More on Love

life spilling over

Something very simple is becoming more and more real to me.  And the more real it becomes the more my faith grows.  What is it?  God loves me.

I can imagine a reader saying "You've written about that already!  Don't you have something new to write about?!"  But I have nothing new or more profound than this.  The more I see it, the more everything falls into place.

How much does it matter that we know how much God loves us?  I think we can forget how imperative it is to living an authentic Christian life.

Look at Jesus' relationship with His Father.  Jesus was a real man.  He had human emotions and thoughts and a will like ours.  I do not pretend to understand how Jesus' divinity and humanity worked together, but I believe that He had to depend on his relationship with his Father to live the supernatural life he led.  The Bible says he was tempted in every way as we are, but did not sin.  He was fully and vulnerably human, but he lived without sin.  My premise is that it was all about His relationship with his Father - because he knew how much he was loved.

wedding blossoms for His bride?

Jesus knew His Father.  He knew his Father was all good all the time, and that he was loved all the time.  Haven't you wondered how Jesus felt when he was lied about and plotted against and misunderstood at every turn?  How did he keep his joy (!) and compassion (!) and focus on his mission?  Why was the power always there to heal when he saw the needs?  It had to be rooted in the loving, trusting relationship he had with His Father.

I see the same thing with the apostle Paul.  There were frustrations and disappointments and opposition everywhere he went, but people were born of the Spirit and churches were planted.  Paul was able to love the unlovely and able to do miracles which backed up his claims about Jesus.  How can we ever have the same effective impact on our part of the hurting world unless we are also living out of that love?

creatures living with playful joy

God clearly commands us to love one another, to love Him, and to love even our enemies.  1 John 4:19 says "We love because he first loved us."  Verse 16 says "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us."  There is no way for us to become like Jesus, his true brothers and sisters, his true Bride, if we are not filled to overflowing with love!

The writer of those words, the apostle John, referred to himself as the one whom Jesus loved.  I think he really got it and is trying to help us get it too.  In the short book of 1 John he uses the word "love" 33 times (according to my count in Strong's concordance), and 42 times if you count "loved" and "loveth".  In chapter 4:18 it says "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."  How are we made perfect?  Is it fear of being disobedient and losing God's love?  Absolutely not! 

a reminder of His fiery passion

Your Father knows you totally and intimately and comprehensively.  He created you and chose to bring you to birth twice.  He is an expert on you and He is delighted with what He knows.  But it's more than that.  It is your faith in who Jesus is and what he did for you that pleases the Father.  He loves that you love His beloved Son.  He sees your life hidden in Christ (Colossians 3:3)  I don't care what you think is turning Him off about you -- it is not.  He loves you so much that you would blush if you saw it all at once.  At least that is how overwhelming a glimpse of it is to me!  Though we can never plumb the depths of God's immense love,  I believe the key to our journey beyond the narrow gate is that we are seeking to.