For the past few days I have been feasting on a sermon by Jonathan Edwards entitled, “Heaven, a World of Love.” This sermon is drawn from the series ‘Charity and It’s Fruits’ Edwards preached from 1 Corinthians 13:8-10. Reading from Banner of Truth’s new Pocket Puritan series, there was a small paragraph that struck me on page 42.
“And in heaven this desire of love, or this fondness for being loved, will never fail of being satisfied. No inhabitants of that blessed world will ever be grieved with the thought that they were slighted by those that they love, or that their love is not fully and fondly returned.”
There is a deep desire in everyone to love, and in loving, for that love to be returned. We can love a great many things in this life that do not reciprocate that love back to us. We can love a car, a home, land, or any other material position but those things will never return the love. However, as Edwards describes, that will not be the case in that heavenly city.
When someone loves and demonstrates the capacity to love there is also a fondness in that love being 
returned. There is nothing more devastating than to find that in loving someone that the love we give has never been returned. In heaven our “fondness” for being loved, “will never fail of being satisfied”. In demonstrating our love for God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, angels, and other saints, we will fully and completely have that love returned to us. Not only will that love be returned to us but we will not experience even the slightest hesitancy in the return. In other words, there will never be a moment where we think that the person we love is not returning that love to us in the most complete and fullest measure.
When love is not returned, whether in a marriage, friendship, or any other relationship, we are grieved. For example, we are grieved because of the time and effort invested in building a love relationship with someone. We are grieved because it may mean a friendship has come to an end. However, in that blessed city there will never be grief or sadness because the love we have shown has not been returned. Not only will love be returned in a full measure and with no hesitancy, but it will be “fully and fondly returned”. In other words, the person returning the love will return it with delight and joy. We will not sense reluctance in their love. The love will therefore be heightened because it will be mingled with delight and joy in its expression.
God has never failed to demonstrate his full and fond love upon his blessed children. The greatest expression of that love was demonstrated on the cross as he crushed his Son – all for the love of his children. That great expression of love will be the fountain head upon which all love will flow in heaven. The cross will be the well from which we dip as we express love in heaven.
If your love has never been returned in this world, if your love has not been appreciated with full joy and delight, if you grieve and are saddened because you think love shown to you is with great hesitancy, TAKE HEART! Heaven is a world of love from which you will experience, for all of eternity, love to its fullest extent and magnitude as we gaze and worship the One from whom all love originates and flows.
Filed under: Heaven, Jonathan Edwards
