What is love to you? Many today struggle with this thing called love. As a teen I thought that love just struck you, like the proverbial cupid firing arrows who indiscriminately causes people to fall in love.
Does that describe your life? Have you fallen in love only to fall out of love sometime later? I think the problem we all face is to understand what love is, what it means, how we react and live out our lives in love. We all tend to believe that love happens, then we just have to learn to deal with the relationship part of that love!
Our Real Problem With Love Is In Understanding.
Early in life we usually look to others to understand this thing called love. We watch our parents, or relatives and as we grow we add in views that our culture believes. The problem is in understanding love rightly and the best way to find out how to love or what love looks like is to look to the author of love – Almighty God.
Finding the true understanding of the word love requires looking to God, the source of real love, who loves like no other.
One of the most quoted verses in the Bible is John 3:16 – “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (NLT). But what in the world does that have to do with us, with love, with the relationships in day to day living?
As a Christian trying to live out our day to day life our love should be modeled after God’s love for us. In 1 John 4:7-21 we find the apostle sharing the importance of loving like God loves. It begins with one important aspect of love, that is, love comes from God. “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God”.
One of the greatest benefits of being a believer is that God does not leave us alone to figure out the important things in life. To Love rightly is important.
The whole message of the NT is found in the truth shared in 1 John 4:9-10 – “This is how God showed God’s love among us: God sent God’s one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent God’s Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
Today I Want to Share That God Wants Us to love like that
TO LOVE LIKE GOD LOVES SHOULD BE THE GREATEST GOAL IN OUR LIFE. To understand the love that God calls us to we must first understand the meaning of the Greek word Agape. The Greek language had different words for different types of love. Agape described the highest form of love – It spoke of a “love that was from duty, or loyalty, “from preference, or morality and virtue. Yet it still described a conditional type of love”.
Early Christians actually transformed the meaning of agape by using it to describe a love that language did not yet have the capacity to describe. We must look at the way this love is revealed in God.
First LOVE Is Something That Must Come From Our Understanding Of GOD!
Let’s look at 1 John 4 verses 9-10 again – “God showed us how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him” (JESUS). 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice to take away our sins”.
God showed us what love looked like in His actions toward all mankind. Since God created all things when mankind failed him He could have started all over again – But instead God revealed his love towards all sinners by stepping into the world, living a perfect life and dying the death on a cross so that all who believed in him could forgiveness for our sins and eternal life.
God’s love is unconditional and His Love took action first to make a way of reconciliation for all mankind.
Then, We Must Understand That Godly Love Comes Through Transformation.
Look at 1 John 4,Verses 13-16 – “This is how we know that we live in God and God in us: God has given us of God’s Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the 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.”
All who believe in Jesus are not only forgiven of their sins and granted eternal life – They are also empowered by the Holy Spirit who dwells with us and teaches or guides us in our daily life.
***The Holy Spirit DWELLS – He is always with us, beside us, there to witness and console, to guide and help whenever we need – The Holy Spirit is with us 24/7! When we acknowledge that Jesus is the son of God, God lives in us… 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.”
It is up to us to learn to lean on the Holy Spirit to guide us! He is like a silent partner at times. He does not interfere but is always there when we seek God’s help in any circumstance!
Then We Must Understand That The Ability To Love Grows As We Grow Spiritually.
Our love becomes perfected as we learn to live like Jesus day by day. God transforms us so that as we grow our love becomes perfected. I love the way the New Living Translation reads on verse 17 of 1 John 4 – “And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid in the day of judgment, be we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world”.
Think about – THERE IS NO FEAR IN LOVE, PERFECT LOVE DRIVES OUT (CASTS OUT) FEAR. I think I misunderstood this verse in the past. I associated it with “fear” in our life; like fear of failing or fear of something or someone. But the intent of John in this text is to illustrate something totally different than what I thought.
- As our love grows (becomes perfected in Christ) any fear of judgment in the end is cast out or driven out of our thoughts.
If we are ever fearful of the future, eternity, or God’s judgment we can remind ourselves of God’s Great love. WE KNOW THAT GOD LOVES US PERFECTLY! Romans 8:38 – “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.”
We can resolve our fears by focusing on his immeasurable love for us, and then by allowing him to love others through us. God’s love will quiet your fears and give you confidence!
REMEMBER THIS – “God’s love is the source of all human love, and it spreads like fire. In God’s loving children he kindles a flame in their hearts. In turn they love others, who are warmed by God’s love through them.”
We now know that real love the love that comes from God; that embodies all that God is, is impossible from a human standpoint. BUT – Thanks to God’s help we can learn to love like God loves. It takes transformation power through the Holy Spirit AND it grows or is perfected as we grow spiritually in Christ.
LET’S LOOK AT THE LAST THREE VERSES IN 1 JOHN 4—
- Why do we love? Because God first love us!
- How is our love revealed? It is revealed in our love for others. We show love to others because God first showed love to us, forgave us and set us on a path to righteousness.
- Can you test your love? If you hate a brother or sister (that’s anyone) does not loves. There is no hate in perfect love!
So Where Do We Go From Here?
To love as God loves takes commitment just as God is committed to restore us to a complete relationship with Him, we must strive to be committed to those we love. That is probably one of the hardest challenges in any relationship – commitment – but if we choose to love as God loves unconditionally, then we can trust that God will help us accomplish that in time.
I hope this article helps you to gain a better understanding of love. There is so much more that we can learn from God’s word to help us live a life that is pleasing to him. I pray that you will continue to work on the relationships in your life striving to love as God loves.
If you have any comments or questions please let me know and I will answer as soon as possible. If this article blessed you feel free to share it on social media.
Raymond – Author, Walkinghope.com
