The Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord: One of my favorite passages of Scripture, and one that often comes to mind when I first wake up in the morning, contains this simple and blessed truth: the love of God is “in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39. I love thinking about that fact, how the love of God is in Christ Jesus, centered there, and not contingent upon anything we do or don’t do. It is not left in uncertainty, not fastened to our temperament, our obedience, or our shifting frame, but fixed, settled, and embodied in Christ Himself. It is not drawn out by what we do, nor diminished by what we fail to do. Christ does not love us more when we feel near, nor less when we feel far. The Father’s delight in His Son is the believer’s security, and it is there, outside of ourselves, that peace is found and maintained. John 17:23.
With God’s love settled in Christ rather than in us, the security of that love becomes unmistakable. Nothing can separate God’s children from His love because that love was never founded in them to begin with. If this is so, if God’s love is truly fixed and settled in Christ, then it cannot be found anywhere else. There is no room here for a divided search. It is useless to seek the love of God outside of Christ, for there is none apart from Him. God has been pleased to place all His love, favor, and eternal purpose in His Son. What a wonder, that all should be settled in Him, and that everything rests there and not in us.
Outside of Christ there is no love to be found, but in Him it stands perfected, complete, and unassailable. I John 4:9-10. And this is why, the unbreakable nature of God’s love rests upon this profound reality, it is located in a Person. II Timothy 1:9. Scripture does not say that the love of God is stored within us, measured by our response, or sustained by our perseverance, but that it is in Christ Jesus our Lord. As long as Christ stands accepted before the Father, so does everyone who is in Him. Ephesians 1:6.
The love of God cannot fail because Christ cannot fail. It cannot be interrupted, diminished, or withdrawn, because it rests upon His obedience, His righteousness, and His finished work, and not upon us in the slightest measure. For this reason, the believer’s assurance is not found in inward stability, but in an unchanging Savior in whom the Father is eternally well pleased. Small wonder, then, that Paul could cry out, “who shall separate us from the love of God?”
If I am in Christ, why would I want to be anywhere else? What more could be given than this? God, in grace, has placed me exactly where I am. Scripture says that He loved us and gave Himself for us. That gift settles the matter, there is nowhere higher to climb and nothing left to be added. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Romans 8:32. MPJ