“I’m too poor to be cheap!” I had a friend tell me this some years ago, and I asked what she meant. She explained that she preferred to spend extra money to get something with higher quality than spend less money multiple times to frequently replace cheap stuff. When I heard her explanation, I was reminded about an expensive pair of shoes I bought which have lasted me almost forty years, and I’ve walked thousands of miles in these expensive shoes. I paid for quality, and I don’t begrudge the investment!
In thinking about quality, let’s take a few minutes to explore an interesting verse. In this passage we read, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God” (1 John 3:1a). In the Greek, the phrase “how great” actually translates to mean “what kind or quality.” With this in mind, we could translate the verse to say, “See the quality of love the Father has given to us.” Let’s take some moments to pause and reflect on the quality of love our Father has given us.
What is the quality of God’s love toward us? It’s important to think about this so we don’t frame divine love in human ways, which can be frothy and misguided in comparison to God’s ways. For example, we often use the word “love” to describe our feelings about chocolate, sleeping in, infatuations, types of cars, music groups, romantic inclinations, ethnic cuisines, etc.
In contrast, the quality of God’s love is significantly more meaningful and weightier. Here are a few qualities of God’s love for us:
- It is without strings: Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” In reading this verse, it’s clear that Jesus didn’t wait for us to get clean, straighten up our life, make good choices, demonstrate religious piety, etc. before He died. Instead, Jesus’ love for us was wholly expressed when He hung on the cross and laid down His life for us, while we were still sinners.
- It is changeless: In the Passion Translation for John 13:1b we read, “All throughout his time with his disciples, Jesus had demonstrated a deep and tender love for them. And now he longed to show them the full measure of his love.” These words are the introduction to The Last Supper, and Jesus knows that He will go from this meal to Gethsemane, His arrest and crucifixion. In these words, we also see that the quality of God’s love for us is changeless, as Jesus shows in His daily living with the disciples, along with His words and actions at their Last Supper.
- It is an identity anchor: In 1 John 3:1, we read that God calls us His sons and daughters because that’s who we are. This identity is anchored in the quality of God’s love for us, which is far beyond astounding when we ponder this verse. I think we could experience a whole new perspective for life if we let our identity be rooted in and sculpted by being God’s son/daughter.
So let’s be careful to not just tick the box and mindlessly agree that God loves us. Let’s swim in the truth that we are God’s son/daughter because of the quality of His love for us!
