Understanding God's Love – Part 4

2. The Providential Love of God

When God had finished creating the universe as we know it, He described it as being "very good." His love and care for His creation can be seen throughout the Bible. This feature of God's love – namely, God's providential love – is often referred to as His common grace.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "[The Father] causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45). Similarly, when Paul and Barnabas were preaching in Lystra, they proclaimed to the worshipers of Zeus that "in the generations gone by [God] permitted all the nations to go their own ways, and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness (Acts 14:16-17). God's providential love was enjoyed by people of all nations and all religions.

When Jesus Christ walked on the earth, He indiscriminately healed the sick, delivered the demon-possessed, raised the dead, provided for the hungry, and showed care to outcasts. His love for people was not dependent upon their ethnicity, lifestyle, or religious affiliation. He showered thousands of people with His providential love. These thousands are representative of the billions of people that are, in a cumulative sense, the second object of God's love.

God's common grace – His providential love – means that believers and unbelievers throughout the centuries have been able to enjoy the fruit of the earth and the joys of life. God built into every single man and woman the ability to enjoy music, art, food, poetry, beauty, architecture, sexual fulfilment, laughter, scientific discovery, medical breakthroughs, the love of a child, the satisfaction of a hard day's work, and the safety of living under God-ordained government that enforces social justice. Of course, this is not to say that all people have enjoyed all of these joys all of the time in every century and in every location, but it does mean that when they have, it's because God has showered them with His providential love.

Now, while Trinitarian love may be described as God's perfect love and His providential love may be considered a natural outflow of God's appreciation for His creation, the true potential of God's agapē love remained untested until it was confronted by a fallen, hard-hearted, and unresponsive world. Next, I'll look at God's love for sinful beings.