When thinking about God’s unconditional love, some may question whether God loves unbelievers. If we do not follow His establishment of commandments, does that mean He doesn’t love us? This devotion, the second in the God’s Unconditional Love series, looks at whether God loves non-believer and whether that is different than how He loves believers.
Nuggets
- God loves all people
- God will only reward those who have admitted their sins, believed on His Son Jesus as Redeemer, and confessed Him as Sovereign Lord.
- Admission to heaven is not earned through good works.
- At the end of the age, Jesus will when judge people and distribute rewards and repayments.
Devotions in the God’s Unconditional Love series
In the last devotion, we started talking about somebody’s response to the question of whether God’s love is unconditional. The person also felt that God loves believers but does not love non-believers. In fact, God punishes non-believers. Let’s look at God’s love for believers and non-believers.
The person’s viewpoints are in red.
God Loves Those Who Believe and Do Good
God Loves Those Who Believe
"Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?" (Ezek. 33: 11 ESV)
There are a couple of things here. First thing: God does love those who believe. But He loves everyone.
How can we tell? Non-believers are identified in Scriptures by the terms wicked, dead, cursed, and evil.
God does not want them to pay the price for their sins. Because of this, He designed the Plan of Salvation. How?
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2: 4-7 ESV emphasis added). God loved us enough to send His Son while we were still sinners to the the sacrifice to pay for our sins.
God’s loving act came before the belief. In fact, He designed the plan before He even created us.
Glossary
To say our belief had to come before His love would mean His plan wouldn’t be an act of love. It was — pure and simple love.
God Loves Those Who Do Good
Second thing: All are sinners, even believers. Believers are just sinners who have been saved by grace. Believers still sin.
To read Why Do Christians Sin?, click the button below.
Non-believers all have the opportunity to become believers. They have to make the choice whether they will believe or not.
You want a specific example of believers who didn’t do good but were still loved by God? “Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin (Neh. 13: 26 ESV emphasis added). Solomon did not follow the commandments and was still loved by God.
Jacob was a cheater. Noah was a drunk. Moses was a murderer. David was a murderer and committed adultery. Do I need to go on???
God does love those who obey Him, but we can’t earn our way into heaven. “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, (Ti. 3: 4-5 ESV emphasis added).
To read What Is a Definition of Works, click the button below.
If we could get into heaven by doing the do’s and not doing the don’ts, Jesus wouldn’t have had to die. We can’t; He did.
Unbelievers Receive His Wrath
This is the only thing this person said with which I agree. We talked in a previous devotion that Jesus, when judging people at the end of the age, will distribute rewards and repayments. Rewards will be given to those who believe. Repayments will be given to non-believers.
To read Will We Be Rewarded or Repaid?, click the button below.
Proverbs 15: 9 says, “The LORD hates the ways of evil people, but loves those who do what is right” (GNT emphasis added). It doesn’t say He hates evil people. He hates their actions.
But think of it this way. “… For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike” (Mt. 5: 45 NLT). If non-believers only receive God’s wrath, then nothing good would fall on them. That just isn’t true.
Let me try to figure out what this person wants. This person acknowledges that God has commandments. However, what? This person doesn’t think God should act on them? No punishment regardless of actions? Reward everyone regardless of belief?
Again, this is Satan inciting people to rebel against God. He got Adam and Eve to bite and disobey God. He convinced them that they would be equal to God.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
He thinks he can work the same con on their great, great, great … great grandchildren. I think he’s backed off the equal part and focuses on the don’t-have-to-listen part.
Making the Connections
Just as some confuse love and tolerance, I think this person is confusing love with reward. God is going to love us even if we don’t believe in Him. He will only reward believers.
God is going to love us. He will not tolerate our actions that are unrighteous.
We live in a society that believes in entitlement. That is where the tolerance and participation award originated.
We lost our entitlement when Adam and Eve committed the original sin — if we even had it than. God is Sovereign. He does not have to love us. He does not have to provide for us.
For some reason, God does love us. He loves us even after we sin against Him.
How Do We Apply This?
I would suggest this person read the Bible. God’s love has been present all through history.
The end has already been written. Because God loves us, He is waiting for all who are going to to turn to Him. He doesn’t want to have to punish anyone — but as a good Father, He will.
What is true about God’s unconditional love is summed up in I John 3: 1: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him” (ESV). Non-believers need to learn of the true loving Father. He is waiting for them to turn to Him.
Glossary
Loving Heavenly Father. You love us unconditionally. You will offer us salvation until we completely reject You. Lord, we pray that none reject You. It is our prayer that all admit their sins, believe in Jesus as their Redeemer, and confess You as Sovereign Lord. We know that is Your wish, and that is our wish. Use us to be witnesses to all who have not turned their lives over to You. Help us to love them with Your unconditional love. Amen.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
What do you think? If you are a believer, how could you show more love to non-believers? If you are a non-believer, how has God shown His love to you?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
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