Expressions of His Love

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

The only way God can express his love to us today aside from his Word, experientially, is through the things that we suffer in this life. The hardships, sufferings, trials and tribulations and even overt religious persecution are all opportunities given to us that allow us to experience expressions of His love for us. If we look at things correctly and react to them in the right frame of mind, these situations will allow him to provide for us in the midst of the suffering that He allows/directs to come to our life.

In other words, difficulties, trials and problems that we don’t expect, yet enter our lives, are ultimately hardships that give us the opportunity to turn to him and rely on him. Too often, we fail to do this and because we do fail, we miss the opportunity to see His expression of love in the midst of that situation.

Consider the Laodicean church of Revelation 3. While many preachers use Revelation 3:20 as an invitation to receive salvation from Jesus, the context tells us something different. Jesus was on the outside of that church (figuratively speaking), knocking on the door. He actually wanted to come in and fellowship with them. Instead, He was kept at arm’s length, outside where He could not fellowship with them.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him, and he with me.

Imagine being Lord of Lord, the Person who paid the ultimate price of literally dying a horrible death in order that people might receive salvation. Yet, here He was literally outside that particular group of believers, not part of them and He wanted to be part of them. To eat with people means to enjoy fellowship with them. Anyone who has ever gone to a family gathering or picnic where there’s plenty of food understands this clearly. The fact that Jesus was literally not invited in is a significant strike on that group of believers. But read the verse just before this, verse 19.

Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

Notice Jesus says that the people He loves (those who belong to Him), He will reprove and discipline when needed. He cautions them to be zealous to understand where they are lacking and to repent of it so that He can come in a fellowship with them.

The believers at Laodicea didn’t think they needed Jesus. They were so rich and so comfortable in their life they didn’t think needed anything outside of that. God sends hardship, difficulties and problems in our life so that we will then turn to Him in those times, in those moments, and ask Him to provide. This is how Jesus express love to us, and this is a lifelong process of constantly letting him into our lives. It’s not simply done once. It is done again and again and again. Why? Because if we never experience problems, we will likely never give them to Him to deal with and help us through them. If we never allow Him to work in us because of the problems we face, we will never get to know Jesus more than we do now. In essence, we will never truly grow in our relationship with Him.

A few years ago, as I’ve written about, my favorite cat, Rusty, died. He was hit by a car as he was crossing the dirt road in front of our house. He had almost made it but didn’t. That broke my heart and I’m not a cat person. This particular cat was more like a dog though, constantly on patrol, checking things out, going here, going there, but always returning home each night.

Now he was dead. I missed him horribly. It was weeks later before I realized the likely reason God took him. I had grown to love Rusty so much that I worried about him all the time. In fact, I was beginning to feel as though I couldn’t leave the house for any real length of time. I remember crying out to God over the situation as well. I didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t that Rusty had become so important to me, he’d become a “god.” It was simply worrying about him all the time. There were and are foxes, possums, racoons, other cats, coyotes and snakes that could have easily made a dinner out of Rusty. Had that happened, he would have just been gone one day, never to return.

I came to realize that I could carry Rusty in my heart for as long as I live without ever worrying about him again. It was God’s grace and mercy that brought Rusty’s life to an end quickly and in a place where I’d find him.

There have been plenty of situations like that in my life and yours as well, I’m sure. Probably the most eventful one for me was going back to February 16, when my wife was taken by ambulance to the hospital in the early morning hours while we were visiting our daughter and her family. When it happened, I went into auto pilot. You stop thinking and you just do things without much emotion. At the time of course, I had no idea why God did what He did. Why, was the question of the hour and I didn’t have an answer.

Looking back, I do now. Had Silvia not suffered her heart situation necessitating a trip to the emergency ward and brief stay at the hospital, I would not know and understand what I know and understand now about God’s love, His mercy and His actual pity/compassion for His own (Psalm 103:13).

You see, for years (as I’ve mentioned before), I tended to see God in the vein of my parents. My mom and dad were somewhat volatile and for my sister and me, it was always trying to ensure that we did what we were expected and to try to deescalate things before they got out of hand. If we failed, trouble came. That was never pleasant. Sometimes, in his anger, my father could go several weeks without talking to any of us. This “silent treatment” was especially jarring for me.

Without realizing it, after I became a Christian, I saw God as having attributes like my father. Was God standing there with arms crossed, waiting to bring down the hammer when I messed up? Was His anger similar to my earthly father’s anger? I’m learning that God’s love and mercy excels toward His own even when we sin. While He does not ignore our sin, He does not condemn us for it (Romans 8), and He also knows full well experientially just how difficult it is for us to avoid sinning. His pity/compassion truly rises to the surface during those times. This tremendous mercy is designed to increase our fellowship with Him.

I tend to be the type of person who takes the bull by the horns. I’ll do it myself. My wife is somewhat the same way, but with a softer demeanor. She’s Hungarian and her clan just gets things done. When things don’t go right or well, you just dig in harder. In essence, both of us tend to pilot our own ships. We take charge. We do what needs to be done.

That’s okay in one sense because it’s better than sitting around waiting for someone else to do it. But it also creates an insidious belief about ourselves: we can do it and we don’t need to rely on anyone else, even God.

This attitude unfortunately, is very much like those believers in ancient Laodicea. They didn’t need God at all. They had what they needed to get the job done, whatever that job was and so they simply did what they needed to do without relying on God. While they may have certainly been believers, their reliance on God had faded with time.

But this is not the way God designed things as far as our relationship with Him goes. He wants to have fellowship with us and He wants that fellowship to grow over time, not fade. He wants us to come to Him for His input and direction even over the little things that we think we should not “bother” Him about.

Jesus continually expresses His love for us. It wasn’t a one time deal at the cross, though clearly that action as He hung on Calvary’s cross was the expression of His love like no other. However, just because He has gone into the heavenly realms and now sits at the right hand of the Father until His enemies are made His footstool (Psalm 110; Luke 20; Hebrews 10), does not mean that His love for His own is no longer seen in the way He cares for His own. He didn’t change His demeanor toward us because He is now again exalted in heaven. He. Loves. Us.

We see this throughout the Psalms, where David understood that God was good, righteous, forgiving and loving, continually pouring out that love on David. This was seen in His forgiveness for David’s sins, in victories over the enemies and for God’s provision for the many things needed in life.

The problem for many today is that with everything going on throughout the world, it seems very bleak and we are tempted to give up. We can easily lose heart.

We’ve got the NoKings group organizing protests (literally, revolts against America’s Constitutional Republic), in at least 250 cities nationwide, to apparently culminate on June 14. This date was chosen because it is the 250th anniversary of the creation of the US Army as well as President Trump’s birthday. While they yell about fascism and the like, they are the ones who are the fascists. They want to take down America and destroy it completely in order to install Marxism/Socialism. They want open borders. They want the police gone. They want ICE gone. They essentially want lawlessness throughout America.

Too many Democrat leaders like LA Mayor Bass and CA Governor Newsom are encouraging the fiasco all the while blaming Trump and Ice for staring things or they are saying absolutely nothing. Intelligent people can easily see through this smokescreen to understand that the people violently protesting are doing so because they hate law and order.

What does looting and destroying businesses in the Los Angeles area have to do with anything? What does blocking freeways have to do with ICE? This is a major coordinated attempt to take down America and there is apparently a great deal of money behind it. The violent protestors would not be doing this for free. Allegedly, Christy Walton (one of the Walmart heirs), is paying for at least part of it because her name appears on the bottom of an ad circulated by those involved in the protests.[1]

But while all of this continues to ramp up, the Christian is supposed to take a different approach, according to Scripture (Psalm 37:1-15 NKJV).

1 A Psalm of David. Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.
2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb.
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.
6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday.
7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret–it only causes harm.
9 For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the Lord, They shall inherit the earth.
10 For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, But it shall be no more.
11 But the meek shall inherit the earth, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
12 The wicked plots against the just, And gnashes at him with his teeth.
13 The Lord laughs at him, For He sees that his day is coming.
14 The wicked have drawn the sword And have bent their bow, To cast down the poor and needy, To slay those who are of upright conduct.
15 Their sword shall enter their own heart, And their bows shall be broken.

We know this is how it all ends…eventually. The Lord has things under control and His plans are always being fulfilled. In the above verses, we are told numerous times in some form to not give into wrath, or to fret/worry or especially to not be envious of the workers of iniquity. Verse 7 tells us pointedly to “rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him,” which can be difficult when the world seems to be exploding around us.

We need instead to focus on God’s expressions of love for us; the way He meets our needs daily, the way He cares for us, the way He responds to our heartfelt prayers.

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2025/06/10/billionaire-walmart-heiress-promotes-nationwide-anti-trump-protests-on-june-14/

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective