We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 1 John 4:16-17
We all like to be reminded that we are loved…especially by those who are dear to us. My wife was out of town this weekend and I wasn’t feeling the greatest on several levels. At one point, I considered staying home from church on Sunday morning. However, realizing that it was not a wise choice in that moment and that there are others who would love to attend a worship service, but are unable, I rose to the occasion and went. During the praise time, the worship team led us in “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us”. For various reasons, I desperately needed to hear those words. As if to make sure I didn’t miss the point, God put the song on my radio as I was pulling out of the church parking lot. It was a blessing to be so strongly reminded of the depth of God’s love and its enduring nature.
Love is one of those terms that is often thrown around somewhat recklessly. At times it used with depth and sincerity, however, too often in it simply used to evoke an emotional feeling, or worse, to manipulate. The nature of love may be cute or tragic, shallow or deep, short-lived or and enduring, etc.; consequently, love has many forms and is used as well as defined in many ways. Merriam-Webster offers several meanings but one has to go down the list to the third or fourth definition to find the kind of love God offers and to which He calls us. That said, I was pleasantly surprised that they still recognize the love of God and actually refer to God in one their definitions. People have all sorts of reasons to deny God’s love. Those that don’t truly know God may question the sincerity of His love in light of illness, death, war, etc. Even within the body of believers, because it’s filled with broken people, the challenge to find true love and unity may cause one to renounce God’s love. However, those that are confident in the depth and sincerity of our Father’s love do so because they look back to His greatest act of love and how it invades their lives and their souls; as a result it becomes their source of hope because the love of Almighty God is redemptive, complete, faithful and enduring.
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. (1 John 4:10) If we are to be confident in God’s love for us and to love well, we need to understand the anatomy of God’s love. As 1 John 4:10 states, God’s love is sacrificial…it cost the Father His one and only Son; similarly Christ willingly laid down His life for us. Further it was initiated by God and was provided “while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8). In other words, we were undeserving of that kind of love. Consider also that the Father’s love of has been freely given to us (Romans 6:23, Romans 8:32 and 2 Corinthians 9:15); not only is it freely given, but Our Lord has lavished it upon us. (1 John 3:1) God’s love is complete in that it: comforts, encourages, builds up, sustains, protects, affects all areas of our lives and never stops. It casts out all fear. (1 John 4:18) When we acknowledge it and rely on it, God’s love brings calm in the midst of difficult circumstances as well as removing fear when we meet Him face to face. Finally, Psalm 136:26 reminds us that it is everlasting which means that it was there when we were planned and created, when we were chosen and accepted salvation; it is constant in times of trial, and in times of joy; and it will be with us through death itself, on our judgment day and will be with us throughout eternity. It will never fail and will always endure. As my friend Dale puts it, “No matter what happens, good or bad, we experience everything through the lens of God’s constant, inescapable, everlasting lovingkindness.”
We love, because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) When our Lord commands us to love, He is requesting that we love as He does. Matthew 22:37-40 reminds us that our complete love for God and our love for each other summarize all that God asks of us. It is not that we are trying to repay God, but rather because He has loved us constantly and completely as well as filling us with His spirit, we are able to love others. It is a love that goes beyond feeling, convenience and reciprocation. At times we are called to sacrifice for the sake of another. We are called to love those who may be unlovely or that we see as undeserving. In fact, we are called to love our enemies. Our love must be given freely just as God’s love is. We don’t love for any personal benefit or to “get another notch in our spiritual belts”, but rather because our Lord has loved us so completely, that we obediently share the love that we have received. It must be complete to the extent that we are able…not held back or guarded. It should be a love that casts out fear by accepting others without conditions. It is love that allows transparency without condemnation so that we can build up and encourage in godliness. When we love others as we have been loved by God, there is an eternal impact both for those we love as well as for ourselves.
Our personal history or our culture may challenge our ability to properly comprehend and appreciate God’s love for us. To truly understand it, we must consider His love in light of His character and the whole of scripture. In that context, we will see our Father’s enduring love as an integral part of the fabric of our lives. As we are filled with this love and recognize it in our own lives, we are able to share that same love with others. To do so is an act of loving obedience to God and as Peter tells us, a matter of faith and productivity. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:5-8)
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Will