God’s Love

Love is foundational for the Christian life. Love is the essence of Christianity. God is love (1 John 4:8). Before we knew God, we didn’t know true love, but after knowing God, now we can know what true love is.

Love is more important than spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:31). Without love, spiritual gifts are pointless. Love makes spiritual gifts meaningful and effective.

We are commanded to pursue love (1 Cor. 14:1).

The love of God is so vast that we can only know it along with other Christians in the body of Christ (Eph. 3:18). The love of Christ is 4 dimensional (Eph. 3:18). It is beyond our ability to know it by human understanding. But the Holy Spirit will reveal the love of God to us. When we know the love of Christ by the Holy Spirit, then we as a church will be filled with the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19). This is God’s goal for his people at the end of the age. Through the bride of Christ God’s presence and power will radiate into the world. This means that the bride of Christ will have a clear revelation of the love of God at the end of time so that she can be filled with God.

Love is as strong as death (Song of Solomon 8:6). Death is strong, and nothing can match death’s power except love. Love can conquer death. in the end of the world, the last enemy to be destroyed is death. When Jesus died on the cross, it was the love of God that enabled him to conquer death. So it will be at the end of the age when death is finally destroyed.

Nothing can separate us from God’s love (Rom. 8:39). God’s love is like glue that holds us to him.

What is God’s love like?

God’s love is unconditional. God loves us regardless of what we do. God loves the entire world (John 3:16). He loves the world not on the basis of the world fulfilling conditions in order to qualify for his love, but because God loves the world without any strings attached. This does not mean that God is always pleased with what we do, but it means that regardless of what we do he still loves us.

God’s love is eternal. It will last forever. It will never fail.

God’s love is consistent. It is not up and down. God’s love is the same all the time.

God loved us first (1 John 4:19). It’s easy to love someone who loves you, but God loved us when we were still sinners. It’s hard to love your enemies, but God loved us when we were his enemies. When we were dead in our sins, God loved us. At the worst moment of your life, in the middle of the worst sin you ever committed, God saw everything you were doing. And he still loved you. That’s why he sent his Son to rescue you from these sins that were destroying you.

How does God show his love to you?

1. He created you (Psalm 139:13). It’s better to exist than to not exist. Why? Because by existing we have an opportunity to be with God forever in heaven. This is an immeasurable blessing that God gave to us by creating us.

2. God has a plan for you. God’s plans are good. He has charted out a way ahead for your life that will lead to true joy and satisfaction and be eternally valuable. As you seek God, this way will become clear.

3. God sent Jesus to die for your sins. There is no greater love than dying for someone else (John 15:13). God demonstrates his love for you because he sent his Son to die on the cross in your place (Romans 5:8). He forgave you all your sins. He delivered you from the power of Satan. This is because he loved you.

4. God gave you his word. He wrote a book for you and gave it so you can know him and make sense of life. The Bible is the only perfect book, and it was written to you by God. We not only have the Bible, but God also speaks to us today. He speaks to us by his Spirit, through other believers, and through circumstances. God communicates to us by his word because he loves us.

5. God gave you his Holy Spirit. God lives inside of you by his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is power to live for God. We are living the Christian life not by our own strength, but by God’s strength. We live not by the law, but by grace. Not only that, but the Holy Spirit satisfies us. He is like rivers of living water that quenches the longings of our souls. After drinking of the Holy Spirit, we will not be thirsty again.

6. God provides for what you need. He takes care of the birds and the plants, how much more will he take care of you? Seek first his kingdom, and then he will provide abundantly for whatever you need.

7. God answers your prayers. He listens to all your prayers, even about the smallest matters. Sometimes God doesn’t answer in the way you want, because he has something better for you. But he cares about every aspect of your life.

8. God corrects you. God disciplines those he loves (Hebrews 12:6). This may seem unpleasant, but this discipline is a sign of God’s love. God doesn’t want you going down wrong paths that will destroy you. He wants you to go in the way that will lead to abundant life. Sometimes he needs to correct you to get you on the right path. This is a sign of his love.

9. God protects you. He has rescued you many times and protected you from innumerable evils. Even when bad things happen to you, he turns it all around for good (Romans 8:28).

10. God gives you eternal life. You will be with God forever in heaven. Nothing is better than that. This is a sign of his great love for you, that he wants to be with you forever.

The love of God is poured out into our lives by the Holy Spirit who is given to us (Rom. 5:5). The word of God tells us what God’s love is like, and it shows us how God demonstrates his love to us. When we learn more about the love of God, then that supernatural love will increasingly characterize our lives. This will cause us to filled with God and enable us fulfill our destiny.