Everlasting Love

READ

Have you ever loved someone who pushed you away? Perhaps a child going through a rebellious phase, a friend making destructive choices, or a family member trapped in addiction? In today’s passage, that tension—loving deeply while being rejected—gives us a glimpse into God's heart throughout human history.

Let’s take a moment to read Jeremiah 31:3:

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:

“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
    I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”

REFLECT

The book of Jeremiah chronicles one of Israel's darkest chapters. God's people had broken their covenant repeatedly, embracing idols and injustice until divine discipline became inevitable. Jerusalem would fall, and exile would follow. Yet precisely in this moment of national catastrophe, God speaks these tender words of everlasting love.

The timing is extraordinary. It would be like a parent whispering words of undying affection to a child who had just emptied the family bank account and wrecked the car. The natural response would be anger, disappointment, perhaps even temporary disowning. Instead, God reaffirms the unbreakable bond that transcends the immediate crisis.

The Hebrew word for "everlasting" (olam) stretches beyond our time-bound thinking. It describes love without beginning or end, love that existed before we did and will continue regardless of our response. This isn't the conditional affection we typically experience—"I'll love you as long as you make me happy"—but love rooted in God's unchanging character rather than our fluctuating worthiness.

Notice the perfect tense: "I have loved you." This isn't a new development or a sudden decision. God isn't saying, "I will start loving you once you get your act together." The love has always been there, operating continuously even during seasons of separation and discipline.

The second half of the verse reveals how this love works in practice: "I have drawn you with unfailing kindness." The image is gentle yet persistent—not forcing or manipulating, but drawing like a magnetic pull. The Hebrew word translated "unfailing kindness" (chesed) is nearly untranslatable in its richness, combining loyal love, covenant faithfulness, and steadfast mercy into one concept.

This drawing is what theologians call "prevenient grace"—God's loving initiative that works in our hearts before we even recognize it. Long before we take a single step toward God, His kindness is already pulling us homeward. Like a parent who leaves the porch light on for a wayward child, God's welcoming love precedes our return.

What makes this message so powerful is that it comes through Jeremiah, often called "the weeping prophet." This isn't cheap sentimentality from someone ignoring sin's reality. Jeremiah had unflinchingly proclaimed coming judgment and wept over Jerusalem's rebellion. Yet through his tears, he delivers this assurance that punishment isn't God's final word.

This pattern repeats throughout Scripture: sin brings genuine separation, but love creates the pathway back. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the father lets his son experience the consequences of his choices but watches the horizon daily, waiting to run toward him at the first sign of return. In the cross of Christ, we see both sin's serious cost and love's greater power—judgment and mercy meeting in perfect harmony.

God's love doesn't minimize our sin; it overwhelms it. Like an ocean that can absorb countless pollutants while remaining an ocean, God's everlasting love absorbs our rebellion without being diminished by it. This isn't because sin doesn't matter, but because God's love is infinitely greater.

What does this mean for us? Simply this: no matter how far you've wandered, how deeply you've sinned, or how long you've been running, you haven't outrun God's love. The separation sin causes is real but temporary. The love that draws you home is everlasting.

Perhaps right now you feel the weight of separation from God. Your sins feel too numerous, your heart too hardened, your wandering too prolonged for restoration to be possible. Jeremiah 31:3 speaks directly to that despair with extraordinary hope: God's love for you hasn't diminished one degree during your absence. The porch light is still on. The magnetic pull of divine kindness still operates. The journey home remains possible because love has never stopped making a way back.

RESPOND

Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you read.

• When have you experienced someone continuing to love you despite your rejection or failures? How might this help you understand God's everlasting love?

• If God has "drawn you with unfailing kindness," what specific acts of kindness in your life may have been God gently pulling you toward Himself?

REST

Take a moment to rest in God’s presence and consider one thing you can take away from your time reading, then close your devotional experience by praying:

Father of unfailing love, thank you for loving me long before I even thought of loving you back. I'm amazed that nothing I've done has diminished your affection for me. Help me to stop running from your embrace and instead rest in the security of your everlasting love that has been drawing me home all along. Amen.