His Love Endures

When you look in a mirror what do you see? Do you see all of you sins; your shortcomings? Do you see a person who has been a disappointment to family and friends? Do you see a failure? I do not know what you see, but I can tell you what God sees. God sees his creation. God sees his child. God sees someone whom he loves. What do you see when you look at others? Do you see all their sins and shortcomings? Do you see their failures? Do you see a person who has let you down time after time? The fact is that we can be pretty good at seeing other peoples warts, and we tend to have long memories when we perceive that someone has wronged us. Just as God loves you in your imperfection he also loves other in their imperfections.

It is important for us to fully understand the depth of Gods love for us. Gods love is an everlasting enduring love. Psalm 136 shows us how enduring Gods love us is. Time after time the psalm repeats his love endures forever. There is nothing that we can do to get God to stop loving us. No matter what mistakes you have made, no matter how often you have turned away from God, he still loves you. His love endures forever. Just as God loves you he loves all of his creation. When we look at others and see only their shortcomings and failures; when we only see a person who has hurt us we need to remember, that person is a child of God, and he loves them.

Gods love will endure forever, he will not stop loving us, however; we need to make sure that we do not take his love for granted. The fact that he loves us is the reason that he showed us mercy and withheld his judgment, but his judgment will not be withheld indefinitely. A day of judgment will come. This is not because God will stop loving us, it is because God wants us to be with him, but not everyone wants to be in the presence God and God cannot be in the presence of sin. Judgment must come, but God still loves all of us, even the people who don’t want to be with him, even to people who would not turn from sin, even the people who do not believe. It is because of his love for us that Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross. Because he loves us God has shown us mercy and given us grace. It is up to us to accept the gift that God has given. If we don’t and we face judgment it is not due to lack of love from God, it is due to our lack of love for God.

Sermon based on Psalm 136