4 Things God Can Never Do To You
God’s love and nature are often misunderstood. Here are 4 things God never does that will help us better understand Him and our relationship with Him:
- God Never Abandons You
Many people mistakenly believe that God’s love for them changes depending on their behavior, loving them more when they do good and less when they sin. This is a false view of God’s love. God cannot lessen His love for you, even when you sin.
This misunderstanding often comes from our experience with the conditional love of human parents. However, God is not like that. The fact that God keeps you alive is proof that He believes in you. God is Love, and there is no room for hate or darkness in Him. When you do something wrong, God’s focus is not on condemnation, but on drawing you back to Himself. Even if you commit the same sin over and over again and confess it, God will act as if it were the first time, and He will forgive you as if you had never done it before.
When God forgives you, He truly forgives and does not hold a record of the sin. His love is unconditional, like the loving father in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15). The father did not hold the sin against him, but simply welcomed his son back. Our Heavenly Father is more patient and loving than any earthly parent. Jesus taught us to forgive without limit (Matthew 18:21-22, Luke 17:3-4), so how can He not be willing to forgive us?
When your conscience convicts you when you sin, it is a clear sign that the Holy Spirit is still working in you. God’s love is not dependent on our righteousness; that our righteousness depends on His love. There is no sin you can commit that will cause God to love you less.
Romans 8:38-39 affirms, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This means that God never hates you; instead, He chooses to show love. Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more (Romans 5:20). Even while we were sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Just as a shepherd searches for a lost sheep, God will search for you when you stray.
- God Cannot Change His Opinion About You
One of the most wonderful characteristics of God is that He never changes His opinion of you. No one can convince God to change His opinion of you. If God depended on people’s opinions of you, He would have stopped blessing you a long time ago, because you probably have many enemies who say negative things about you.
Instead of following their evil opinions, God chooses to bless you. Even when they curse you, God turns that curse into a blessing (Isaiah 54:17). Jesus ignored the accusations of the crowd when they brought the woman caught in adultery before Him (John 8:5-6). This is how God treats the prayers of your enemies; He never lets their opinions influence His decision against you (Psalm 147:5).
Even if your friends abandon you or criticize you, God will firmly accept you, as David said: “If my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up” (Psalm 27:10).
- God Cannot Change His Standards
In human relationships, we often tend to compromise our standards to keep the peace or please others. But when it comes to a holy God, there can be no such compromise. God does not lessen or change His standards based on our desires, for the Bible says that Jesus is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
Just like in the Garden of Eden, God gave Adam and Eve clear instructions not to eat the forbidden fruit. Even though they were His precious creations, God did not change the rules when they disobeyed. They had to face the consequences of their actions. Likewise, God loves you deeply but cannot tolerate our sinful choices (Isaiah 5:20).
God’s standards are like a lighthouse guiding ships into port; He wants to protect you from deception and destruction.
- God Cannot Lie to You
The most comforting of all God’s attributes is that He cannot lie. The Bible states this truth clearly in Titus 1:2: “the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the ages began.”
When He says He will never leave us, we can trust Him completely without doubt. We can give our hearts to Him because He is completely honest with us (Lamentations 3:22-23). Jesus said, “All things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23).