I thought about the love of God today. If you’ve ever wondered what it means to truly love, and whether you can do it, we have the ultimate example of true love shown in the Bible by Jesus Christ toward the whole world. As a Bible reader and Christ follower, I’ve found that no matter what part of the earth we were born in, how we were raised, or where we are now in life, we have the pure and untainted love of God available to us today.
The Bible tells us that God is love. So, to really experience true love, you must know and believe God. To understand that He is love we must recognize that there is no one else like Him, in or outside of the earth. Where else is someone literally defined as love? And yet God has chosen to share Himself and His love with us, not only in allowing us to learn of Him, but by sacrificing His very own life for us as atonement for our sins when we didn’t even ask Him to do so. He truly and freely did it, why? Because He loved us.
The Bible tells us in John 3:16 that “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” How’s that for love? Further, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) So, even when we were at our worst, Christ still died for us. He not only died for us, but He also suffered for us, hanging and nailed to a cross. He was beaten and spat upon and treated inhumanely, yet he had never sinned in His life. Can you imagine God in human flesh being bullied? He was indeed the sinless and supreme sacrifice necessary to reconcile us to a right relationship with Almighty God.
So, when you’re wondering what it really means to love, look at Jesus’ ultimate act of love for us as well as all the other wonderful things He did and said in the Bible. We can also know something about HIs love by seeing what He actually loves. Psalm 33:5 tells us He loves righteousness and justice, and that we are not to love only our neighbors, but even our enemies. (Matthew 5:44). There’s so much to learn about the love of God and He’s made it clear for us to see through His word, the Bible, and time spent alone with Him, in prayer. The spiritual as well as physical gifts He has provided us also show us His love for us.
Further, in 1 Corinthians 13, He’s given us some characteristics regarding love that we should never fail to remember.
Love …
- is patient
- is kind
- doesn’t envy
- doesn’t parade itself
- isn’t puffed up
- doesn’t behave rudely
- doesn’t seek its own
- isn’t provoked
- thinks no evil
- doesn’t rejoice in iniquity
- rejoices in the truth
- bears all things
- believes all things
- hopes all things
- endures all things
- never fails
Learning about these things, meditating on these things, praying about these things, and trusting God for these things, puts us in a great position in life. These things don’t look much like the world because they are truly heavenly things. Yet they are doable things with the help of God’s Holy Spirit working in our hearts and minds. We never have to feel unloved when we have God Almighty loving us. We just have to get to know Him, which grows our faith and confidence in Him as a person, and His love for us.
Ms. Rita's Minute 