Scripture Notes on Psalm 89
If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules, if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes, but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness. (Psalm 89:30-33)
You are not powerful enough to change God’s feelings towards you. Nothing you do or don’t do, say or don’t say can make Him stop loving you. It’s impossible.
Why? Because God’s love for you is based on His promise, not your performance.
In fact, His love for you is so great that He sent His own Son to be punished with the rod in your place. He let His own Son receive stripes from the lash in your place. He sent His own Son to die on the cross in your place, for your sins, so that you could be reconciled to God for eternity.
Jesus paid all of that price -and more- because He loves you, and so no amount of failure on your part can outweigh the grace on His.
Does God discipline His children so they will learn and grow? Like any good father, yes. But does God turn away from you in anger when you sin? Does He hold out on you as punishment until you get your act together? Absolutely not!
Because of Jesus’ finished work on the cross, if you’re in Christ, God still loves you when you sin.
-Pastor Phillip
