Daily Friendship with God #13 Love
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:7-11)
The first mention of love in the bible is found in the following verse.
Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 22:2)
In this passage God is giving an allegory of what He would do in the future by sending His own Son Jesus to die as a sacrifice. The love relationship of God the Father and the Son is clearly stated in scripture at the baptism of Jesus as God the Father says. “this is my beloved Son”(Matthew 3:17) and Jesus said “…I love the Father …”(John 14 :31). At the core of Love is sacrifice. This means Love is not getting what you want or what makes you feel good. Love is when you are willing to give up the things that matter most to you in order to benefit someone else no matter what it cost you. The Father Gave up His only Sons life for the sake of saving the world. In this God displayed the ultimate action of love through sacrifice. The kingdoms of this world teaches that you have to earn love. God’s kingdom teaches He gives His love based upon who He is and not upon what we have done.
Of all the topics in Daily Friendship with God, Love is without a question of a doubt the foundation of all. In 1 John 4:7-11 we see that Love is a noun in the Person of God and we also see that Love is a verb in that God took the action of sending His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation is a means whereby sin is covered in the Old Covenant and remitted (cancel or refrain from exacting or inflicting (a debt or punishment)) in the New Covenant. The understanding of God’s Covenants are another foundation of maintaining a healthy relationship with God and will be discussed in Daily Friendship with God # Covenants.
In context to God of as the person (noun) of love, He is the one that sets forth the agreements/covenants which He has established. Please remember God is love so everything He does is based on Who He is, which is love. Each person gets to choose whether or not they will come into agreement with Him and the covenants He has made or not. Freedom of choice give each person the option to decide if they will love someone or not. This means Love is a choice. God has chosen to love the whole world in fact, He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
In context to God who is love He proves His love by taking action. God makes it clear that love proves itself in actions.
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in action and in truth.
(1 John 3:16)
The pinnacle chapter in the Bible defining love is first Corinthians 13. The deepest form of theology is understanding how God‘s love is applied towards us and how to apply it towards others. When they asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment he said to love God and love others as yourself. The purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart. Praise be to God that He gave us a pure heart through his death burial and resurrection and personal relationship with the purest heart of all. Our hearts and minds get washed into the reality of this condition buying through the washing of the water the word and the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. If you want to grow in love, study every individual word in the Greek in 1 Corinthians 13, then you will have a baseline to continue in a covenant relationship with God.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
Jesus said
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
Jesus also said….
If you love Me, keep My commandments. (John 14:15) This points out that obedience is motivated by Love.
God has much to say in the bible about love. Here are just a few verses concerning Love in the Bible.
The purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith (1 Timothy 1:5)
Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:10)
By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35)
There is no Greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. (John 15:13)
The love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5)
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)
Here are some key things to remember as you grow in your love relationship with God and others.
1) All Love that is pure originates from God.
2) God Who is love, loves the whole world, because He is Love.
3) You cannot earn God’s love you can only receive it or reject it.
4) Because God Loves us and has placed His love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we can choose to love others in and through the Holy Spirit that lives in us.
5) The proof of Love is the choices we make which produces the actions we take.
Jesus proved number five in the choice to do the will of the Father over His own, which resulted in Him taking the action of self-sacrifice on our behalf. Jesus came to server by giving His life not to be served.
Please read 1 Corinthians 13 and talk to God about what He has said. Ask Him to reveal to you His great love for you and how He is conforming you into His image and likeness, which is love. Ask Him to show you how He wants to love others through His love in and through you.
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13)