Undeserved

My wife is a lovely woman. Everyone loves her. She is kind and caring. She is eager to help and practices random acts of kindness. She particularly enjoys finding out what someone likes and then giving that to them. "Oh, she doesn't like fruit. I'll make her something to eat with no fruit." "So, he's a diabetic. I'll bake him some sugar-free cookies." She is generous and friendly. She is, in short, easy to love. Funny thing. She doesn't know it. She doesn't know that everyone loves her and she doesn't know why.

Scripture says that God, "because of His great love with which He loved us ... made us alive together with Christ." (Eph 2:5). That is, indeed, great love. That's amazing love. What have we done to deserve this love? Most of us don't know why.

Of course, Scripture doesn't help with that. While I can point out to my wife all sorts of reasons that she is loved, Scripture doesn't do that for us. Instead we are described as "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph 2:1) and "by nature children of wrath" (Eph 2:3) and "hostile to God" (Rom 8:7) and doing no good, "no, not one" (Rom 3:12). We are brought forth in iniquity (Psa 51:5) and evil from childhood (Gen 8:21). We tell lies from the womb (Psa 58:3). We have seen the report and it's not good. What have we done to deserve God's love? Nothing; nothing at all. In fact, we've done all we can to deserve His wrath.

The question is all wrong, then. What have I done to deserve this great love with which He loved us? Nothing at all. I did nothing. In fact, I've done just about everything I can not to deserve it. This great love, then, is from Him, not me. It is a product of His, not something I provoked. God doesn't love us because we're so valuable or beautiful or wonderful or loveable. He loves us in spite of being the opposite of all that.

It's a little odd. My wife is immensely loveable, but she doesn't see it. We, on the other hand, are patently unloveable from God's perspective, but we don't see it. If we did, we wouldn't ask, "What have I done to deserve His love?" We would fall on our knees in worship and gratitude for His great love with which He loved us that caused Him to send His Son and "when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ." (Eph 2:5) I love my wife, whether she deserves it or not. I think everyone who knows her can see she does. But the love we have from God is entirely undeserved. He gives Hiss love to the undeserving "so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Eph 2:7) As Isaac Watts wrote, "Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all."