Can I Earn More Of God’s Love?
Q: If I suffer a lot as a Christian and read my Bible and study commentary and have a heart posture towards God, does that mean that He loves me a lot because I suffer, or is it me defining my suffering?
A: God’s reasons for loving you are found in Him, not in you. It’s a false idea to assume that God loves you more because you suffer well, or are faithful in your devotions, or are generally an obedient believer. That’s completely the wrong way to think about it. The reasons for God loving you are in Him. The reasons are not in you.
Why does God love you? Just because He loves you. The reasons are in Him, not in you. We could describe grace in the same way. The reasons for the favor God bestows on us within His system of grace are in Him; they’re not in the one who receives the grace. Be careful about the misconception that you can earn extra favor from God.
Jude 1:21 says, “Keep yourself in the love of God.” The idea is not to do things to make God love you more, but rather to put yourself in a position where you’re not hindering or pushing back on God’s love. It’s keeping yourself in a position to fully receive the love of God and what it can do in your life. But you don’t make God love you more by your performance. I’ve heard it said this way: There is good news and bad news. The bad news is that you can’t do anything to make God love you more. But the good news is that you can’t do anything to make God love you more.
When Jude says to keep yourself in the love of God, remember that God already loves you perfectly. He can’t love you more than He already does. Jude is exhorting believers to experience the benefits of the love of God.