I remember when my grandson, Jayden was born. I loved him with all my heart. I looked forward to the day he would learn to talk and call me by name—and when that day came, I was thrilled beyond measure, but I didn’t love him any more than I had when all he could do is babble and drool.
I remember when he just crawled on the floor, and I loved him till I thought My heart would burst. Then came the day he walked—awkward at first with lots of stumbles and falls. Again my heart thrilled at his growth and achievements. But I didn’t love him any more than I had when all he could do was crawl.
Now Jayden runs and can play catch with me, and ride his two-wheel bike like a big boy. (He’s especially cute when wearing his Seattle Seahawks helmet that I got him.) He can talk to me on the phone and do a hundred things he couldn’t as an infant. And I love him with all my heart. But not any more than when he couldn’t do these things. At each stage of life and development, he was perfect in my eyes and my love was the same. It’s the same with his baby sister Sydney. They’re both rascals and I love them with all my heart.
As Christians, we must know that at each stage of our growth and development, God loves us with all His heart and sees us as perfect.
Though our comprehension of God’s ways and His love is dim; though we, like the disciples, are “foolish and slow of heart to believe,” though we stumble awkwardly and fall many times in our daily walk of faith, we are loved by God as much today, as we will be when we see Him face to face, and when we’re walking tall by faith and not by sight. We won’t be any more saved tomorrow than we are today. Why? Because salvation isn’t based on our performance, but on Jesus Christ’s performance—what He accomplished for us on the cross.
Heb. 10:14 says “Because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” That means perfection is not the product of my performance, it is the outcome of His sacrifice given to me all during the process of my learning to be holy—like Him. He loves us with an everlasting love (Jer. 31:3) which means you were loved before you even got here, so how could He love you any more?
And that’s also the basis of unshakeable security. You see, if my salvation depends on my performance, I can never be secure because I fall short of God’s glory constantly. When I’m up I’ll feel secure, but when I’m down, I’ll worry I’m lost. But Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross is an established fact that took place before I got here. His love is like gravity—it exists whether I’m in a good mood or bad mood. My disposition on a given day doesn’t affect gravity one way or the other. It’s a life-sustaining constant no matter what. Jesus died on the cross to reconcile me to God. It is a life-sustaining constant no matter what, and my security is based on that unshakeable reality, not on my shaky performance.
As you grow in Christ, you will eventually mature beyond the awkward fits and starts you may be currently experiencing. By the grace of God, your eyes will better adjust to the glory of His righteousness, and you will learn how to run and not be weary; to walk and not faint. There is coming a day when your childish faith will mature and you will be like Him. But on that day, you will be no more loved and no more saved than you are at this moment, because then, as now, it is our trust in what Jesus has already done on our behalf that saves us. O what wondrous love is this!
“For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life” (Romans 8:10, NRSV). “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1). Bask in that love today.
Randy Maxwell
www.rentonadventist.org
