God Loves All His Children Everlastingly
Romans 8:35, 38–39
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . .
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell wrote:
“God loves all His spirit children. How could it be otherwise, since He is a perfect Father? In that sense His love is universal and everlasting for all of His children. But He does not and cannot love our wickedness: ‘For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance’ (D&C 1:31). He does not and cannot approve of the things we do that are wrong, nor will He say on Judgment Day, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant’ to those who have been wicked or who have been poor performers. His perfect integrity and His perfected attributes of truth and justice would not permit it. Nor can our Heavenly Father reward us evenly, because our deeds and our degrees of righteousness are so very uneven. Of necessity, therefore, we are told there are ‘many mansions’ in His house, and only of the comparative few can it be said, ‘all that my Father hath shall be given’ (John 14:2; D&C 84:38). It is especially of such faithful that Paul writes: ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Romans 8:35, 39).
“It is because God loves us, however, that He seeks with such vigor and long-suffering to separate us from our sins, which He hates. He continues to care for us even when He cannot approve of us. Yet ultimately we cannot go where He is unless He fully approves of us. This outcome, however, reflects the consequences of divine justice, not His love for us, which persists.”
(If Thou Endure It Well [1996], 34–35.)
