Can We Be Sure of God’s Affection?
My father-in-law, Bob, favors licorice-flavored tea as his morning drink of choice—a flavor reserved primarily for him, but one he shares with those whom he loves. As my wife, Jenn, and I moved from dating to courtship to marriage, I noticed he increasingly began to offer a cup of licorice tea to me. My budding union with Jenn seemed to solidify Bob’s bond with me. His heart was on display as successive visits to their house included Bob offering it before I asked to remind me there is always more. A small cup of tea now reminds me of a new, but never changing relationship with Bob. Every time I slurp down the bold and warm notes of licorice tea, my heart bubbles with assurance and affection. I am part of the family. I even have the tea to prove it.
The human heart craves affirmation and affection. Careers can be a means of promotion or pats on the back. Relationships are often a means of reaching for affirmation. The heart has a voracious appetite for approval—a craving for affection that outpaces the appetite of a weightlifter for protein. The eyes of the heart will look high and low for a perfect love. But the answer to the heart’s hunt for affection can only be found in divine adoption. Even greater than a marriage making the outsider an insider, faith in Christ makes one a son or daughter of the divine Father. The ever-restless eyes of the heart need to see this eternal embrace. That’s exactly why Paul prays for such sight for the church in Ephesus.
I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might. (Eph. 1:16–19)
The good news of God’s grace to forgive, redeem, adopt, seal, and even lavish his love upon the lowly and lacking-in-love-for-God sinners is almost too hard to believe. But the Apostle Paul longs for these people to appreciate God’s amazing grace. This prayer is a declaration of dependence asking God to display these truths deeply in the believer’s heart. Asking “the Father of glory” to use the Holy Spirit’s illuminating power in pursuit of spiritual sight, to see spiritually the grand hope of eternal life, the glorious riches of eternal love, and the great power of an eternal Lord. The second of three supplications asks for an appreciation of adopting love from the heavenly Father, a love that shows God prizes his people as precious.
But is this true? Does God really count his people as his inheritance? The gift he’s looking forward to for all eternity? Yes! Greater than a billionaire basking in extravagance is the gladness God has in sinners becoming his sons and daughters. He prizes people more than possessions. What’s the proof? God is always willing to pay the highest cost to purchase his people. The Beloved drank the cup of God’s just wrath against sin as a perfect substitute—then declared all who believe in him are forgiven and purchased from eternal Hell and headed to a heavenly home (Rev. 21:3).
But you might be thinking, what about me? What about my past struggles in sin? What about the entire wardrobe of skeletons in my closet haunting every fleeting thought? What about my present suffering? How do I know God loves me despite all my wrongs and all that seems wrong? I’ve confessed Christ. But does he love me as his child?
Yes.
He has.
He does.
He always will.
How? In the Beloved.
Paul prefaced his prayer for spiritual sight with a parade of praise in verses 3–14. He exults in having “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” through faith “in the Beloved.” Confidence in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is exclusively able and sufficiently comprehensive to bring eternal blessing to the broken and battered. More unearned than the cup of tea from Bob is the grace of new life and love from God—a precious status proven by God’s paternal pursuit of the lowly and lost chronicled all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
Amidst the Edenic ecstasy of the pre-Fall world, Adam and Eve rebelled instead of revering their Creator. They held God too lowly and, due to their sin, should have been condemned eternally. They forsook their heavenly Father. But in grace, God came to them. He spoke to them. “But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” (Gen 3:9). His question evidenced awareness of their atrocity, yet also signaled the start of a pursuit for reconciliation. That question was followed by gracious clothing in animal skins and a promise for a serpent-crushing and peace-bringing Savior, a promise and pursuit of his people that continued as the scene shifted from Edenic to Egyptian exile.
Adam and Eve entered a spiritual exile. Israel later wandered through physical exile. After four hundred years of slavery in Egypt, God delivered his people from hardship and hopelessness. Despite Israel being “the fewest of peoples,” God declared his divine affection for them as ministered by Moses in Deuteronomy 7:6, “The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession.” The talk of “treasured” reveals a tenor of tender affection from the mighty God who has an equally merciful heart.
Furthermore, God declared his heart for his chosen children via the prophetic utterance of Isaiah. In the great section of hope, the reader can relish the rich affirmation of affection heard in Isaiah 43:4, “Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.” Despite being forsaken by his created children, the heavenly Father decreed his delight for his people. Amidst their fears, God uttered his faithful fondness through the language of affection: precious, honored, loved. Only a Father’s heart for his children could say such sweet truths.
This reality is astounding.
Life changing.
Shame silencing.
Contentment inducing.
Peace giving.
But do the eyes of your heart see this? Do you see that being God’s inheritance is more valuable than the next promotion, possession, or affirmation?
Do these promises provide the love you need when you see that cutting email or hurtful text message in your inbox? Do these words show your heart how much God loves his people—a God who stops at nothing to invade Eden, Egypt, and eventually Calvary’s hill with a Savior who lived, died, and rose to bring God’s people home?
Do you see the cross as able to cancel out the internal accusations of shame that haunt your past? Do you see the imputed righteousness of Christ as your new outfit for all time? Do you see the heart of a heavenly Father when you see the words of “precious, honored, and loved?” Do the eyes of your heart see the eternal affirmation and affection that can only come from a heavenly Father?
Appreciate God’s amazing grace. Gaze upon the wondrous cross of Christ. Consider the love that compelled the Beloved’s sacrifice for sinners. Drink these truths deep into your soul until. Rest in assurance of your heavenly Father’s unchanging affection for those in Christ.
Jamison Parker is the husband to Jenn, father to Josiah and Ezra, and serves as a biblical counselor with Anchored Hope.