The Word Works!: THE LOVE OF GOD I

The Bible is full of great verses and passages about love and we’re going to explore more on its application to our lives. God’s love for us is a perfect example and a starting place we can learn something truly great. There are great verses about love pertaining to anything we can think of – marriage, brotherly love or friendship, and loving your neighbour.

First of all, it’s really important to grasp the realities of the love of God for us: “…God is love” (1 John 4:8). God’s kind of love is called “agape”; it is self-giving and never selfish. A lot of times we think that God has love in some kind but that isn’t true. God doesn’t have love and He can’t have it; rather, He’s love personified. He just can’t think of evil; how much more practising it? Love is His very nature and that’s what sets Him apart from any other. He loved us when we were sinners; He loves us at times when we hate and are disappointed with ourselves. The fact is that there’s even nothing we can do that will make God love us less.

God’s love never fails; it stands still. The Psalmist said “…I trust in your unfailing love…” (Psalm 13:5, NIV). The earth is full of His unfailing love (Psalm 33:5, NIV). If only we’ll recognize this, we’ll have places to go. I love the sovereign declaration of the Lord in Isaiah 54:10 (NIV): “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.” This is God’s decree! It’s for the love of God that we’re alive today. If He were to deal with us according to our works, where would we have been? “Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail” (Lamentations 3:22, NIV).

Since the creation of the world, there has never been anyone that God loved than the other. He doesn’t love the people of Old than He does for us today. God shows no partiality, and there’s no respecter of persons with Him (Romans 2:11; Deuteronomy 10:17; 2 Chronicles 19:7; Acts 10:34). The moment we draw back from God we think that He doesn’t love us anymore; that’s not His nature! James 4:8 says, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you…” This is what we’re supposed to do when we think we’ve committed the most unpardonable sin. Drawing away from God is even going to make you sin more.

Since the fall of man, God’s been devising new schemes to purchase mankind back to Himself. He succeeded by sending His only begotten Son to die in our place, so that whoever receives Him shall live forever. “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again” (John 3:16-17, MSG). God loved us even when we were dead in our sins (Romans 5:8).

He’s embraced us. He has taken our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah (Ephesians 2:5-6). How wonderful the love of God is. No wonder the Spirit of the Lord inspired the apostle Paul to make such a bold statement: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35, 38, 39).

Until you come to the point in your walk with God where you can fully recognize and partake of His love nature, you’ll continue to struggle in your faith-walk. I love this prayer of Paul: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19). Even though this prayer was offered for the Christians at Ephesus, it applies to all believers. Oh, it’s when we truly understand the love of God that we’re filled with His fullness; I love this! It’s God’s desire that we come to the reality of His love, which surpasses scientific knowledge.

If we know God by experience, then we’re going to approach Him with confidence (Hebrews 4:16). Have this consciousness: “I love to fellowship with God and nothing is going to stop that because of His great love for me.” When you begin to brood on this fact, the devil is too small to stop you from having access to God’s endless resources. I know many have been deceived and stopped from enjoying the true joy that comes from our relationship with Christ. Why is it that some believers seem to go deeper in their walk with God than others? Revelation knowledge; that’s the answer!

Let’s also learn something about brotherly love and loving our neighbours. People want to be loved in one way or the other – we must learn to show love to anyone that comes our way. Just imagine how the world would be if we loved each other the best we could. It would be awesome! Jesus gave us a wonderful word: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34-35). Oh, so love should be the hallmark of every believer. This reminds me of the lyrics of a song: “Let the world see Jesus in your eyes. Show them love they can’t deny...” That’s our life!

I think we can learn so much from the life of Jesus Himself. Of course, if you’ve read the New Testament, you’ll come across some persecutions He faced from His accusers. In spite of what they did to Him, He didn’t retaliate. Even on the day of His arrest, He had the power to command more than twelve legions (more than 80,000) of angels to smite the soldiers (Matthew 26:52-53). He didn’t do it because of His unconditional love for us; there was something great He wanted to accomplish on our behalf. Oh, what manner of love!

You see, we’ve got to see people with the eyes of Jesus. No matter what they have done, Jesus loves them and who are we to reject such folks? How do we even preach to the people we don’t love? We shouldn’t struggle to love people, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us (Romans 5:5). The NIV translates it this way: “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” Glory to God! I don’t know any other virtue that’s so beautiful than love; I don’t.

I realise many people are struggling to love people because they do not really catch the picture of the new creation realities. We were born by flesh and blood by our parents; we were born in sin. But when we confessed Jesus as our Lord and personal Saviour, that old sinful nature we received from our parents was supplanted by the very life of God. The Word declares: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). Do you see? We’re God’s offspring!

If we were born by God, then we carry His nature. What I know is that a monkey gives birth to a monkey and a giraffe to a giraffe. You can’t have a giraffe give birth to a monkey and vice versa. So we too have the nature of God. Man is a spirit, he has a soul, and he lives in a body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). When a person gives his life to Christ and is born again, it’s his spirit that is born again; the nature of God is imparted to that man’s spirit. The problem is that people think they are flesh and it’s all finished when they die. Nicodemus found it difficult to grasp the meaning of being born again. He thought a person had to enter a second time into his mom’s womb to be born again (John 3:4). This is carnality.

You just believe that you are born again and have the life of God, that’s all. People often want to see or feel something before they believe. Christianity is a life of faith. That’s why we cannot please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6). Let’s break this down again. We know that Jesus is the Word made flesh, and He is God (John 1:1, 14). If God is His Word, we know that we’ve been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which lives and abides for ever (1 Peter 1:23).

I love the way the Message Bible puts it: “Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from God's living Word. Just think: a life conceived by God himself!” Oh my God! “Ye are of God, little children…” (1 John 4:4). Hallelujah! Our origin can be traced to Papa God; we have the son and Father relationship with Him. I love the way the Message Bible translates Romans 8:15: “This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?"” Some people slouch in the presence of God; but we go to Him with confidence and declare, “Good morning Papa, what’s the next agenda?”

There’s so much in the new creation. We must meditate on the Word of God enough and allow His Spirit to give us those deep revelations. I don’t know how possible Christianity would have been in the absence of the Word of God. Yet, many find it difficult to open their Bibles. To the glory of God, there are Bible software for phone and other portable devices which are free!!! You can even have most Bible versions in single software. That’s how God, through His people, has helped spread His Word. Have time for God’s Word, for in there lies your greatest treasure!

One time a lawyer (Pharisee) tempted Jesus by asking Him to show him the greatest commandment in the law. Jesus said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). Why did Jesus talk about love among all the commandments? Love rules above them all. If I have love, I won’t hurt my fellow man; I won’t curse him. I’d feel sorry for hurting him and ask for his forgiveness. If I love God, then I’m going to worship Him and let Him have the best of me. Love is a major virtue!

Sometimes we treat people in ways that are not right. We definitely know that we’re hurting them but we ignore it. You should feel the same pain you cause someone because of your care for him. Jesus said: “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:31-36).

This quote from Jesus explains itself. What I want to stress on is this: “What do we get if we do good to those who do good to us.” That would be something normal because you know that person will treat you the same way you treat him. However, Jesus wants us to go deep! Showing love to your enemy is one that shows the maturity of your love. Anyway, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do good to people who do same to you. I want you to get the picture Jesus wants us to have. We are admonished to do everything in love (1 Corinthians 16:14, NIV).

Let’s carefully examine the revelation Paul gives about the new creation: “The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up only one body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into Christ's body by one Spirit, and we have all received the same Spirit. Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, "I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand," that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, "I am not part of the body because I am only an ear and not an eye," would that make it any less a part of the body?

Suppose the whole body were an eye — then how would you hear? Or if your whole body were just one big ear, how could you smell anything? But God made our bodies with many parts, and he has put each part just where he wants it. What a strange thing a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, "I don't need you." The head can't say to the feet, "I don't need you." In fact, some of the parts that seem weakest and least important are really the most necessary. And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care.

So we carefully protect from the eyes of others those parts that should not be seen, other parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together in such a way that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other equally. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. Now all of you together are Christ's body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:12-27, NLT).

This is a powerful revelation from God. Here, the Spirit of God gives us something really important, letting us know that we are the body of Christ. We were all baptized into Christ and have the same Spirit, because the Spirit of God is one. Just as Paul stated, the body has legs, hands, eyes, nose etc.; they make up the body. Even though we are different people, we are one body in Christ Jesus. We are referred to as the body of Christ and members in particular. Jesus is the head of the church (Ephesians 1:22; 4:15; 5:23; Colossians 1:18). If we’re members of the body of Christ, then someone may be a part of the hand, the feet, the chest etc.

Oh, I get something from here. I’ll never destroy or hurt my hand if I don’t like the way it looks. I can’t take off my chest and hope to live, no matter how much I don’t like it. It should be the same with our fellow men. You see, in the body of Christ, we work in unity. Even though we might see some parts of our body to be more important than others, they all work in harmony to achieve a common goal. If any of our body part is faulty, we get time to treat it and make sure it’s fit. We should do same for each other. The latter part of the revelation from the Spirit of God tells us that, all the body parts suffer when one part suffers; all parts are honoured when one is honoured. That’s why we’re admonished to rejoice with them that rejoice and weep with them that weep (Romans 12:15).