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We are deeply loved by God and to know that and believe that is to live that love out loud...
Our love is supposed to be representative of God’s love. But God is infinitely greater than we are, right? He is perfect in love so how can we as flawed human beings achieve such a feat? It’s difficult enough to like others and even ourselves at times, let alone love with the same intensity, fervency, and unconditional care as God. How do we love the way God loves and not the way our worldly experiences have taught us to love?
1 John 4:7-21 elaborates on how every good thing we could ever hope to accomplish is embedded in God first then developed within us through a kind of spiritual-osmosis. Proximity to God and a fruitful relationship with Him is the result of the Lord choosing to share the knowledge of Who He is with us. The Lord desires an intimate relationship with His imagers - us. By way of relationship with Christ, our relationships with others should encounter the residual effects.
God's Love & Ours
God does not love the way we love. He calls us up to a higher plane of love that we are commanded to amplify throughout our own daily lives. The love Christ teaches us to exemplify may not be the love we are used to or even aware of but complement the behavior of all those who preach the Gospel. The very fruits of our spirit-minded nature in Christ are the byproduct of how God redeems us to Himself. In doing so, the Holy Spirit becomes an indwelling force that detoxes us from the worldly ways of love.
True love is no fickle feeling. In the American sense of the word, love is vastly underwhelming considering the expansive landscape of meanings tied to our use of it. On one end of the spectrum is its shallow application to things we thoroughly enjoy and the manipulative abuse the word love is used to sugarcoat lust. At the more respectable range of love’s spectrum are the great depths of immeasurably sacrificial and selfless affection for God and self, as well as platonic and romantic relationships.
The type of love God calls us to is a culture shock for many who first encounter it. Yet, God’s definition of love is a powerfully-positive change agent, absolute in its authority, and essential to the well-being of humankind. If Jesus Christ defined love the shallow and broken way we do, He would have never went to the cross on our behalf. He would have saved Himself, conquered us against our will, and manipulated us into loving Him by giving us what we wanted until our presence became an inconvenience to Him. Thank God that He is the Love He defines by His own nature and not ours!
Where transformation begins
1 John 4:13-16 informs us of when and where our hearts transition from worldly love to godly love:
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
Love comes from God because He is the supreme and perfect embodiment of love. God’s own quality of character is the very definition of the love by which He is the author of its presentation and behaviors. Though we may have our own human variations of what love means to us, our definitions are far removed and watered down versions of God’s full proof benevolence.
All who genuinely choose Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior not only receive love from God but become incubators for His divine love. We are incapable of loving the way God commands without intimately being connected to Him. His Holy Spirit lives within us, prompting our hearts to beat to a different tune.
How we love ourselves and others should testify to God’s love for us. In this way we rely on God’s love with confidence to actively and consistently drive us closer to Christ and our fellowman. God is not far off but literally near and dear to our hearts. He is in us and we are in Him, secure in His realm of good will.
No need to fear
1 John 4:16-18 ensures us that the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, gives us confidence that we are preserved in the love of God:
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
In Christ, we can rejoice that we will spend eternity with Him in paradise! We are safe from damnation, eternal separation from God. The eternal view is beautiful in the Lord. However, this present age is full of worry and fear. But why do we worry and why do we fear? For each person it is different. Some wrestle with a scarcity mindset. Others contend with the fear of missing out. Perhaps for you it is the fear of not achieving your goals or never living to your full potential.
Regardless of what scares or concerns us, God’s love matures us day by day. Each trial we face is another step up our staircase of confidence. Punishment is the consequence of doing wrong but if we do right by the Lord, we can stand assured on the day of judgment that we’ll receive our heavenly reward. We live life with an entirely different posture, knowing that God is love and that nothing can take away the joy we have in God’s love.
God loves through us
God Loves Through Us
1 John 4:19-21 commands us to share God’s love for us with all those we encounter:
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
God’s divine love is what He prefers to bestow on others. This means that the morality of mankind, His imagers, should not be based in collective acceptance. The majority opinion is typically how we choose what is right or wrong. However, for God to command us to love one another as He loves us, is to define our moral preferences based on God's esteem for His creation.
Regardless of how people behave or even what they believe, we must love them with the love of Christ! Love is not an emotion. Love is the knowledge of God. Divine love has nothing to do with how someone treats you but how you care for them. In Matthew 5:44, Jesus Himself corrects our worldly ways of love:
…43 You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.
Jesus makes it clear in this passage that the love that defines God, our Heavenly Father, should also define us as His children. This love is the fruit that will effectively spread the Gospel and change the world. When we are kind to an enemy, that doesn’t mean we let our guard down so that they can harm us. We must be diligent and wise in our approach. We rebuke their wicked behaviors but love them as an imager of God, whether they choose God’s love or not.
Finally, don’t surrender this Valentine’s Day to a lustful mind. Let this season of love be truly surrendered to the true God of love, Yahweh. Be especially kind to friends, family, and enemies alike. Husbands and wives, as you indulge in your romantic activities, don’t forget to be selfless with a servant's heart. Exchange love and respect with dignity and honor, purity and tenderness.
Sex is a gift from God, given to those He has united in matrimony. Enjoy this gift thoroughly while respecting each other's proclivities and level of comfort. Leading up to and following this physical time of intimacy, remember to warm the kettle, filling each other’s love tanks by speaking one another’s love language meticulously. May God bless your union that you may be a shining example of Chris’s love for His church, with God receiving all the glory.
Scripture Reference:
1 John 4:7-21
God’s Love and Ours
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Thank You and God Bless!
Thank you for reading this blog. Your support and contribution is treasured here. Please continue to share this content so that God may work through us to be a benefit to others. I invite you to leave a comment and stay tuned in for the next blog. I pray that this blesses you and honor’s God. Let’s continue growing together as Kingdom Citizens in Christ. Show love, be kind, and trust in God. Thank you and God bless.
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