Full Gospel Church / Wayne Parks Ministries

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Made to Love

Introduction

There was a song written and performed by Toby Mack, published in 2006, entitled “Made to Love.” He sings of the wonderful relationship that God intends to have between Him and each one of us. He quite often repeats a powerful line: “I was made to love you.” Like a modern-day Psalmist, he sings of heartfelt love toward God. A video recording of one performance of this song shows the high spirit and intimacy of worship by the audience. Watching it truly pulls on the heart and draws one into the music and into a spirit of worship of God. It is powerful!

When moments like that occur, you can see the manifestation of God’s love toward people and the response of those who love Him. There is a very real intimacy that cannot be adequately explained. Nothing on earth can compare to the satisfaction that one derives from a true intimacy. And no human intimacy can compare to what God gives to those who live in a spirit of worship of Him.

(Click here to see a powerful live performance of "Made to Love" by Toby Mack. You can return here when finished to continue reading this article. Note: There are two Java script errors that may appear in your browser. The script is downloaded from another website and presents no problem other than displaying messages. Just click through the error messages to continue and watch the video.)

The Distraction and Its Consequences

The immediate distraction to this unhindered spirit of intimacy with God is the sinful nature. It began in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve enjoyed a full and unhindered relationship with each other and with God. Each day, the Lord would manifest Himself to them in the cool of the day. They enjoyed life and enjoyed God’s Presence. And God blessed them with peace, health, provision, and of course Himself. They were fully satisfied with life.

But then the serpent came. He planted doubt about God and His love for them. Eve was deceived with a lie, and in her confusion she disobeyed the only rule that God had laid down for the couple. Then she led Adam into sin. From that moment everything changed. Their defiled minds caused them to perceive shame. When God confronted them about the failure, Adam blamed the woman, and the woman blamed the serpent. Their free and unhindered intimacy with each other had been destroyed; so had their intimacy with God. And the couple was now defiled with the knowledge of good and evil—they now had a sinful nature.

The serious consequences began almost immediately. Cain killed his brother Abel. Murder was added to humanity in the days of Adam’s own sons. With time the population increased; but so did evil. There came a point when all of civilization was corrupt with sin: “The wickedness of man was great in the earth, and…every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen 6:5 ESV). So judgment came in the form of a global Flood and destroyed all life except for Noah, his family, and a large variety of animals.

After the Flood, man’s turning to evil continued. From the days of the Sumerians—the earliest post-Flood civilization—to today, violence and war, and all kinds of sin and evil have continued. The intended intimacy of love toward God and toward each other has been overshadowed by the depraved expressions of the human sinful nature. Instead of love, man has engaged in the coldness and darkness of all kinds of evil.

Unfortunately,the sinful human nature is a disease of the soul that cannot be cured in this life. Politics and government, philosophy—and its modern medical twin, psychology—science, the arts, and even religion, cannot change the sinful nature of the human heart. The violent, destructive history of man proves the point. Man has been distracted with sin, and he cannot of himself recover the beauty and satisfaction of full intimacy in relationship that God originally gave him. It is impossible.

Restoration and Its Impact

But here is where God’s faithful love really shines. When pronouncing judgment in the Garden against the sins of Adam, Eve, and the serpent, the Lord established a procedure to recover the man and his wife from the consequences of their failure—Plan of Redemption. God purposed to redeem man from his sin. He was going to send a Descendent of Eve who would crush the head of the seed of the serpent. In the proper time in history, a Redeemer would come and destroy the works of Satan in people’s lives—that Redeemer was Jesus Christ. But it was declared in the Garden that the seed of the serpent would bruise the Redeemer’s heal. Satan would be allowed to kill the Redeemer; however, that death would be accepted by God as the ransom payment for sin; the payment in full for the Plan of Redemption.

Since the payment was promised in advanced, it allowed God to implement the Plan immediately. Man began making sacrifices—animals and sometimes plants, but not human—which were accepted as acts of worship or as a temporary substitution as a payment for sin. As well, God was now free to interact with sinful man again, though only in the context of the Plan of Redemption. One interesting highlight in the days before the Flood was Enoch, seventh from Adam through Seth. The Bible says, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him” (Gen. 5:24). His attitude was one of worshipping God; he had a true heart toward God, even with his sinful nature. God honored the man’s intimate spiritual walk; Enoch was translated into Glory. And near the end of those pre-Flood days, Noah, a righteous man, found favor with God. That favor saved him and his family when the entire civilization was annihilated in judgment by the Flood.

About 2000 years after Adam, God began a long campaign of revelation to man. It began with Abraham. God called him and established a covenant of faith to provide a means of intimacy between God and man. Later, He called Moses and established a covenant of law with the Israelites. Finally, God sent His own Son, the One promised in the Garden of Eden, to die for sin. Fifty days later, on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fell upon 120 disciples of Christ. Through the Lamb of Sacrifice (Jesus on the Cross) and the outpouring of God’s Spirit on Pentecost, God established the covenant of spirit. Now, God is able to empower followers of Christ by the Holy Spirit to live a righteous life in faith.

All the legal aspects of relationship between God and man have now been satisfied; the Plan of Redemption has been fully paid for and fully implemented. Now, one can have an intimate relationship with God. Now, one can truly live in godly love. Now, one can share that love with others. You and I, by the power of God’s Spirit and the truth of God’s Word, can live lives of love and righteousness before God and man. It is not only possible but doable.

Conclusion

Toby Mack says it well with the words of his song: “I was made to love and be loved by You.” We were made to love and be loved by God in the fullest of intimacy. You and I were made to have that intimate connection with Him; to worship Him, to honor Him, and to experience His very real Presence and activity in our lives. God loves you. He reaches out to you with His Spirit and His Word. He wants you in an intimate relationship with Him. And from the intimacy of that relationship, He wants you to reach out and love others. God wants you to live in the fullest satisfaction of a life of godly love. You and I were made to love.

Rev. Pat Reynolds
Wayne Parks Ministries

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