God’s Love for the Unbelieving World

God’s Love for the Unbelieving World | Devotional

“Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord GOD, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?”

Ezekiel 18:23

We know from human experience that love and hate are not mutually exclusive. It is not the least bit unusual to have concurrent feelings of love and hatred directed at the same person.

There is no reason to deny that in an infinitely purer and more noble sense, God’s hatred toward the wicked is accompanied by a sincere, compassionate love for them as well.

The fact that God will send to eternal hell all sinners who persist in sin and unbelief proves His hatred toward them.

On the other hand, the fact that God promises to forgive and bring into His eternal glory all who trust Christ as Savior—and even pleads with sinners to repent—proves His love toward them.

We must understand that it is God’s very nature to love. The reason our Lord commanded us to love our enemies is “so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt. 5:45 NASB).

Here Jesus clearly characterized His Father as One who loves even those who purposefully set themselves at enmity against Him.

While we are all eager to ask why a loving God lets bad things happen to His children, surely we should also ask why a holy God lets good things happen to bad people.

The answer is that God is merciful even to those who are not His own.

Where have you felt this mixture of love and hatred?
The God Who Loves, 15–16