Sproul: loving holy God

Monday, September 21, 2015
    Feast of Matthew, Apostle & Evangelist
Meditation:
    We love because he first loved us.
    —1 John 4:19 (NIV)
Quotation:
    How can we love a holy God? The simplest answer I can give to this vital question is that we can’t. Loving a holy God is beyond our moral power. The only kind of God we can love by our sinful nature is an unholy god, an idol made by our own hands. Unless we are born of the Spirit of God, unless God sheds his holy love into our hearts, unless He stoops in His grace to change our hearts, we will not love Him. He is the One who takes the initiative to restore our souls. Without Him we can do nothing of righteousness. Without Him we would be doomed to everlasting alienation from His holiness. We can only love Him because He first loved us.
    ... R. C. Sproul (b. 1939), Classic Teachings on the Nature of God, Hendrickson Publishers, 2010, p. 131 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 4:19; Luke 7:47; John 15:16; Eph. 2:3-5; Tit. 3:3-7; 1 John 4:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I am helpless to love without Your love implanted in my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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