GOD'S LOVE

 

John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. ... For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

A little girl, dressed in her Sunday best, was running as fast as she could, trying not to be late for Bible class. As she ran she prayed, "Dear Lord, please don't let me be late! Dear Lord, please don't let me be late!" As she was running and praying, she tripped on a curb and fell, getting her clothes dirty and tearing her dress. She got up, brushed herself off, and started running again. As she ran she once again began to pray, "Dear Lord, please don't let me be late... But please don't shove me either!"

 

His Love is Incomprehensible

To God, the word “love” has a much deeper meaning than it does for us. As we are reminded in John 3:16, God gave His one and only Son in exchange for us. We can’t fully understand God’s love and grace, but we can know that we were dead in our many sins. We can understand that our sinful nature keeps us from God, but that He provided a way for us to connect with Him. We don’t have to perfectly understand how all of this works in order to trust that God’s way is the best way for our lives.

His Love is Unbreakable

Nothing in all creation, in time, or space can alter the love that God has for you. His love is unbreakable. Romans 8:37-39 reminds us of this: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, or anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Everything that has come into existence is a result of God’s love. Every one of us has been brought into existence by God’s love. Even in the midst of our struggles and difficulties, we can be confident of God’s love, and there is no limit to it.

His Love is the Motivating Force Behind Salvation

The end result of the salvation process is to become the actual sons and daughters of God. The ordained plan of God  was to give  human life a purpose and give mankind an incredible opportunity of becoming actual members of Their family. This plan for offering sonship to human kind is called salvation.

We Are Filled With the Spirit When We Know God’s Love

Often times people jump on the performance treadmill to try and get more out of God’s Spirit. But this isn’t biblical. We know that we have all of the Spirit at salvation (Ephesians 1:14). But, receiving God’s love means that Christ will be at home in us. In fact, Paul suggests that only one thing can cause us to be filled with the Spirit: knowledge of God’s love for us. Being filled with the Spirit and knowing God’s love are one and the same thing. When we receive God’s love, Christ is “at home” within us and we naturally and authentically respond by expressing His Spirit.

His Love is Immeasurable

There are no limits to the love God has for you. Ephesians 3:17-19 says, “And I pray that you, being rotted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge…” Knowing God’s heart means consistently, radically, and very concretely announcing and revealing that God is love and only love, and that every time fear, isolation, or despair begin to invade the human soul, it is then that we must pause, pray and ask for the Spirit to bring us once again to the point where “the love of Christ controls us” (2 Corinthian 5:14). And when we are controlled by the love of Jesus, we enter eternal freedom because His love comes without any conditions and limits.

Love must be important to God, for it’s mentioned almost 700 times in the Bible. Love is more than we may understand. Jesus once gave a great definition of love when He said. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13), and that’s exactly what He did on the cross. Nothing can separate us from this.