He Loves Us Enough to Change Us

Church family:
It's one of the most popular things we say about God: "God's love is unconditional." But is that really the best way to describe His love?
God does not simply gaze upon you with detached approval, affirming you just as you are. He cares too much about you for that. More accurately, the Bible teaches that God loves you despite who you are, and He loves you enough to change you.
Consider when Jesus called Matthew (Matthew 9:9–13). Matthew was a tax collector, a traitor to his own people who had bought the right to collect taxes for Rome and profited by exploiting his neighbors. Tax collectors were despised, regarded as notorious sinners, and often grouped with robbers. They were social and religious outcasts. Yet Jesus walked right up to Matthew's tax table and said, "Follow Me." And Matthew got up and followed Him.
Notice the order. Jesus did not say, "Clean up your life, and then I'll call you." He called Matthew while he was still sitting at his tax table. And in response, Matthew left his old life behind to follow Jesus. That is the way of Jesus with sinners. He loves us as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us as we are.
God is not detached or indifferent toward us. His love is personal, purposeful, and protective. He speaks words of truth to free us from the misery of sin. He corrects and disciplines us, not because He has stopped loving us, but precisely because He does love us (Hebrews 12:6).
God does not approve of everything about us. He loves us despite our sin, and He loves us enough to transform us. He receives us in Christ, and He is committed to renewing us, through the Holy Spirit, into the image of His Son. Here is the wonder of the gospel: God loves us contrary to what we deserve because His Son fulfilled what we could never accomplish. Jesus met the demands of God's righteousness on our behalf. We do not change in order to earn God's love. We begin to change because, in Jesus Christ, we have already received it.
You need something better than a love that simply affirms you as you are. You need a Shepherd, a Father, and a Savior. You need the love of Jesus— a love that forgives, restores, disciplines, and transforms. And that same love is meant to flow through us into our relationships with others.
Think again about Matthew. Jesus welcomed him while he was still a corrupt tax collector. But Jesus did not leave him there. He called him to follow, and over the course of his life, transformed him into a faithful disciple and apostle.
Isn’t this how God has patiently called you: “Follow Me”? How often has He pursued you, corrected you, and convicted you, inviting you to change? Even when you resist, He graciously calls you again. He has not given up on you. His patience reveals His love—a love too great to leave you as you are. As you receive that love, extend the same patience and acceptance to others, loving them in ways that encourage transformation.
See you Sunday, Steve