04/30/2025
Love is many things, but more than just these things it is spontaneous. We don't set out to love someone, it just happens, and if that spontaneity isn't present then it isn't love. How do we feel towards and approach God? Is it always in love, or out of need? Paul tells us in First Corinthians about the attributes of love. As he expounds on love he isn't telling us so much about how to love but is describing to us what love is... if you feel these things and see these things, then you are in love. But, if they must be developed or contrived, then you are experiencing something else which has no strong anchorage against the storms of life... nor safe harbor for our loving faith.
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ESV
The inexplicable moment when we experience falling in love is a wonder of life. We don't know what has come over us just that it has suddenly happened. Sometimes it is in an instant, sometimes during a long friendship, occasionally it happens when adversaries suddenly realize that although they have been fighting to stay out of love they are now in love after all, and it reveals itself as an overpowering emotion. But in all cases, there is always a moment of realization when we are suddenly faced with that instant in which we find that we are deeply in love; and it is wonderful. Has this happened to you in your relationship with God and Jesus Christ? Did you suddenly come to understand the depth of your relationship with Them, and find that you were in love?
Even though we might have spent years fighting our feelings, once we find ourselves in love, we realize that all those things that Paul wrote about have been occurring naturally in our relationship. We have been patient and haven't realized it; we have lost the desire to be envious and boastful, and we didn't see that we were placing the one we love before ourselves. We suddenly, and spontaneously, find that all of these things, and more, are now true in us.
Serving God as He desires us to do isn't something we just set out to do... it is a natural and often unconscious thing that occurs because we have come to love Him. When in love these things are not hardships, but joys. Serving isn't an imposition, but rather a gift of ourselves; otherwise, it is just a job, a task, and we find ourselves working for payment. Pastor Oswald Chambers wrote about this when he penned these words:
"If we try to prove to God how much we love Him, it is a sure sign that we do not love Him. The evidence of our love for Him is the absolute spontaneity of our love, it comes naturally. In looking back we cannot tell why we did certain things, we did them according to the spontaneous nature of His love in us." - Oswald Chambers
Loving God and loving each other are manifestations of the same emotion. They might look different, but at their heart they are the same. Another interesting twist to love is this... We weren’t told to be nice to our neighbor; we were told to love them. And we were told to love them as we love ourselves... now that is an interesting thought worth dwelling on… loving ourselves.
“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
Leviticus 19:18 ESV
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. ’The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.””
Mark 12:30-31 ESV
Have you ever really explored the fact that you must love yourself? You may have heard someone say "I really don't like myself right now" after they have done something disappointing. This is an expression of the spirit's view of the physical nature of ourselves. Yes, our spiritual/physical dichotomy requires that we love ourselves in both ways, and God helps us in this regard. His Word teaches us outward behavior and strengthens our character to a point that our spiritual selves can not only tolerate who we are but will love who we are. Think about this today. Are you able to love yourself, and if not, what has been keeping you from it, and what are you going to do about it?
Friends often find themselves loving one another. This is true in the world, in spirit, and within ourselves. So, the first step for anyone who doesn't love themselves is to repair their physical workings to the point where they can at least like themselves. We do this by reading the Word of God, and practicing those things that improve us morally, spiritually, and in character. By concentrating on these things about us we will find that we are beginning to change who we are...
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Philippians 4:8 ESV
After we begin to like ourselves a bit then we ask the Lord into our hearts, and that brings us to the sudden realization that at long last we have fallen in love with ourselves. It’s amazing but once we understand this we find that we possess the ability to love others as we should… with the love of God.
“We love because he first loved us.”
1 John 4:19 ESV
If you have read this morning's thought and found a parallel between our love for God and the love you have for your spouse, then you are right on the mark. That love of husband for wife and vice versa is more than a physical attraction... it is spiritual and requires the same care and attention. We are meant to love spontaneously, and with a reckless sense of abandonment… we are meant to give and love without thought for our own selves and wellbeing.
“Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,”
Ephesians 5:24-25 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the love you have placed within me. Thank you for being able to love you, myself, my spouse, my family, and all those around me. Lord, your gift of love is the foundation of my life and faith; in it I realize my greatest joys and deepest sorrows and suffering. Help me Jesus to learn how to love even my enemies and all those who don’t love me in return. Guide me into the understanding of how you could love me... the sinner... even when I was so detestable. Help me to love even when I am being persecuted, to love others as the sound of the hammer rings out, and the pain is unfathomable. Your love abides in me and without that merciful gift my life would indeed be unbearable. Thank you, Holy Father, for love, and loving; never let me take it for granted, and may my life demonstrate the same love that you show me… a love given without effort, and with an all-consuming joy. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who was, and is, and is to come. Holy are you who loved me, and all mankind from the foundation of the earth, and who has worked unceasingly to prepare the world to receive your loving grace through Jesus Christ, our redeemer. Feel the love I have for you, myself, and all those about me in life as I kneel in prayer today. Hear me as I pray for those who are my enemies and others that might hate me and give me unwavering patience as I do so repeatedly for their repentance. Hear me now as I pray without ceasing, and with a spontaneous and ever deepening love for them as well as my family, my friends, my neighbors, and myself. Praised be your name Holy Father for the love that is who you are, and which you have breathed along with the breath of life into me. For this we give you all the glory and honor due to our most loved one, our Father our friend, our Abba, Master and God.
Amen, Amen, Amen!!
Some supporting scripture regarding God’s love:
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:13 ESV
““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.””
John 3:16-17 ESV
““If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.”
John 15:18-25 ESV
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
2 Peter 3:9 ESV
Rich Forbes