what we saw there. Again, there are two aspects of but. One is spiritual but, which is cautionary, and there is the physical but that opens the door of doubt. When the ten spies said nevertheless, they had already created doubts in their minds and started reasoning with Satan.

And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own eyes as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. (Numbers 13:33 KJV)

Unbelief will never permit us to go beyond our difficulties. These ten men were seeing things with the physical eyes and were preoccupied with them. They were overwhelmed with the impregnable cities and the giants. Of course, comparing themselves with giants, the giants towered over them. But Joshua and Caleb preferred to compare the giants with God, and you know the giants look like the grasshoppers in God’s eyes. These two men tried to persuade the congregation with the word of encouragement and affirmation of the word of faith.

Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are able to overcome it. (Numbers 13:30)

The people had already left God out and started reasoning with Satan. The result of their unbelief was fatal.

They reduced themselves to the level of grasshoppers, meaning they were weak and easily squashed under feet. Satan does not desire for you to act like the child of God coming boldly from victory. His desire is to distort your mind so as not to trust in God. Just imagine all the miraculous working power of God over the children of Israel. I just like how the psalmist celebrated the marvelous things God did for Israel.

Marvelous things he did in the sight of their fathers, In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea and caused them to pass through; And he made the waters stand up like a heap. In the daytime, also He led them with the cloud, And all the night with a light of the fire. He split the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink in abundance like the depths. He also brought streams out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers. But they sinned even more against Him. By rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness. And they tested God in their heart by asking for the food of their fancy. Yes, they spoke against God: They said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold, He struck the rock, So that the waters gushed out, And the streams overflowed. Can He give bread also? Can He provide meat for the people? (Psalms 78:12–20 NKJV)

How could the children of Israel mistake God’s love for hatred regardless of all that He did for them? The question is if the Lord hated Israel that much, why would He even bother to listen to their cries unto Him? Why would He go to the length to appear to Moses in the Burning Bush for their deliverance? Not only that, God displayed His mighty power over Pharaoh, the most powerful man on earth at the time. He was Satan’s representation on earth. Almighty God performed signs and wonders before Pharaoh in the presence of His children. He made a pathway through the depth as if it was a desert. The water saw our God and was afraid.

The waters saw you, O God; the waters saw you, they were afraid; the depth also trembled. (Psalms 77:16 NKJV)

Irrespective of these wonders, the people still tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel (Psalms 78:41). There is no difference in our thinking today as we are still misjudging, mistrusting, and misunderstanding who God is, irrespective of His graciousness over our lives. It appears we do not want to shoulder any responsibility which is an essential part of any relationship and particularly that which we claim to have with God. We seem to rely on His justice, trustworthiness, and understanding when everything works to our favor. But when things don’t favor us, God appears to us as unjust and not caring about our condition. We need to stand steadfast on His Word; that is our responsibility, and then He will not be misunderstood.

Familiar Spirit

There is the spirit of familiarity. After one has become familiar in certain environment or circumstances, it becomes extremely hard for the person to change or to lend oneself to a new thing. In that stage, one becomes blinded to the newness of life. The reason is simple in that the change would bring in unforeseen responsibility and temptation. Already, the children of Israel experienced the attempt to change their conditions that yielded a costly result. Moses spoke to Pharaoh,

Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.

Of course, Pharaoh questioned the God of Israel, denied them the access to leave, and rather increased their labor and workload with wicked taskmasters. The children of Israel demanded answer from Pharaoh for the increase in their labor. And the answer was that they desired a change.

You are idle! Idle! Therefore you say, Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.

Israel got angry and let Moses and Aaron have it for causing them increased labor. It is easy for us to fall into that same mode when we are denied the opportunity to move from our comfort zone. Overall, the children of Israel completely misunderstood or misjudged God’s love of their deliverance from bondage and their ultimate transition to the promised land. Rather than obeying God, who is all wise, and leaning on His understanding, they preferred the status quo of Satan’s deceit, not to give in to change but to rebel against God. In God’s principle of living, He abhors complacency, and anyone who desires to be destroyed or punished should remain in his or her comfort zone (Proverbs 1:32, Zephaniah 1:12). The climax of Israel’s rebellion was when they desired to nominate a captain to take them back to Egypt (Numbers 14:4). This was a total rebellion against God who said that they will never see Egypt again forever.

Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever. (Exodus 14:13 KJV)

God’s plan and purpose for His people is to prosper them, and in no way is He ever going to harm them. His plan is to give them a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).

At the pool of Bethesda were many invalids who were blind, lame, and paralyzed waiting for the moving of the water so to be healed. The process was that the angel would go down at a certain time to the pool and stir up the water, and whoever steps in first was made well regardless of the person’s disease. At this pool was a certain man who had an infirmity for thirty-eight years without relief at sight. Now when Jesus saw this man lying there and had already known that this man has been in that condition a long time, Jesus, in His loving kindness to heal the paralyzed man, asked him, Do you want to be made well? I know that Jesus is all wise and understanding, but I do not understand the question He asked this man. I mean, Jesus saw this man’s condition, and His purpose at the pool of Bethesda was to get well. In our thinking, this would constitute a dumb question to ask. Our Lord has a great insight or discernment concerning our condition, but He would not impose Himself on us. In asking the man, Do you want to be made well? Jesus understands that many who have been afflicted for a long time as this man, their spirits are familiar with their circumstances. They are more or less comfortable in their situations and do not opt for any change. A change in their circumstances would bring responsibility and temptation of which they are not ready to handle. Hence the question, Do you want to be made well? However, with a simple question that demanded a yes or no answer, this man went into narrative of when the water is stirred up, and while he was trying to drag himself to go in, another person stepped down before him. In any event, Jesus said to the man, Rise, take up your bed, and walk. Of course, the lawmakers with their traditional interpretation of the law and not of Moses had to question the unlawfulness of carrying his bed on a Sabbath day. By this time, Jesus had withdrawn from the multitude and later found the healed man in the temple and said to him, See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you. This statement is dazzling because nothing was mentioned about the man’s sin. But Jesus knows the secret in our hearts. In my opinion, the man’s sin was unbelief. This healed man did not know who Jesus was in the first place. Secondly, he considered Jesus to be a mere man as the Jews considered Him to be, hence He was referred to this fellow. Thirdly, many people are always healed by exercising their faith, but in this case, the man was healed without faith. This means He did not trust in Jesus as the Son of God and the Messiah who came to save humanity from sin and their sufferings. Like this healed man, we oftentimes misunderstand God because we understand Him as we do understand ourselves, rather than understanding Him in His terms through His Word. God is a Spirit, for His thoughts are not our thoughts neither are our ways His ways (Isaiah 55:8). Today, just as this certain man who was healed, we are still waiting for the moving of the water even when it was moved. One of God’s purposes from the beginning of time has been to dwell with humanity and enjoy fellowship with us.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (John 7:38 KJV)

Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit, the living water that will satisfy personal thirst and produce perennial fountain for the satisfaction of others. Were this man to have believed the Son of God and received Him as His Lord and Savior, although the Spirit had not been given then, but He would have received His manifestation at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is the source of new life in the believers, motivating them to be careful not to harm their bodies nor indulge them in sin. Furthermore, an invitation was issued:

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28–30 KJV)

Just as this man was suffering under the load of religious responsibilities placed on him by the priests, scribes, and the Pharisees, many are under the load of the worldly fantasies. These things blind us from trusting in our Lord and receiving His full potentials for us, the rest that eludes us. When we shed off our worldly yoke and take up His Word, meditate on it, trust in it, and make it a part of our lives, we will learn not to misunderstand our Lord.

Simple Instruction

How many times have we questioned God’s motive when given a simple command which requires only obedience? In most circumstances, God can be easily misunderstood once we start reasoning with the devil against God’s simple instruction. Is it because His command is so simple that we tend to complicate it rather than obey? Father Abraham did not question God’s simple command to get out of his country, his family, and his father’s household to a place He did not say where Abraham was going (Genesis 12:1).

And he believed in the Lord, and he accounted it to him for righteousness. (Genesis 15:6 NKJV)

However, when we face any spirit of familiarity that tries to hinder us to change, we should take stock of our lives and consider what God had done for us in the past. This is because, if He in the past had demonstrated His power over our life, then it is an assurance that He would do it this time. God is not a man that He can lie nor the son of man that He can change (Numbers 23:19). He is the same forever.

The psalmist was in great distress and felt that God had forgotten to be gracious toward him and that there was no favor from God anymore. But this is what the psalmist discovered,

And I said, This is my anguish; But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. (Psalms 77:10–11 NKJV)

Had the children of Israel reflected on God’s graciousness and His wonder working power in His deliverance of them from Egypt, they would have seen God’s love and not hatred. They would not have tempted God to their destruction in the wilderness. The issue was that they left God out and listened to the reasoning of the devil. Brethren, if we can only obey His simple instruction and trust in Him, we will not misunderstand God. God’s love is phenomenal in that if He were to give us complex instruction, our finite mind would not be able to handle it. We were not wired for that; rather, it is to obey one-step instruction and wait for the next instruction. His commandment is not burdensome (1 John 5:3). Just make sure that you ask for the discernment of His Word. God loves us so much, and there is no evil in Him.

The Apostles: God’s Directed Love

The four Gospel writers have written extensively on God’s commandment concerning love. However, Matthew, Mark, and Luke delved intensely on this issue, as the lawmakers, the scribes, and the Pharisees came to test Jesus on which is the first commandment. Apart from Luke’s version, these lawyers asked the questions, and Jesus answered them by quoting from their law in Deuteronomy 6:4, 5, and Leviticus 19:18.

The first of all the commandments is: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:29–31 NKJV)

The Old Testament version did not include mind. In this New Testament version, Jesus added a vital aspect of one’s life that the lawmakers never thought about, and that is the mind. You may have your soul, your heart, and your strength. But without your mind, how can you focus your love toward God, and how can you even worship Him without your right mind? You are blank without your mind. This is one of the reasons I revere the united Negro College’s public service announcement that says, A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Our minds are very vital in our daily living, loving, and worshipping.

At any rate, in Luke’s version, the lawyer tested Jesus with the question of what he would do to inherit eternal life. Well, the Master directed him to what their law says, and he answered it correctly, adding, with all your mind. Jesus was impressed and commended him, You have answered rightly, do this and you will live. Again, you know it is hard to detach from a familiar spirit that one is used to. Therefore, this lawyer wanted to justify himself and asked who his neighbor was. His question was pointing toward relative neighbors, meaning one can choose whom he wants to be his neighbor or not. In short, the lawyer’s question was to limit the demands of the law. So while Jesus was looking for absolute obedience, this lawyer was looking for partial or relative obedience. However, Our Lord and Savior proceeded to educate this man with the parable of the good Samaritan, which we know. It turned out that the despised and the marginalized Samaritan saw a man who was robbed and beaten to the point of death and went to his aid. He bandaged and took the man to the nearest inn and made provision for him. Although the scripture did not mention the man’s race, but I would assume he was not Samaritan. Otherwise, the parable would be of no credence. As the story goes, a priest first saw this battered individual and walked past him, and the Levite did the same. I will not be surprised if the man who fell on his luck was a Jew. Again, scripture did not specify this, but it would lend credence to the story by establishing a point that the idea of relative neighbor is contrary to the Lord’s commandments. It is also quite dangerous. As it is, these so-called pious men were more concerned about their law of purification than the life of a man like them. They would not sacrifice defilement to save a life. But what did the old Prophet Micah say?

He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8 NKJV)

Without a doubt, it is the Lord who ultimately gives a person strength, courage, and ability to exercise the virtues of godly living and not the law. Then Jesus asked the lawyer,

So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves? (Luke 10:36 NKJV)

Obviously, the man’s answer was that it was the man that showed mercy to the victim of robbery. The Master declared to the lawyer, Go and do likewise.

In reading this, God’s directed love, I learned that Jesus was not impressing on these lawmakers or us concerning the love for God, which is the first category of the Ten Commandments. Rather, He was so concerned about the second category of the commandment, which deals with responsibilities toward other people. In Leviticus 19:18, it was imperative to love others and be concerned for the welfare of others. As human beings, we naturally love ourselves and even to the point of being self-centered. This I consider to be prideful because we draw attention to ourselves, which makes it sinful. Our Lord and Savior knows that man by himself is unable to love God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind. Now let’s see whether it would be easy to understand why Jesus lay emphasis on loving a neighbor as oneself. The idea is that God is a spirit, and it is impossible to see a spirit. So if mankind can see his fellow being and not love what he sees, then how could man say I love God, whom he does not see? It is impossible. Therefore, I strongly agree with Apostle John, who says,

If someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a lair; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. (1 John 4:20–21 NKJV)

God loved us long before we love Him, and we cannot compare His love with ours, for His love is greater than our love for Him. The love of God for us was visibly demonstrated through the finished work of Jesus on the cross on our behalf.

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10 NKJV)

In God’s love, His just demanded that sin be punished was satisfied by His Son, Jesus, on the cross of Calvary. He became a substitute for our sin. Therefore, this demonstration of His love on our behalf is an action that no human love is the standard for, understanding God’s great kindness. In taking this a step further, God created us in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26), meaning we are spirit being, and because of our location in the universe He created, we are clothed with the earthen vessels, which I see as God’s love of protection for us. However, the same God’s spirit which is in man is the same spirit in your fellow man. This being the case, mankind should be able to allow God’s spirit within him, penetrate their earthen vessels to see God’s love in each other, and not their earthen vessels. This is when the love of God begins to work within us and enable us to be in one accord in worshipping Him in spirit and in truth. For God’s spirit is void of contradiction. His spirit cannot be saying one thing to you and another thing to your fellow being. It is impossible because He is not an author of confusion but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33). I might also add, if you are not a believer, this will not work for you unless you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Then the Holy Spirit will indwell in you, who will enable you to exhibit His love according to His power that works within you.

Based on all we have read, Jesus and Apostle John indicated that God’s love is far greater than our love for Him and our love of each other. It is impossible to love God apart from Him. This is because, if at all our love toward God mirrors His love, then it is not our love, but it is His own love doing in us. Our Lord and Savior has even commanded that he who loves God must demonstrate such love through loving each other. Anything short of this would be the height of hypocrisy in claiming to love God while withholding love from others. In my little knowledge of understanding the Word of God, I see that everything hinges on one word: believe. But the word believe in the Bible is not a conceived word describing intellectual agreement alone. Rather, it is a word that is demonstrated with action. In no way should we cover our belief. Like Jesus who likens Himself and His teaching about the Kingdom as light, so should we. In this way, when unbelieving world looks at our lives, they will see the gospel in action. Similarly, this is what I observed in Apostle John, who always addressed himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 13:23, 19:26, 21:7, 21:20). John’s belief in whom he said he was, was never hidden like a light under a basket (Luke 11:33). He did believe so much that Jesus loved him that the Lord Himself while on the cross observed John:

Therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. (Emphasis mine.)

Now can you dispute that this was not the manifestation of the action word believe (John 19:26–27 KJV)? God is the One who loves us first, not the other way around. No wonder, under the unction of the Holy Spirit, William B. Bradbury wrote in the song, Jesus loves me! This I know, for the Bible tells me so. He did not write, We love Jesus, this we know. Thank God for that. When John in his entire life believed that he was the one among all the rest of the disciples whom the Master loved, it made a great difference in his life. He was given the responsibility that went with love, that he took care of the Lord’s mother. What a great love! As a matter of fact, there is a difference between your belief that God loves you and your love for God. For instance, Apostle Peter professed to love Jesus that when the Master asked His disciples, But who do you say I am? (Matthew 16:15 NKJV), Peter through the leading of Holy Spirit answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16). He even went to extend to demonstrate his love for Jesus when the Master predicted His death and imminent resurrection. Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked Him, saying,

Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to you! (Matthew 16:22)

Again in another instance, the apostle said,

Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble. (Matthew 26:33 NKJV)

Peter was so very confident on his love for Jesus. But the Lord who knows the end from the beginning and said to Peter

Assuredly, I say to you that this night before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times. (Matthew 26:34)

At Jesus’s arrest in Gethsemane, Peter yet demonstrated his love for Jesus as he came to His defense when he drew his sword and struck the ear of the servant of the high priest. At the end, all that proved nothing as Peter denied Jesus while warming himself outside in the courtyard. The Master’s prediction came to pass. My point is, it is God alone who has demonstrated His love for us.

Greater love has no one man than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. (John 15:13 NKJV)

The thing is, Peter had confidence in his flesh and could make some rash decisions in offering to lay down his life for Jesus to show Him his act of love for the Master. Peter was not ready to die for himself, nor to die for Jesus or to live for Him at the time. When Jesus said, If you love Me, keep My commandments (John 14:15 NKJV), He knew that by ourselves we will be unable to keep all His commandments. So it still boils down to the fact that His love for us prevails when He sent the Holy Spirit that would enable us follow His commandments. Therefore, when we profess that God loves us, we are demonstrating the belief in seeing Him upholding us with His righteous right hand. On the other hand, when we say that we love God, we are visualizing ourselves holding on to God’s hand. Now that is dangerous because when circumstances present themselves, our hands would slip off, and we will fall. That was what happened to Peter as he had confidence in his love for Jesus, holding on to Jesus’s hand rather than Jesus holding his hand. This is most likely the reason for the Lord’s prediction of Peter’s denial. He said to him:

Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. (Luke 22:31 KJV)

Although Peter still didn’t believe the Lord and went ahead and declared that he was more than ready to hold on to the Master, even if it meant both going into prison and to death (Luke 22:33), when the time came and the Shepherd was struck, Peter let go the Shepherd’s hand and fell.

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:12 KJV)

This is a strong warning for all believers, because Peter had the attitude of professing his great love for the Lord, with the thought that nothing can happen to him. There is always going be temptation no matter what. After all, Jesus loves His Father and yet was tempted, while demonstrating to us the examples of resisting temptations. We as His believers should resist any temptations that come our way.

Under this premise, I can now understand what Apostle Paul meant when he questioned the Roman believers,

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (Romans 8:35 NKJV)

With us being loved by God, we are under His grip. Hence, out of His love He provides us with eternal life that we shall never perish. And as such, no one would be able to snatch us off from Him (John 10:28). What can be more comforting than that? That we are secured in Christ’s love, no one can oppose, charge, and condemn us. Therefore, we can boldly declare we are more than conquerors. In a situational experience like the ones Apostle Paul went through, one will struggle for words to describe the absolute certainty of God’s love for believers to live by.

I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37–39 NKJV)

In a sense, Paul is saying if God is for us, it is impossible for all created things to separate us from the Uncreated One. Therefore, we have eternal security in Him.

Love: The Righteous Standard of the Law

There is an inherent power in the lives of God’s children, through Christ, that we have the power to break all barriers that would hinder us as His people. In all Jesus’s teachings, He was more concerned about how we treat one another. Before His departure from this earth, He taught His disciples something new.

A new commandment I give to you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34, 35 NKJV)

Why was Jesus’s love called new? It is because is quite different from Moses’s law of Love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18). Of course, there is nothing wrong in loving one’s neighbor. After all, Jesus taught that and used the parable of the good Samaritan as an illustration of neighborly love. In this new commandment, Jesus gave it a new standard.

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:12 NKJV, emphasis mine)

Colloquially speaking, that is heavy! There is no greater love than emulating the love of Jesus who came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). Jesus demonstrated that love when He lay aside His garment and took a towel, girded Himself, and began washing the feet of His disciples. Now, bear in mind this was not just a rabbi but the very Son of God, the Messiah and the Lord of all. That is why I said, this is heavy! Now, Jesus, being the Lord of all, includes His very purpose on earth that the law might be fulfilled. Therefore, He needed not to focus on the first category of the Ten Commandments as He did on the second. Jesus knew that after His death and resurrection, and with the gift of the Holy Spirit, through faith in Him, we would have access to His Father and will worship Him in spirit and in truth. At the cross this was accomplished. Now as believers, we gain the righteous standard of the law, which is love, but not by means of the law but by being in Christ. The problem remains on how mankind would deal with his fellow being. Jesus knew the intent of man’s heart and the wickedness thereof, hence the emphasis on loving one another as He loves us.

So by the leading of the Holy Spirit, Apostle Paul taught the Romans and us on this issue of second category of the Ten Commandments that deals with loving one another or our neighbors. Paul says,

Let love be without hypocrisy. (Romans 12:9 NKJV)

In other words, we are to show unfeigned love despite the response of the recipient of the love we give. The thing is that love is not about the scriptural doctrine that unbelievers would be won to Christ. But love is through action or deed that we are to carry out no matter the circumstances involved. Every other thing has been paid for, including our love to each other. Therefore, the apostle exhorted the Romans and us to honor and respect one another, for love that we share is a debt that will never be paid in full.

Owe no one anything except to love one another for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8 NKJV)

In more than our lifetime, we will never finish paying the debt of what was accomplished on the cross on our behalf. Amen! As a matter of fact, this is one of the many areas that our God is misunderstood. Man always thinks that he has a debt he must pay through performances. Many religions even taught that by good works or efforts we paid for our salvation. Of course, that is far from the truth. I have watched many talk shows on television where various ex-convicts who committed various crimes like murder, grand larceny, rape, adultery, robbery—to name a few—who would say, I did my time, and I owe no one anything. Some felt that if they have exercised boldness to stand in front of television audience and candidly talked about what they had done, that was enough to exonerate them from the sins of their crime. That, too, is not true. It is only the blood of Jesus that can cleanse us of sin. What took place at the cross was a gift of salvation out of God’s love. And it won’t be a gift if you should work for it. Furthermore, it is impossible that one would think of paying the debt of God’s love. Well, even if you try to pay for the moment, you will incur twice more the next moment. It is similar in trying to get rid of bacteria with inappropriate medication; these microorganisms will multiply a millionfold, and if not appropriately treated, they will kill you. By the same token, trying to earn salvation by your performances or efforts, you are performing the righteousness to which the law was pointing, and when you fail one, you fail all. The cycle keeps repeating itself, and the wages of sin is death. All sins of yesterday, today, and tomorrow were completely paid for by receiving the gift of salvation by faith in believing that Jesus died, buried, and resurrected on your behalf. Now what is there so difficult to understand? Therefore, understand now that love is a continuous debt that can never be paid because no matter how much one has loved, he is under the obligation to keep on loving just has Christ loves us. We are to reflect His love to one another, irrespective of religion, race, and nationality, for we all are neighbors to each other. In doing so, our love encompasses the moral and social responsibilities of Mosaic law. The commandments Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not covet, and whatever another commandment there may be are summed up in this one rule:

Love your neighbor as yourself. (Romans 13:9 NIV)

Throughout the Epistles of Paul, he failed not to communicate, demonstrate, explain, and illustrate the love of God for believers. Much has been written about love in many ways. We read it in poetry, and we sing about it. There are many expressions of love, and the most common one in Greek is eros, which suggests physical sexual desire. The next one is philos, which suggests affection displayed in a casual friendship. But Paul was interested in communicating the type of love that is based on the deliberate choice of the one who loves rather than the worthiness of the one who is loved. So he had to come out with the rare Greek word for that kind of love. That word is agape. This is an unconditional love that goes against human inclination. It is the love that is selfless and does not require a payback. The apostle went on to show the significance of this type of love, measuring it against the spectacular manifestations of speaking in tongues, prophesying, and expression of faith. Yet without love, they are nothing. In Paul’s explanation, this love is being described positively and negatively.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy, love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it shall vanish away. (1 Corinthians 13:4–8 NKJV)

The love that Apostle Paul described here is reflective of loving your neighbor as yourself. It means determining what is best for another person and then doing it. This is God’s directed kind of love. According to Paul, all the spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues and prophecies will all fail, but love will never fail. Love will outlast all of them. This is the reason John says, God is love (1 John 4:16b). God is a spirit, and His very nature is love. In this, just as spirit does not die, so love will endure and outlast all things. One thing I know—love has no expiration date, and the debt of love He shared with us and us with one another can never be paid for.

Chapter 2

God’s Love Demonstrated

For He Himself is our peace who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

—Ephesians 2:14–16

One of the primary purposes of love is the demonstration power in relationship between God and man as well as man to man. Through various circumstances, we veered away from our relationship with God and got lost in things deem most important and desirable for us. During Jesus’s time on earth, the Romans used some of the Jews as tax collectors against their kind. These tax collectors were viewed as traitors and outcasts. However, Jesus did not buy into this form of discrimination, and He was comfortable seating and eating with these less desirable people, or the marginalized if you will. And as such, the religious leaders had a problem with that and found the Master guilty by association. To rectify these condescending attitudes among His listeners, He had to use a parable to illustrate His point. In the book of Luke 15, emphasis is placed on things which are lost. But the most fascinating one is the parable of the lost son. Why is this story interesting? It is the fact that we all have been lost in more than one occasions in various ways and circumstances in our lives. The story is told of a man who has two sons, and the young son came and demanded his share of inheritance from the father. This would be quite shocking to any father as normally such division of an inheritance did not occur until after the death of the father. Based on this premise, the older son would receive double portion, which is two-thirds to the one-third of the younger son. With such demand, the younger son has already considered his father dead in his mind. The fact is, how many of us have considered God as nonexistent? Even those of us who at one point in our lives have come to know that He exists, but because of some situations, He becomes dead to us. The amazing thing is that our faithlessness would not stop God from being faithful (2 Timothy 2:13). However, the response of the father was very gracious and generous. He did not force