Will God’s Love Ever Run Out?
How many times will I confess the same thing? Is there a limit to God’s grace, and can I screw up everything to the point where God doesn’t want to use me anymore.
These questions are not foreign to me and I assume maybe not for some of you as well. We try our absolute hardest to be the best fathers, husbands, workers, friends, sons, and brothers we can be. And yet, sometimes, we fail.
We want to please God.
We want to be good.
We want to stop doing what hurts us the most.
However, we’re not perfect. Not even close.
So I ask myself, “Will God’s love ever run out for me?” Can God still use me for His glory?
Honestly, this is a matter that I’ve wrestled with for as long as I can remember. It seemed that the bar for excellence was so high, that I just never could maintain it. I’d find a routine of prayer and reading Scriptures and feel really good. I would be joyful, energetic, enthusiastic about my faith, and optimistic about the future God has for me.
This would go on for a time, and then inevitably a stressor or “bad thing” would happen and cause me to lose my footing. I’d start not praying as much, not spending time with God in any way really, and then frustration would build. My old wounds would surface and the pain that I thought had scarred over would reopen. Doubt came followed by old habits.
Not again.
I thought I had conquered those things. Why do they still show up? I was doing so good, what happened.
“I guess this means I’m just not called to be a leader, because why would God want someone like me to lead anyone.”
STOP
How many times has that broken track played in your head? I know it’s played too often in mine. Fortunately for us, we have the beautiful wonders of Scripture to realign us and the history of faith to confirm it.
We need to remind ourselves that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). And what else do we know about love? “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
“Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:8)
There is no limit to God’s love. Period.
He always loved you, still loves you, and ALWAYS will.
If you need some more encouragement, we are in good company with some messed up dudes being used by God. Did we ever hear about St. Peter? He wasn’t exactly an MVP most of the time.
A man who defied God when it mattered most. A man who doubted. A man who struggled with what it meant to be “good”. And yet, Christ said to him, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 16:19)
Another man, who I am personally glad we have as an example is King David. In Scripture he is referred to as “a man after [God’s] own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14), but do we want to just glance at some of his stats? King David, the guy who lusted so much after another man’s wife that he had him killed just so he could be with her. Yeesh. We got adultery and murder on the table, and yet. God’s love didn’t dry up. He still used King David for greater glory.
Now this isn’t one big excuse to say, “Oh good, I can do whatever I want and God will still love me.” That’s not the direction that leads anyone to happiness, peace, or any sort of long lasting fulfillment.
This is our call to see Love for who He is. To not separate ourselves further from Him when we mess up, but to run back!
We are not alone in our struggles, we are loved by God, and there is still a plan for each of us.
So if you’ve ever wondered if God’s love has a limit, if maybe you’ve finally run out of chances, you haven’t. He’s still with you. You’re still in the fight. And there’s still a path forward. You are loved. You are not alone. And God isn’t finished with your story.