It takes humility to receive God’s love. Why? Because we can’t earn it.

Not that we don’t try. Even people who know God loves us unconditionally can’t help trying to earn his love. It’s because we don’t just want to be loved; we want to be good enough to be loved. We want to show that we deserve God’s love for all the good and special things we do.

The fact is, we really are worthy of His love, but not by our own works or goodness. We are worthy because He has deemed us so, out of His own love and goodness. But that’s hardly satisfying when what we really want is to show Him, “By golly, I’m good enough!”

It’s Called Legalism

The idea we can work our way into God’s favor is called legalism. Of all the errors Christians have made down the ages, both in doctrine and in practice, legalism has been our favorite. It was the Pharisees’ favored error, too. We dream up doctrines that say that our works can make us worthy.

Of course they can’t. We can’t do anything to make ourselves worthy before God. We’re just not in His league that way. Not even in the same ball park, not in the same galaxy. Sorry if that crushes your pride; it’s crushed mine, too.

The great news is that God loves us anyway! But some of us have trouble even with that. I think that might be — though it’s dangerous to say — because there is something of a paradoxical insult in the way God loves us.

If we could stand before Him, you see, and tell him, “Thank you very much, God, for your love; and of course everyone can certainly see what I’ve done to earn it” — if we could only say that, now that would be something to be proud of. We could really feel good about ourselves!

But that’s not how it is. We could never face God that way; not without first shrinking Him down to our size for, say, a man-to-man talk or some such thing. But a God we could shrink would no longer be the object of our worship. He’d be the subject of our manipulation instead.

Legalism As Manipulation

And I think that’s often what legalism is about: manipulating God, trying to get on His good side, so that we can get good things from Him or feel good and special about ourselves. Every teenager can sense manipulation a mile away, though; how much more do you suppose God will see it and resist it?

Yet here’s the astonishing thing: We try to shrink God to our size so we can impress him — and how God must laugh at that! — yet he emptied himself (Phil. 2:5-8), and in a sense shrank Himself down to our size. It was on His initiative, not ours. And that makes all the difference. He was born a babe in a stable, grew up in a craftsman’s home, wandered for a few years and taught a rather small band of followers. He did it on our level.

In the course of all this He met two kinds of responses. Some people insisted on being impressive before him. He defeated them both by argument and by His works. Some, however, saw the grandeur of God in Him, and He set them on a course toward a Kingdom.

And still today, it is those who humble themselves before Him who will be lifted up.

The Humility of Being Loved

For many of us, the hardest part of all this is knowing it’s His own goodness, not ours, that motivates God to love us. We need not earn it; we never could earn it; but for those who want real love, He gives it abundantly and without measure. It comes with just one condition: that we accept it on His terms, not on our own. Because our terms aren’t good enough. Only His are.

Humbled? Insulted, even? Then you get the point. Looking for God’s love anyway? Then bear the insult, if it seems that way to you. Look to Him for His goodness, and enjoy His unconditional favor. He gives it to show His own goodness, not to make us look good.

Thank God, though — He gives it!