As our circumstances change, we can sense a greater or lesser experience of God’s love. Seasons of temptation can lead us to think God has forsaken us, while times of abundant blessing may convince us that God loves us, and ordinary days can make us doubt the vitality of his love. We may be tempted to believe that how we feel and what we do can affect God’s love for us.

“Do you have your receipt?” This question is a part of our daily life. We make purchases, and we keep up with our receipts—especially when the items are costly.

I’m afraid that we often apply responsible consumer practices to our spiritual relationship with God. As our circumstances change, we can sense a greater or lesser experience of God’s love. Seasons of temptation can lead us to think God has forsaken us, while times of abundant blessing may convince us that God loves us, and ordinary days can make us doubt the vitality of his love. We may be tempted to believe that how we feel and what we do can affect God’s love for us. And in seasons of encroaching darkness and despair, we might wonder if God is reconsidering his purchase.

Did he keep the receipt?

God’s love for you precedes Christ dying for you.

I remember a stage in my Christian experience when I felt the need to qualify many things that I said so that friends around me didn’t correct everything I said. Anticipating the theological anvil getting dropped on my foot, I’d quickly add parenthetical comments to dot the proper i’s and cross the requisite t’s. One day I remember saying that God loved me, and then before I could punctuate the sentence, I completely let the air out of the balloon by footnoting the statement with more qualifiers than the Mishnah. At about the same time, I was reading John Owen’s Communion with the Triune God and found Owen’s reminder helpful. He reminds his readers that the God who is love (1 John 4:8) sent Jesus to be the propitiation for our sins (v.10). This love for his people is antecedent to the sending and purchase of Christ. God loves his people before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4ff).

The reality of the gospel reminds us that this love is undeserved; it’s unmerited (Rom. 5:7–8). It also does not teach that Jesus convinced the Father to love us. Instead, Jesus comes to seek and save sinners like you and me, precisely because the Father loves us. Swish the gospel tonic around in your mouth, without the dilution of qualification. Passages like John 3:16 are all the more staggering when you do.

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