"This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us..." (1 John 3:16, HCSB).
"God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him" (1 John 4:9, HCSB).
"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits" (Psalm 103:2, ESV).
"What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me?" (Psalm 116:12, ESV).
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" (John 10:11, HCSB).
When we survey the cross of Christ we see the unbounded, unrestricted love of Christ to the max, both human and divine intermingled, cooperative, and coexisting to full expression. Oh, to know the love of God manifest in sending His Son: "to know this love that surpasses understanding" (Eph. 3:19, NIV). The concept of God's love must be seen in light of the fact that Jesus laid down His life for us, and it was not only sacrificial but generous. God truly offers His love to a wayward world (cf. Titus 2:11) through the substitutionary death of His Son on the cross. While we were enemies, He died for us (cf. Rom. 5:8)!
We often think that we merit God's love, but we don't and we are unworthy. The more unworthy our self-appraisal, the closer we are to God. It is said that "love that reaches up is worship, love that extends outward is affection, but love that stoops is grace" and God condescended to us in reaching out and down to us when we didn't deserve it. We have no claim on God's love and friendship, yet He offers it freely. It is free, but not cheap! God expects us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices; i.e., living our lives to His glory and service. We must surrender to God's love, and the refusal of the love of God is the epitome of Sin, according to Karl Menninger, M.D.
When we resist God's love, we become callous or hardened in our souls and insensitive to His ministry in our hearts and cannot love others: God wants to love others through us! The extent of God's love is demonstrated by all the people He can reach through us--no ethnicity, category, or class of man is excluded. In this day and age politics plays a vital role in our social life and we must realize that God loves Democrats as well as Republicans, even if they are wrong--God doesn't love us because we are right or moral or decent, respectable and distinguished citizens who have achieved the American dream, God loves the have-nots as well as the haves; the proletariat as well as the bourgeoisie!
Financial prosperity is not the litmus test of God's love and approval--the wicked also prospers, if they are wise and play by the rules. But we believers must realize that our reward is not in this life and the unbeliever's reward ["portion" in ESV] is in this life (cf. Psalm 17:14). Prosperity theology, or that God guarantees and promises financial gain as a result of piety is heresy, and we are not to think of godliness as a means of gain in this life (cf. 1 Tim. 6:5). "But godliness with contentment is great gain" (1 Tim. 6:6, NIV).
The uniqueness of God's love is that we cannot escape it: no matter where we go it follows us; angels and demons cannot separate us from it; the stars have no power over us; death and hell cannot divide us from it; we ourselves cannot outlast it or negate its power over us. The Hound of Heaven chases us down and dogs us till He finds us! God is in love with us and is determined to express it through Jesus living in us!
We can find out for ourselves by experience as we know the love of God (2 Cor. 13:14). The proof is in the pudding and we are challenged to invite Christ into our hearts so we can know it for ourselves. Indeed, the love of God is shed into our hearts according to Rom. 5:5. The primary fruit of the Spirit is love (cf. Gal. 5:22), and the "only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love" (cf. Gal. 5:6, NIV). The point is not that we loved God, but that He loved us and "we love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). That's why Karl Barth was asked what was the most profound truth in Scripture: "Jesus loves me!"
God's love must be seen characteristically and can be qualified: it's universal, in that it applies to all without discrimination, favoritism, or partiality--God is no respecter of persons; it's gracious, in that we don't deserve it, can't earn it, nor ever be able to pay it back; it's sacrificial, in that it cost Christ His death on the cross on our behalf; and it's beneficial, in that we receive multifold bounties and blessings by virtue of being reconciled to God and recipients of the love, that has fringe benefits or perks--it pays to know God! The wonderful news is that God loves us despite ourselves, and knew all about us before we were born, so He is never surprised by our behavior and can love us eternally--God loves us anyway.
Realizing our unworthiness and being grateful for God's love is the first step to finding God in Christ through the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross by virtue of grace via a personal exercise of faith in the person and work of God's Son. In effect, at the crucifixion, Christ was reaching out His hands and saying, "This is how much I love you!" It was not the nails that kept Him on the cross, but His eternal love! And this is the crux of the matter: Once you've experienced it, you want to pass it on! God saves us to be in turn a blessing (cf. Zech. 8:13)!
In the final analysis, there's no one God cannot love or reach out to through us when He lives in us by the Holy Spirit's anointing. The heart of the matter, it's said, is that its a matter of the heart! In sum, the essence of God's nature is love, and to know God is to know the love of God; love defines Him and it is written thus: "God is love" (1 John 4:8, 16).
Soli Deo Gloria!
"God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him" (1 John 4:9, HCSB).
"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits" (Psalm 103:2, ESV).
"What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me?" (Psalm 116:12, ESV).
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" (John 10:11, HCSB).
When we survey the cross of Christ we see the unbounded, unrestricted love of Christ to the max, both human and divine intermingled, cooperative, and coexisting to full expression. Oh, to know the love of God manifest in sending His Son: "to know this love that surpasses understanding" (Eph. 3:19, NIV). The concept of God's love must be seen in light of the fact that Jesus laid down His life for us, and it was not only sacrificial but generous. God truly offers His love to a wayward world (cf. Titus 2:11) through the substitutionary death of His Son on the cross. While we were enemies, He died for us (cf. Rom. 5:8)!
We often think that we merit God's love, but we don't and we are unworthy. The more unworthy our self-appraisal, the closer we are to God. It is said that "love that reaches up is worship, love that extends outward is affection, but love that stoops is grace" and God condescended to us in reaching out and down to us when we didn't deserve it. We have no claim on God's love and friendship, yet He offers it freely. It is free, but not cheap! God expects us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices; i.e., living our lives to His glory and service. We must surrender to God's love, and the refusal of the love of God is the epitome of Sin, according to Karl Menninger, M.D.
When we resist God's love, we become callous or hardened in our souls and insensitive to His ministry in our hearts and cannot love others: God wants to love others through us! The extent of God's love is demonstrated by all the people He can reach through us--no ethnicity, category, or class of man is excluded. In this day and age politics plays a vital role in our social life and we must realize that God loves Democrats as well as Republicans, even if they are wrong--God doesn't love us because we are right or moral or decent, respectable and distinguished citizens who have achieved the American dream, God loves the have-nots as well as the haves; the proletariat as well as the bourgeoisie!
Financial prosperity is not the litmus test of God's love and approval--the wicked also prospers, if they are wise and play by the rules. But we believers must realize that our reward is not in this life and the unbeliever's reward ["portion" in ESV] is in this life (cf. Psalm 17:14). Prosperity theology, or that God guarantees and promises financial gain as a result of piety is heresy, and we are not to think of godliness as a means of gain in this life (cf. 1 Tim. 6:5). "But godliness with contentment is great gain" (1 Tim. 6:6, NIV).
The uniqueness of God's love is that we cannot escape it: no matter where we go it follows us; angels and demons cannot separate us from it; the stars have no power over us; death and hell cannot divide us from it; we ourselves cannot outlast it or negate its power over us. The Hound of Heaven chases us down and dogs us till He finds us! God is in love with us and is determined to express it through Jesus living in us!
We can find out for ourselves by experience as we know the love of God (2 Cor. 13:14). The proof is in the pudding and we are challenged to invite Christ into our hearts so we can know it for ourselves. Indeed, the love of God is shed into our hearts according to Rom. 5:5. The primary fruit of the Spirit is love (cf. Gal. 5:22), and the "only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love" (cf. Gal. 5:6, NIV). The point is not that we loved God, but that He loved us and "we love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). That's why Karl Barth was asked what was the most profound truth in Scripture: "Jesus loves me!"
God's love must be seen characteristically and can be qualified: it's universal, in that it applies to all without discrimination, favoritism, or partiality--God is no respecter of persons; it's gracious, in that we don't deserve it, can't earn it, nor ever be able to pay it back; it's sacrificial, in that it cost Christ His death on the cross on our behalf; and it's beneficial, in that we receive multifold bounties and blessings by virtue of being reconciled to God and recipients of the love, that has fringe benefits or perks--it pays to know God! The wonderful news is that God loves us despite ourselves, and knew all about us before we were born, so He is never surprised by our behavior and can love us eternally--God loves us anyway.
Realizing our unworthiness and being grateful for God's love is the first step to finding God in Christ through the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross by virtue of grace via a personal exercise of faith in the person and work of God's Son. In effect, at the crucifixion, Christ was reaching out His hands and saying, "This is how much I love you!" It was not the nails that kept Him on the cross, but His eternal love! And this is the crux of the matter: Once you've experienced it, you want to pass it on! God saves us to be in turn a blessing (cf. Zech. 8:13)!
In the final analysis, there's no one God cannot love or reach out to through us when He lives in us by the Holy Spirit's anointing. The heart of the matter, it's said, is that its a matter of the heart! In sum, the essence of God's nature is love, and to know God is to know the love of God; love defines Him and it is written thus: "God is love" (1 John 4:8, 16).
Soli Deo Gloria!
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