Deserving

[~Zao~]

Somehow it must be a deserving of reward. That’s all I’m saying. I’m not saying it’s of our own doing, but that service to Him is somehow calculated as being worthwhile or not.

I’m also not saying that He doesn’t love those less who are not promoted in that way. Probably off topic too.

 

[fhansen]

So there’s nothing deserving except that which is deserving.

Okie dokie.

Any worth that we or any other part of creation has comes from Him. He sets the rules, not us.

 

[Lulav]

How does that make us deserving?

We are his children not to mention that he put us in the situation where the tree was.

 

[Neogaia777]

for discussion


Is there anything in us or about us that make us deserving of the Father’s love?

No... but some would say He has some kind of obligation or commitment to us for creating us this way...

Did He create us "this way" though...?

Or did things happen to or with us that He did not intend or expect, that was or is our own doing...?

In that case, one has to ask whether or not there were things He did not know, if He did not expect or intend them, ect...?

Which makes me ask, or begs the question as to which God/god we are talking about here...?

God Bless!

 

[Bible Highlighter]

Is there anything in us or about us that make us deserving of the Father’s love?

Yes, God sees value in us in the fact that we are made in the image of God, we are sons of God (via from Adam), and in the fact that we can be made into vessels of honor for the purposes of God's glory.

Yes, it is true that God died for us while we were yet sinners, but God did not die for us to remain as sinners but to be new creations in His image.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11).

18 "And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator." (1 Peter 4:18-19).​

I mean, why would God reward us for our acts of obedience if we are not deserving of His love? It makes no sense.

Why would God die for nothing that has value? God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that we can have eternal life. This eternal life involves us living a Sanctified and holy life here and giving glory to Him. God knows the future and He wants us to be deserving and worthy of Him.

The time that we are said not to be worthy of Him is when Jesus says:

"He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:37).

"And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:38).

 

[ilovejcsog]

If we were Jesus we would be.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

Is there anything in us or about us that make us deserving of the Father’s love?

Popular Christendom says... "no."

But Jesus says:

"Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." (Matthew 10:31).

 

[Neogaia777]

How are we defining "deserving" here...?

As in He owes us it...?

God Bless!

 

[Neogaia777]

How are we defining "deserving" here...?

As in He owes us it...?

God Bless!

Christ made/makes us deserving, but God does not owe us anything...

The mystery of Christ making us deserving, is mysterious indeed, and is part of the bigger picture of the greater mystery...

It is not us in and of our own selves that is deserving of anything from God at all...

God Bless!

 

[Ignatius the Kiwi]

No. We aren't owed anything. That probably makes the fact of the Father's love all the more wondrous and awe-inspiring.

 

[Dave L]

God's love is most glorious when he treats those whom he hates in love. Paying for their sins on the cross and then giving them a new birth that makes them subjectively lovable.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Okay. Still not on topic, though.

Very well, the dichotomy presented in the OP question does not reflect the heart of God. And new thread started. Thanks for talk.

My general answer is you cannot deserve love, it's just something you give or receive or flourish in context of. Treating love as something to be deserved, is like treating God as a commodity ... which is idolatry.

 

[Hammster]

Somehow it must be a deserving of reward. That’s all I’m saying. I’m not saying it’s of our own doing, but that service to Him is somehow calculated as being worthwhile or not.

Okay. We might earn rewards, but that’s different than deserving His love.

 

[Hammster]

It is He who suffered for the undeserving, the worthless and the broken. It is He that will answer your question of why we deserve what He did for us not any of us.

You just said we are undeserving.

 

[Hammster]

Any worth that we or any other part of creation has comes from Him. He sets the rules, not us.

So nothing in ourselves.

 

[Hammster]

We are his children not to mention that he put us in the situation where the tree was.

We become His children.

 

[Hammster]

Is there anything in us or about us that make us deserving of the Father’s love?

Yes, God sees value in us in the fact that we are made in the image of God, we are sons of God (via from Adam), and in the fact that we can be made into vessels of honor for the purposes of God's glory.

Yes, it is true that God died for us while we were yet sinners, but God did not die for us to remain as sinners but to be new creations in His image.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11).

18 "And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator." (1 Peter 4:18-19).​

I mean, why would God reward us for our acts of obedience if we are not deserving of His love? It makes no sense.

Why would God die for nothing that has value? God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that we can have eternal life. This eternal life involves us living a Sanctified and holy life here and giving glory to Him. God knows the future and He wants us to be deserving and worthy of Him.

The time that we are said not to be worthy of Him is when Jesus says:

"He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:37).

"And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:38).

So you think you were worth dying for?

 

[Gregory Thompson]

So you think you were worth dying for?

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! (Romans 5:7-9)

 

[Hammster]

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! (Romans 5:7-9)

I guess that’s a “no”.

 

[TheSeabass]

I looked up the definition of 'deserve' and found the following from online dictionaries:

----do something or have or show qualities worthy of
----to be worthy of or qualified for.

I do not know if the Bible tells us exactly WHY God loves man. Why did God love the Jews, Deuteronomy 7:7-8 "The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt."

It simply says "because the Lord loved you" not giving a specific reason why He loved them.

We know that God is love, God loves His creation so it could be that God loves man for God, in His own mind, thinks man is worthy, has qualities worthy of His love. Did the Jews do anything to earn/merit God's love? Not that I know of but God loved them because in His mind He thought they were deserving, worthy of His love.

Why would God love man if He thought man was unworthy, undeserving, unqualified for His love?

Evidently God thought man was deserving, worthy of, qualified for a Saviour therefore He sent Christ to die for the sins of man. Again, I can't read God's mind, but if He thought man was undeserving unworthy, unqualified for a Saviour then why did He send Christ to earth?

Is God deserving of man's love? Yes. Did God do something to where He earned/merited man's love or does man love God for God is deserving, that is, God is worthy of man's love, (Psalms 18:3) God has qualities that are deserving, worthy of man's love? Maybe that God sees in man some trait, characteristic that in God's mind makes man deserving, qualified, worthy of His love.


Collins English Dictionary - deserve - "If you say that a person or thing deserves something, you mean that they should have it."

Man did not earn/merit God's love but in God's mind, God thinks man should just have His love for whatever reason is in God's mind.

It comes down to how one wants to define 'deserve'. If one wants to define deserve as earn/merit, then man did not do anything to earn/merit God's love. If deserve means to be worthy, qualified for then God loves man for a reason in God's mind that God thinks man has worth, therefore worthy of being loved, man is worthwhile of God's love, man has God's interest, man is valuable to God hence God loves man.


Worthy - having value. Man has value to God therefore man has not made himself deserving of God's love but God has made man worthy, deserving of His love.