Love is a choice.  God is love.  He is without sin.  God is never wrong.  His choices are always right.  He is always perfect and true.  We are not.

In Scripture, God makes the statement; I have loved Jacob but Esau have I hated.  The simple difference between the two brothers is God’s choice.  God chose Jacob over Esau.

Jacob, as crooked and self-serving as he was, still recognized the spiritual value of the birthright that belonged to Esau as the firstborn.  Esau despised his birthright.  He sold it for a bowl of stew.  God chose Jacob to receive His blessing.  God loved Jacob.

Forgiveness is something that can only be given to the guilty.  If you’ve never done anything wrong, you will not able to experience forgiveness.  When God forgives, He removes our sin as far from us as the east is from the west.  He remembers our iniquity no more.  If we know God, we are to forgive.  He that cannot or will not forgive, will not be forgiven.

At another time and in another place, not long after becoming a Christian, God gave a young man an opportunity to help a friend and neighbor.  This new Christian had just come home from work one evening when he encountered a friend and neighbor coming from his parked vehicle.  The neighbor was crying.

Knowing something was not right and being concerned for him, the young man asked what was wrong.  His neighbor shared with him a gut wrenching story.

The neighbor’s “best friend” had called the neighbor’s wife and told her that she was the one he had always loved.  Foolishly she agreed to meet him at a motel.

Overcome by grief and guilt, she confessed to her husband that evening what she had done.  Enraged, he had ripped off his wedding ring, thrown it at her and left.  It was then that the young Christian met him outside.

The young Christian had no counseling experience.  Having just gotten right with God himself, the only thing he knew to tell his neighbor was that he should forgive his wife.  After what seemed to them like hours of walking up and down the road, the neighbor finally decided that he would forgive her.

In the days and weeks following, there was never a happier couple with their little one.  The neighbor took his wife and child, moved to another part of the country and their family grew.

What made this possible?  Well, they were both Christians.  She made a terrible mistake, but she could not continue in it.  He was devastated, but he was able to forgive as he had been forgiven.

They both chose to do the right thing.  She chose to repent and confess, even though it was a terrible thing to acknowledge.  He chose to forgive and to love her even though he was devastated by her actions.  God can and will bless obedience and faith.

Incidentally, the young Christian’s neighbor later told him that when they met outside the apartment that evening, he had just put a gun in his car, and he was going to visit his “best friend”.

God likely saved a man’s life that night, as well as a father, a marriage, and a family, with her choice to repent, and with his choice to forgive.

Love never fails.