# UNBREAKABLE CHORD OF DIVINE LOVE ## Introduction I welcome you all to this special service this morning. If Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour tarries His second coming, may we enjoy many glorious services like this in the name of Jesus. Amen. At the beginning of this month, our Father in heaven gave us a great theme titled, The Love of God, so that we can ponder on His love for us and appropriate the numerous promises of that divine love. Our reflections on this love of God have led us to appreciate the depth, width, length, and height of the love of God. This morning we shall continue where we stopped two weeks ago to ponder and appreciate this love of God in a message titled, The Unbreakable Chord of Divine Love. ## Divine versus Human Love Love has been regarded as the greatest human emotions. When there is genuine love between two people, it is without any doubt a wonderful experience. It is like an invisible strong chord or rope is binding two souls together. There is a strong similarity between human love and divine love in the sense that there is an invisible strong bond that binds two people together, and also binds us to our loving Father. What differentiates divine love from human love is the strength of this bond. Human bond of love can be broken, divine bond is unbreakable. However strong the chord of human love may be, it can break, and it will break! For one thing, death separates. Apart from death, two people may genuinely fall in love, get married and the whole world will say this is a marriage made in heaven, and then after a few years the union ends in divorce. ## Nothing Can Separate us From the Love of God Paul the Apostle makes this fact very clear in his letter to the Romans by reminding his readers that nothing, meaning nobody or any situation, can separate us from the love of God: *"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 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 8:38-39). Top on this list of Paul's illustration is the fact that not even death can separate us from the love of God. Earlier, I mentioned that even with the best of human love, death is a sure separator. But when we look at it carefully in the case of divine love, death only unites us with our maker rather than separate us from His love. ## Our Imperfection Cannot Break the Divine Chord of Love While Paul talks mainly on external factors not being able to break the chord of divine love, Jesus teaches us a deeper lesson that even internal factors, that is, our behavior and imperfections, cannot break that wonderful chord of divine love. This fact is illustrated in the teaching of Jesus in the well known 'Parable of the Prodigal Son.' Many biblical scholars have suggested that this parable should actually be called, 'The Parable of the Loving Father' because the story illustrates the extravagant love of God for us even when through our own actions and faults we are lost. ### The Prodigal Son's Demand Here we have a father who has two sons. The younger son suddenly decided he has had enough of the comfort and security that the home provided and wanted his father to give him his own share of his inheritance. *"The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate'"* (Luke 15:12a). This is an outrageous demand because the culture of the Jews at that time frown seriously at such horrific demand. It is like saying, "Papa I want you dead. I can't wait for you to die." The father could have dismissed the demand and scolded him. But he did not do any of these! He simply obliged the young man. By so doing, the father preserved the chord of love between him and his son. ### The Son's Wild Living *"So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set forth for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living"* (v. 12b-13). In a sense we are all like that younger son. We are always grieving our heavenly Father through our sinful attitude of leaving His presence to do things our own way. The older brother gave us more detailed information about the wild life the younger brother lived - he was partying with women of easy virtue. Even at that, the father's heart was always with the lost son, hoping he will come home someday. That is why when the son finally came back, it was the father who saw him first from afar. ### The Father's Response When the prodigal son decided to return home, he prepared a well calibrated speech. But there is a big twist in the story here. It seems as if the father has been on the lookout for him right after he left home. The old man was always looking forward to the time his son will come back home. *"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him"* (Luke 15:20). The father did not turn his back to a prodigal son who has given him a lot of sleepless nights. He did not give him a stern lecture on his wrongdoings. Rather, he accepted him back and clothed him without questioning. The love of the father for his son is so lavish that we can call it extravagant love. ## What Should We Do About This Unchanging Love? Children of God, I am sure you are already appreciating the depth of this divine love and realizing that God loves you and will love you no matter what. The question I want you to ponder on this morning is what do you do with this eternal fact. Do not take that love for granted, or worse still, try to exploit that love for selfish purpose. Our reaction should be one of gratitude for this great gift of unbreakable, unchanging and unrelenting love. It should motivate us to love God in return with all we have. In Matthew chapter 12, verses 30-31, Jesus commanded his followers: *"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'"* (Matthew 12: 30-31). ## Conclusion Children of God, as I bring this sermon to a close, love is in the air! The promises of the love of God will be yours. And so, I want us to pray this prayer together: "Father, I thank you for the message you have sent to me today, reminding me of how much you love me. I have come to a new realization that no external 'who' or 'what' can break the chord of your divine love in my life. I appreciate the love you have for me. And I ask you to give me the grace to love you more and more with all my soul and strength. Let me be a reflecting mirror of your love to my fellow human beings. Thank you, loving Father. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen."