The Divine Love of God: Are You Accepting or Rejecting It?

By Jeannette E. Saucy

The whole earth is filled with God’s glory. God has made Himself evident to all of us by what He has created. This God loves you and wants you to respond to Him with your love. But how can you respond when you don’t know Him and what He has done to show His love for you? This book is written to tell you about God—His character and that He loves you no matter who you are or what you have done. He has a plan and purpose for your life. This is not a god who demands hard work from you to appease him or her to gain approval. This is the non-condemning, forgiving God of the Bible who wants you to know Him and accept the work that He has done for you. It is my hope that the truth of God’s love will be made real to you and you make the decision to accept God’s divine love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ambassador International
• Release date: Nov 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9781620204795

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The Divine Love of God

© 2016 by Jeannette E. Saucy

All rights reserved

ISBN: 978-1-62020-555-6

eISBN: 978-1-62020-479-5

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible. Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973 by the Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version. Copyright 1909, 1917 by Oxford University Press American Branch.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982, 1988 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1978 by New York International Bible Society.

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This book is dedicated to the memory of my beloved brother, Dr. Robert L. Saucy.

To my friend, Barbara Piedmont, I wish to express my gratitude for your constant encouragement and support throughout the writing of this book.

I extend my sincere gratitude to Ambassador International for the gracious and patient helpfulness given to me as we worked together to publish this book.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright Information

Dedication

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1: Character of Jesus

Chapter 2: Biblical Forgiveness

Chapter 3: Love Yourself

Chapter 4: Faith

Chapter 5: Jesus, Our Savior and Lord

Conclusion

Bibliography

Contact Information

PREFACE

WHILE I WAS WRITING THIS book, I tried to think of a title that would draw people’s interest and arouse their curiosity. I had several ideas but as I studied the Bible and understood more about God—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—I came to realize that the most important decision we make in life is whether we accept or reject God’s divine love. Our life is built upon what we believe about God.

God showed us His love through the life of His Son, Jesus.

He gave us His Word, the Bible, when He chose certain men to be led by the Holy Spirit to write His message to us.

This triune God draws us to Himself, and it is our response to Him that determines how we live our lives on earth and where we will spend eternity.

I have shared some personal anecdotes that show how I learned about this love. However, it was by my reading and studying the Bible that God’s Spirit gave me an understanding of God’s gracious gift of love toward me and all humanity.

It is this divine love of God that I wish to convey to you in the hope that you will accept His love and come to love Him in return.

INTRODUCTION

IT TOOK ME WHAT SEEMS like forever to realize that I couldn’t live the Christian life—a life that glorifies God in all I think, say, and do—by reading the Bible, praying, going to church, and trying with all my resolve to do so.

I tried to please God and everybody with whom I associated. I failed miserably. But since complaining was taboo, I kept up a relatively pleasant false front to the outside world, while feeling guilty and hypocritical for not living up to what I thought were God’s standards. There was always a deep and wide chasm between my actual life and the way I thought I should live.

Reading the Bible and praying became a chore, and I had a constant feeling of self-condemnation. There was little joy or hope in my life, but oh, how I tried to conjure up these feelings through positive thinking.

Finally, one day in a moment of hopelessness and honesty, I just told God, It’s too hard to live the Christian life. I’m miserable and feeling guilty because I can’t live up to Your standards. It’s impossible!

It was shortly after this outburst of truthfulness that I picked up the Bible and read the Gospel of Mark.

How different I found Jesus to be from the idea I’d previously had of Him. I sat and wondered for a while. It seemed to me that before, when I had read from the Gospels of the Bible, my mind had been elsewhere. This time I was overwhelmed by how Jesus lived and related to God and all humanity.

I had heard so much about Jesus being meek and lowly that I thought these were His main characteristics. But as I read the Gospels, I became much more aware of His dignity, kingliness, unfailing love, and kindness.

Jesus was in command, yet He respectfully took note of all people who came to Him with their concerns. When He disagreed with them, He spoke the truth in love.

He openly stood against evil and hypocrisy because of the destructiveness both cause in the life of each person and then, in turn, to all society.

These attributes of Jesus came across to me not as lowliness but as strength, self-respect, and a deep sensitivity toward all people.

Jesus was meek and lowly before God. His obedience to God in every aspect of His earthly life showed His humbleness in His relationship with His Father.

It is Jesus’ obedience to God and His loving-kindness for all people that made Him so appealing to me. And by His life, I began to learn of the divine love of God, His holiness, justice, and, yes, His severity toward my sins.

Learning of God’s love changed my life. I started to realize His love and care are continually with me. The amazing truth is that He knows me through and through and yet, He still loves me.

As I studied the Bible, I learned where we get the strength to live a God-honoring life and that it is a growth process. We are never going to reach perfection here on earth. However, if we truly respond to God’s love, we will want to please and honor Him.

As I studied the life of Jesus, I began to understand how we show our love toward God, our neighbors, and ourselves.

I gained a nearness to God that I had not had before when I studied the Bible. I found that it has practical answers to many of life’s difficulties, and this increased my desire to learn more from God’s Word.

However, the preeminent reason for reading and studying the Bible is to get to know God. We have to know Him before we can really love, trust, and stay true to Him. And to get this knowledge, we must meet and get to know His Son, Jesus Christ.

In the first chapter, I’ve quoted Jesus to establish what He said about Himself and His relationship to God. You can accept or reject what He said concerning Himself, but you have to know what He said and really understand His words in order to make an intelligent decision about Him. Only you can make this decision; no one can make it for you.

It is my sincere desire that by reading this short book, God’s love will be made real to you and that you will respond to His love with your love and accept His Son, Jesus, as your Savior and Lord.

CHAPTER 1

CHARACTER OF JESUS

WHO IS JESUS—THE ONE who came to earth with truth and grace and changed the hearts and minds of men and women everywhere?

He came into the world as a babe in a manger, grew up in the home of a carpenter, and amazed the teachers in the temple with His understanding of Scripture at the age of twelve. He loved, taught, helped, and healed people and yet, His words and actions caused strong divisions among all who heard Him.

Multitudes followed Him while He lived on earth, but in the end, multitudes stood by and watched as He was crucified.

There are still strong divisions about Him today.

Some call Him a good man and believe His words. Many call Him good but don’t believe His words.

Some have faith in Him and trust that He is the only way to God. Others want all things that remind them of Him out of sight and banished forever.

Men and women die for professing His name while others scorn Him and use His name as a curse.

Many know and love Jesus and have asked Him to be their Savior and Lord. Many don’t know the real Jesus and because they don’t, they remain totally indifferent to Him.

How does the Bible present this Jesus? How did He relate to God and all people as He walked on earth?

I found Jesus to be unbelievably attractive in character. He had enormous energy. He loved people and showed it by His actions toward them. He stood for truth and was not hesitant in proclaiming it. He had a forthright manner, yet a loving grace accompanied it. He listened to people.

Most importantly, I learned that the overriding attribute of Jesus was His dedication to do God’s will and to reveal His relationship to Him. He absolutely would not let anyone or anything deter Him from glorifying God, His Father.

Let’s look at some