Tell Them About My Love

It is cold and overcast today here in Colorado and we are due to get more snow.  It’s so cloudy we can’t even see the mountains.  This is typical spring weather for us.  We never know when a storm or blizzard might sweep down from the Rockies.  Our neighborhood is quiet today with everyone staying inside protected from the cold and the virus.  I’ve been praying and thinking about what to write all day.  I’ve been worn out from Celiac lately and I felt like I hit a wall today with my writing.  As I prayed one more time for what to write, I heard the Lord whisper, “tell them about my love.”  So, that’s what I’m going to do.

It might seem strange to someone who does not believe in the Lord to hear someone say they “heard the Lord whisper” something to them, but that is how the Lord speaks to us by the power of the Holy Spirit and it’s awesome!  In thinking about God’s love, my mind immediately went to 1 Corinthians and 1 John, which explain the true definition of love and the truth that God is love.  God’s very character and essence is love.  Without God, there is no love.  We have and know love because of God.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

We know that we live 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.  If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.  In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.”

1 John 4:7-17

That is real love!  God loves us so much that he gave us His Son, Jesus, as a sacrifice for our sins!  God loves us so much that He promises to live inside anyone who believes in Jesus and make His love complete in us!

How does God love us?  Many of us have a distorted view of what love truly is.  Thankfully, we have God’s Word to help us understand what love should always be.

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.  But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.”

1 Corinthians 13:1-8

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13

Since we know from 1 John that God is love, then we know that God’s character is defined by every beautiful attribute of love described by Paul in 1 Corinthians.  How does God love us?  God is patient, God is kind.  He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud.  He is not rude, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs.  God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  God never fails and God is the greatest!

God also disciplines us in His love and His discipline leads to our good.  God’s discipline leads to holiness, righteousness, and peace.  He is a loving Father and He trains His children through His loving discipline.

“And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:

“My son, do not make light of the

Lord’s discipline,

and do not lose heart when he

rebukes you,

because the Lord disciplines those he

loves,

and he punishes everyone he accepts

as a son.”

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons.  For what son is not disciplined by his father?  If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.  Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it.  How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!  Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

Hebrews 12:5-11

Even in His discipline, God is patient and kind with us.  He protects us and guides us as He watches over our lives and helps us stay on the right path with His loving guidance and discipline, and His love will never fail!

In the Psalms we learn that God’s love will endure forever.  Nothing can change the very nature of who God is.  He is love and He will always be love!

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his

name.

For the LORD is good and his love

endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through all

generations.”

Psalm 100:4-5

We also learn in 1 John that God’s love is perfect and His perfect love drives out fear.  You do not have to be afraid of God or His love!  He does not want you to be afraid.  He wants to make you perfect in love!

“There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  We love because he first loved us.”

1 John 4:18-19

We know what love is because Jesus died for us on the cross!  Let that love sink deep in your heart!  There is no condemnation for those who believe in Jesus!  There is nothing to fear, not even death!  God’s love is perfect and never ending and He wants to shower you with His love!

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”

Romans 8-1-2

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Jesus speaking in John 3:16

Do you want to be set free by God’s love?  Your freedom is waiting.  Put your faith in Jesus and He will save your soul and fill you with His love!

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:9

“for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 10:13

Grace and peace to you all!