There is a place in the religious experience where we love God for Himself alone, with never a thought of His benefits.50
——
Before we were born, God was God, the Lord God Almighty! He has never needed us. None of our human talents and abilities are significant to Him. But He needs our love and wants our love!51
——
The only eccentricity that I can discover in the heart of God is that a God such as He is should love sinners such as we are!52
——
God’s love shed abroad in our hearts—compassion and love which can only be found in Jesus Christ, our Lord—these are the only elements of true unity among men and women today. All other emphasis on unity is a sadly strange and ironic joke that must have had its origin in the seventh hell below!53
——
The Bible pictures God as a very careful, tenderhearted Father, busying Himself about the troubles of His people. He looks after them, goes ahead of them, cares for them and guides them all the way through.
There you see the problem of worry and anxiety is solved by the assurance that while there are things about which to be concerned, why should you worry, when Somebody is taking care of you!54
——
The result of what God saw among men was grief to God’s own heart… and only love can grieve. You cannot grieve unless you love. God loved the man whom He had made and the degenerate and corrupt race that had descended from Him. God’s love caused Him to grieve, and it filled Him with anxious care.55