Loving The Unlovely

Love For the Unlovely

It is easy to love someone who possesses a lovable appeal, or is physically attractive. Our Modern humanistic society glamorizes the personas of various cultural types of idols, thus presenting our minds with a plethora of images supposedly worthy of being loved by us.

From beauty contests to bodybuilding, and rock stars to movie stars, we are constantly bombarded with visages to love and emulate. We tend to love all these icons whom we admire and adore. 

On the flip side, we are conditioned by society to dismiss and frown on those who don’t measure up to the cultures love-image model. 

The Unconditional Love of God

Whereas the world has a conditional standard of who should be worthy to be loved, Almighty God possesses a much different type of Love. 

God’s love for mankind, as described in the Bible, is clearly unconditional in that His love is expressed toward the objects of His love despite their disposition toward Him.

God loves because it is His nature to love; and his love moved Him into taking the most benevolent action of love on the behalf of those he loved, the sacrifice of his only begotten Son! 

Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, (unlovely) Christ died for us.

I John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

As Unlovable as We Were

Despite the hostility and enmity we have toward God (for which God would be perfectly just to utterly destroy us), God revealed His love toward us in the giving of His Son, Jesus Christ, as the propitiation (the appeasement of God’s righteous wrath) for our sins. God did not wait for us to better ourselves, or try to make ourselves more lovable, as a precondition of atoning for our sin.

God’s divine rescue, based on his unconditional love, resulted in a gracious act of self-sacrifice. As Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for those that he loves.” (John 15:13) 

It is important to note that God’s love is a love that God himself has initiated! That is precisely what makes it unconditional. If God’s love were conditional, then we would have to do something to earn or merit it. 

In other words, apart from God “initiating” his unconditional act of Love towards us, we would of necessity have to “improve our loveliness” to ever merit the Love of God! 

But that is not the biblical message. The biblical message of the gospel is that God, motivated only by his great love, acted unconditionally to save sinful men from their “unlovable status.”

From Unlovable to Lovable

Ephesians chapter two documents how unlovable sinful men can be renewed by the “transforming” power of the love of God into “lovable” creatures, only made possible by the workmanship of God, that he creates through the quickening spirit of Jesus Christ! 

Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, who is rich in his mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Oh What a wonderful thought, to realize that God Loved me, even when I was Unlovable!

God’s Message to the Unlovely 

Point # 1 The Gospel message tells us that no matter how “unlovable” or “unlovely” we may be, or think we are, God still loves us! 

Point # 2 God is the original initiator of Love! Before we ever even existed, God loved us!

Point # 3 To love the world and the things of this world is tantamount to never realizing the love of God. (I John 2:15) 

Focus on the Bible

by: Darrell G. Young

November 26, 2021