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REFLECTION
God’s love for all of us is the theme for our reflection. God’s love for all of us means God cares and provides for all people and desires all to be saved. We shall reflect on two facts:
1. God’s love for is existential and Universal
2. God’s love is eternal.

Beloved in the Lord, God’s love for all of us is existential and universal. God’s existential and universal love for us all means that because God is our creator, He cares and provides for our physical or earthly needs. In other words, regardless of our religion and object of worship. God is faithful and loves us all because we are His creation. It is for this reason Paul addressed the Athenians, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. ²⁵ And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. ²⁶ From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. (Acts 17:24-26) In other words, God’s love is universal and extends to all people whether or not they acknowledge him as God or not. Jesus further draws our attention to God’s existential and universal love when said “He(God) causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:45). Dear friend, God loves all of us regardless of our racial and religious differences and provides for us in our various geographical locations. Again, God’s existential and universal love is avail to us even if we are unfaithful to Him.

Secondly, God’s love for us all is eternal. However, this eternal love is not available to all people. Paul teaches us how we can become beneficiaries of God’s eternal when said to the Athenians “God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ²⁸ ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ (Acts 17:27-28)” In other words, the existential and universal love of God must draw us closer to the eternal love of God. The existential and universal love concerns our physical and current needs while the eternal love concerns our salvation and eternal life. To demonstrate God’s eternal love for us all, Jesus said in John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17). Beloved in the Lord, our mere existence as human beings created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27) qualifies us all for God’s existential and universal love but it takes only our repentance and faith in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour to qualify or be justified for God’s eternal love. Unfortunately, many of us yearn for God’s existential love but not for His eternal love. Peter reminds us through his confession that “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favouritism ³⁵ but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.” (Acts 10:34-35). Dear friend in the Lord, some of us often go to church only to pray about our prosperity, material abundance and earthly needs which are the products of God’s existential love but we are unwilling to repent and yearn for His eternal love and salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus admonishes us to seek first God’s eternal love and His existential love shall also be experienced when He said “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:31-33). In other words, God’s existential and universal love will come to an end when we die or depart from the world but His eternal love is endless to those who believe and have been saved through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The eternal love of God is profoundly expressed by Paul when he wrote, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39) It is for this reason Paul yearned for God’s eternal love the more when he was getting close to his departure from this broken and unjust world. He wrote to Timothy encouraging him, “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day —and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

In conclusion, we have meditated on the theme ” God’s love for all of us” In our reflection, we have discovered that God’s love for us all can be understood from two dimensions. Firstly, God’s love for us is existential and universal and secondly, God’s love for us is eternal. His existential or universal love is available to all His creations regardless of one’s race and religion but His eternal love is for those who have been saved through our Lord Jesus Christ. Shalom.

PRAYER
Almighty God, we surrender our lives to You and desire to first and foremost, experience Your eternal love through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Grant us the passion, wisdom and discernment to yearn for Your eternal love by seeking first Your Kingdom and Your righteousness even us You continue to provide our daily bread and earthly needs through Your existential and universal love. Amen