Week 22
Romans 5:5 “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.”
It is a common experience in this life on earth to be disappointed. And perhaps one of the greatest disappointments is the disappointment that comes from hopes being unfulfilled.
But this passage of Scripture tells us that the deepest hope of the soul cannot be unrequited when that hope is anchored in the love of God in Christ.
Here we see two aspects of the love of God that fulfills our spiritual hopes. First, God’s love is directed toward us through salvation in Jesus Christ. God’s love for us, as described in the Scripture, is eternal, continual, permanent, and transcendent. The love of God for His people rises superior to any other reality in all the universe. The love of God for the Christian (for you dear Christian friend) is so great and so powerful that it controls every single aspect of your life and experience on earth; it drives God’s good providence to achieve the very best for your soul and your eternal joy. Nothing (absolutely NOTHING) can change or remove the love of God for you in Christ Jesus. This is the certainty of life upon which all discernable safety, peace, and happiness rest.
The second aspect of the love of God in the life of the Christian, as indicated by this passage, is that the love of God is spread abroad in the Christian’s life by the Holy Spirit who is given to us in salvation. This means that the love of God is experienced, noted, embraced, and shared on a personal level in the Christian’s life. This is part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the believer. By the power and direction of the Holy Spirit, the believer comes to think on the love of God, and we feel the love of God in our souls. This is our comfort that comes to our minds when we are sad and lonely. This is our strength that undergirds us when we are stretched and strained to the limits of our abilities. This is God’s gift to the hurting and sorrowful Christian in the hour of great need. The love of God is spread abroad in our thinking and awareness in the midst of the storms of life by the power of the Holy Spirit.
May we anticipate the variables and the struggles of tomorrow with the happy certainty that God’s love is with us, and nothing can take His love away. And may we also pray that the Lord through the Holy Spirit will grant us a soul-satisfying perception of the love of God no matter how dark our earthly experience may be.
Prayer: Dear Lord, please help me to remember that You love me in Christ. Remind me of this grand truth through the Holy Spirit when I need to remember it the most. Amen.
