Responding to Relentless Love

I struggle to feel the relentless love of God. When I look at my life, I often feel like the love I receive from God, relents. In thinking about the theme for this issue, I knew I did not know what it was to be loved relentlessly. Not for lack of relentless love being offered, but for lack of understanding of how to respond to a love I’m not sure I feel.

Intellectually, I know God relentlessly loves me, but my heart and soul do not always readily receive it. This inability to receive inevitably leads to navel-gazing and ignoring what God wants.

In reflection, I asked myself, “Is God’s love measured by what I experience in my life? Is it measured by the hardships or the good times?”

Over the years, I have received many promises from the Lord. Promises I have contended for and aligned myself with, but I have not yet seen their manifestation. This leaves me wondering if He’s forgoing me or if He sees me, which leads me to lament, “How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?  How long will I store up anxious concerns within me, agony in my mind every day? How long will my enemy dominate me? Consider me and answer, LORD my God.

Restore brightness to my eyes; otherwise, I will sleep in death. My enemy will say, ‘I have triumphed over him,’ and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.” – Psalm 13: 1-4 (CSB)

King David modeled for us so beautifully how to bring our every emotion and agonizing thought

to the Lord. He doesn’t stay there, though; he moves on to meditate on the Lord’s love,  “But I have trusted in your faithful love;  my heart will rejoice in your deliverance. I will sing to the LORD because he has treated me generously.”- Psalm 13:5-6 CSB 

King David sings to the Lord in response to His love, so let’s explore how else we can respond to

God’s relentless love. The definition of relentless is “showing or promising no abatement of severity, intensity, strength, or pace.” The relentless love of God shows “no abatement of severity or intensity.”

The highest level of the intensity of His love is that He came to earth, donned human form, and

took our sins upon His shoulders. God, our Father, sent His one and only Son to come and save

us, “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the

righteousness of God.” - 2 Corinthians 5:21 (CSB)

This is the kind of intense love that led to death on the cross. Jesus descended to take upon His sinless form all the sin of the entirety of humanity. He died for us, retrieved the keys to the gates of hell, then rose again.

That is relentless love.  The kind of love that shows “no abatement of severity or intensity.” 

So, how do we honor and respond to the relentless love of God in this season?

The prophet Haggai gives us one way we can do this. The Lord is disappointed with the people

of Israel because they kept postponing building the Lord’s house while they built their own

houses. The Lord reprimands His people, telling them to think about their ways, “‘The LORD of Armies says this: ‘These people say: The time has not come for the house of the LORD to be rebuilt.’ The word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: ‘Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?’

The LORD of Armies says this: ‘Think carefully about your ways. Go up into the hills, bring down

lumber, and build the house; and I will be pleased with it and be glorified,’ says the LORD.” -

Haggai 1:2-3; 7-8 (CSB)

In a season steeped in consumerism, we can respond to God’s relentless love by choosing to

build His house rather than our own. In Haggai, the Israelites rebuilt the temple, but as New

Testament believers, we build His house in the work we do. 

“For we are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

According to God’s grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master

builder, and another builds on it. But each one is to be careful how he builds on it. For no one

can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ. If

anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one’s

work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the

fire will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will

receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be

saved—but only as through fire.” – 1 Corinthians 3:9-14 (CSB)

As the body of Christ, not only are we God’s building, but the work God created us to do, builds

His house. After we build on the foundation of Christ, the quality of our work will be revealed

by God’s fire. The builder whose work survives will be worthy of a reward. Perhaps as we enter

this season, we can pause and ask God what work we need to do to build His house. We might

already be doing it, or we might not. But, if nothing else, let’s start with Jesus’ instruction from

Matthew 25:34-35 by taking care of the “least of these” because in that work itself, we are

building His house and responding to the relentless love of our Savior by tending to Him in

meeting the needs of the least fortunate. Let’s respond to relentless love by doing enduring

work that builds His house, not ours.

Notes:

1. “Definition of RELENTLESS.” n.d. www.merriam-Webster.com.

Brenda Savanhu

Author: Brenda Savanhu was born in Harare, Zimbabwe. She spent the first half of her childhood in England and the second in Zimbabwe before moving to the United States at 18.  Growing up, she always had a book in hand, finding solace in the worlds of Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. Brenda discovered her faith in her teen years but drifted away from her walk with Jesus until her early 30s, when life's circumstances sent her hurtling back into His arms. 

Brenda is the author of Memorial Stones - A Guided Devotional Journal for Foundational Miracles in Your Life, which was born out of her return to Jesus and subsequent journey of faith from then until now.  Memorial Stones is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and Google Play.