The old saying, “Love makes the World Go Round” reminds us of how much our world focuses on love, being loved, acting lovingly and being in love. For the most part those are referring to brotherly, philia love or erotic love not God’s love. God’s love is all of those and more. Being loved by God makes one feel cherished and protected. His loving acts towards us remind us He is real and cares for each of us in a special way. Being in love with each of us caused God to send Jesus to die for our sins so we could be reconciled to Him. His love is greater than any love we will ever know and is the subject of Pastor Alex’s monthly series on God’s love.
Pastor Alex began by talking about how extravagant God’s love is towards us. Unlike humans, God is able to love without conditions because it is who He is. 1 John 4:8 “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” God’s character is based in and on His love. Our love is fickle and often conditional. “I’ll be good to you if you are good to me type.” Our love can be subject to being withheld. “If you don’t behave or do as I ask, I will not love you or show you love and care.” We may not want to act this way, but we are often weak and fail our loved ones. God is not like that. He loves us always, 24/7, whether we are good or not. Consider Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We did not have to clean up our act, behave properly to be shown God’s love. He wooed us in our sin filled state of being. He loved me even then. I am constantly amazed by this fact and truth about God’s love. He loves and cares for me because He made me, knows me and wants me to be His for eternity!
How do we show people we love them? Often we buy gifts, do acts of kindness, say good things, be with them, etc. How has God shown His love for us? He loved us as Romans 5:8 says when we were sinners. He wanted us. God sent Jesus to redeem and reconcile us to himself. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” He wants us with him for eternity! Galatians 5:13 “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” God has commanded us to love one another and serve each other in love. As we know and love Jesus, we are to reflect his love. God wants us to be loving. 1 John 4:19 reminds us, “We love because he first loved us.” The love we have for others comes because He first loved us. All the good things we do and the love we show to others come from God and is a reflection of Him in us! Those actions bring Him glory and please Him.
As we approach Valentine’s Day, a day we try to remember others in a loving way with cards, gifts and kind words, I found this a few years ago and it seems the Best Valentine we will ever get.
God love is lavish and we are the recipients of His great love. Thank you Jesus!
Linda
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