There’s nothing one can do to make us not love them

Hebrews 6:16-17 For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, In the next three verses, the author explained the power of an oath in their day in order to bolster the confidence of his readers to draw near to God and hold fast to Jesus Christ, their hope of glory. Let’s see what encouragement to live to love with Jesus we can draw from this verse. The point made is that when there is a dispute over the truth, the highest expression of authority that a person can make is to swear or make an oath. The Greek word ergo literally means to shut in or out. Essentially, it closes the matter. It’s the end of the discussion. Or, to say it another way, there’s nothing more to be said. It’s settled.  The author took that argument that everyone understood and applied it to God’s oath to Abraham. With that said, the author, by the Holy Spirit, looked into the heart of God and revealed the reason God made the oath. He desired even more than when a man makes an oath, to show or convince the heirs of the promise (that’s us, all believers in Jesus Christ) of the unchangeableness of His purpose to bless them through Christ. The encouragement I take away from this verse is that we gain insight into God’s kind of love. I define it this way in Live to Love. “The sustained direction of the will toward the highest good of another, no matter what the cost, in the power of the Holy Spirit, for the glory of God.” Can you see the connection between that definition and God’s desire to show to the heirs of promise the unchangeableness of His purpose? Essentially, God wants them (us) to know that there’s nothing they can do to make Him not love them and be faithful to them. His will is set. He decided to bless His people through Christ, and He wants them to trust Him and rest in Him as if the end is already realized. That’s the hope they can hold fast to. This shows us the direction of the love of Jesus toward those He puts in our paths. He loves them, and there’s nothing they can do to make us not love them if we are loving with Him. Our aim with Him is their highest good, namely, to glorify God by being most satisfied in the love and will of God in Christ. That purpose should be unchangeable in our lives. We are living to love with Jesus, and that purpose is unchangeable. Therefore, it should be settled in our minds that there’s nothing anyone can do to make us not love them. To God be the glory.