01/14/2023
As believers our greatest desire should no longer be for earthly things but for the Godly things founded in His steadfast love for us. Our love for the Lord hasn’t prompted Him to love us, but it is His amazing love for us that leads us to love Him. He chooses us, and from this, His loving attention, we blossom in our praise, adoration, and love for Him. So, do we love Him as we should? Do we desire the love of God above all else, and does it drive us towards Him with all our heart and attention? Does it separate us from the world? Does it cause us to love others as ourselves?
“Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.”
Psalm 63:3 ESV
When we love a brother, or a friend, it is often difficult to tell who has chosen who, or which one loved the other first, but in all cases one of them will make the first move that shows the other their desire for friendship and love. In our relationship with God there is no doubt that He has loved us first, and it is His love that not only nurtures ours for himself, but for others as well, and in this way we can’t say that we love God unless we also love our brothers and sisters in faith… in Christ.
“We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”
1 John 4:19-20 ESV
Jesus tells us that He loves us, and invites us to join Him in this love. When we look at the life of Christ we see that the Father loves Him, that He loves the Father, and that He also loves us, the larger question then is whether we can love Him too by abiding in His love for us.
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”
John 15:9 ESV
Love is not something that can be imposed on another. Sure we can love someone without them loving us, but is that really the perfect love that God models for us? He loves us first, but His desire is always that we love Him in return, and that we further extend our love to others as well. The second great commandment is that we love our neighbor as ourselves, and by doing so we are completing to perfection the first, which is to love God. We are doing more than simply loving them, we are perfecting God’s love in ourselves…
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”
1 John 4:11-12 ESV
Love flows like living water through us, and it’s source is always God Himself. He tells us that He not only possessed love but is love, and so, when we love others we are sharing God with them. Would we give our most prized possession to someone we hated? It is the same with the gospel of Jesus Christ… unless we love someone, even our enemy, then how can we share Jesus and the love of God with them as we should? So to witness to others we must first overcome our hate or disdain for them, and love them as we should.
“By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”
1 John 4:13-15 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for having chosen us, and loved us first. Thank you for giving to us an understanding of what love is, and the fruit that it bears in heaven, on earth, and in ourselves. Help us Lord to overcome all but our love for others, so that the love that flows into us from you will flow on into them. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who has loved us from the the foundation of creation, through your Son Jesus Christ, and for eternity yet to come. Praised be your name for overcoming our dislike for others and instilling in us a love for them that allows us to speak into their hearts the gospel of Jesus so that they too might be redeemed by your love. Merciful are you who loves us while we are yet sinners, and transforms us through Christ into those who love others as you do. Your grace flows like living water into us and carries with it the fullness of your love, and then flows on from us into all those we tell of you, and your Son Jesus. Forgive us our sins Father, and transform us by love into the likeness of Jesus. Fill us with His perfect love as we abide in Him, and He abides in us, then judge us to be worthy as He is, and seat us at your heavenly table where our love for you will thrive , and flourish, forevermore.
“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
1 John 4:16-21 ESV
Rich Forbes