The Love of God

Jesus.

Fully man.  Fully God.   The signs, miracles, and wonders that Jesus performed, that shows that he was God right?  No, in fact, that shows that he was fully human.  Jesus was a human, completely.  He was completely limited, just as we are.  Jesus, as a human, had no power within himself to heal anyone.  He was just as dependant on God as you and I are.  But he was the first human being to live that trusted his life completely and fully to God and to allow God’s power to be at work within him and through him.  Jesus had an intimate relationship with God, and through that he was able to express Gods heart and was willing to go into any circumstance.  When Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, performed signs and miracles, Jesus was doing this, but what you are actually seeing is God in Jesus.  He is the first human to fully live out the design a human was created to live for – living out of God.  Continually being in His presence, His peace, abiding in His love.

A bird is defined not by being grounded but by his ability to fly.  Remember this, humans are defined not by their limitations, but by the intentions God has for them; not by what they seem to be, but by everything it means to be created in His image.  (The Shack)

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.  Now remain in my love.  If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in His love.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.  Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.  This is my command: Love each other.

John 15:9-13,16-17

We do not obey God because we want Him to love us, we obey God because of His captivating love He has for us.  When we get revelation of His infinite love for us, we can’t not obey Him, but we desire to do so, that we can know Him more -  continuing to purify ourselves just to get a little bit closer to Him, to get another glimpse of who He is.  It is not a command but a longing in our own hearts.  We do not choose God but He chooses us.  He already has chosen us, that we might know Him fully and the truth of life.  And He is waiting and hoping that we choose Him back.  It is nothing you or I can ever do but what He has already done for us. 

What is true love?  How do we know when we are in love that it really is love and not just what we think love is like?  In the search for love, there is only one answer.  God is love.  It is His very core characteristic.  If there was one word to describe God, it is love.  We can call God many things ‘Savior, Lord, God Almighty etc etc,’ but it is the desire of His heart that we know Him as Father.  This is how He wants us to see Him, which is hard to processes with our human heart, especially if our earthly father has fallen short of this love that we desire.  He is our ultimate Father because He adopted each and every one of us into His kingdom.  It is His deepest desire that you know how much He loves you.  How jealous He is for your heart.  He longs to have a relationship with you, His child.

Ephesians 3:17-19.  The love of the Father surpasses all human knowledge.  We cannot even begin to fathom the depth of His love because our human brains cannot comprehend it.  He see’s each and every one of us as perfect, blameless, pure.  His love for you is far beyond any feeling of love you have ever had on earth.  Do not limit God by just what you have seen humans do and how they act. 

1 Corinthians 13 describes all about the love of God.  Because God is love you can substitute God for the word love in this passage.  This is true love.  God is patient.  God is kind, God does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud.  He is not rude, self seeking or easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs.  He does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  He always protects, always trusts, always hopes.  God always perseveres.  God never fails.

There is nothing you ever have done or ever could do that would put you outside of His love.  He knows every tiny piece of your heart, what makes you you; and He loves it all… because He created you.  And He takes great pleasure in His creation.  His masterpiece.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

My life was completely changed once I got just a taste of the Love our Father has for us.  It was all with the man Jesus.  God came to earth to save His greatest love, His creation.  Even when we still rejected Him, He humbled himself and came to save us.  He lived a perfect life, as an example of how to live, for the best life on earth.  And then as an innocent sinless man took the place of our sin and died for us.  This is how much He loves us.  The ultimate example of sacrificial love.  We are free from sin, it has been paid for.  Jesus came to set us free.  We are restored to our Father.  God came and suffered for us, in our place, so we can live with Him forever in the place we were originally created for.  Heaven.  This is how much God loves you.  Specifically you!  Even if you were the only person in the entire world, He would still come to earth, and live to die to wipe away all your sins.  So He can have a relationship with you, personally.  This is how badly He desires You.  He did all this for you in hopes that you will choose Him in return.  What do you have to lose?  But you may have everything to gain.

It wasn’t until I truly understood Gods love for me, that He is the true love I’ve always been looking for.  Nothing else compares in this life to knowing God.

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ

Philippians 3:7-8

For in this hope we were saved.  But hope that is seen is no hope at all.  Who hopes for what he already has?  But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Romans 8:24-25