Life is always filled with surprises. We can never be sure of what will happen next but one thing that will always remain constant with us is God’s love. His love never fails, it never gives up and it never ever runs out on any of us.
God has given us 10 commandments to follow but Jesus summarised all of them into 2 which are as follows;
- Mat 22:37-38 And Jesus said to him “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”
- Mat22:39“And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
i.e. Love God and Love People.
Jesus told His disciples in John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
There is only one perfect way to love and that is love like Jesus.
How do we know that God loves us?
According to Romans chapter 5 verse 8 “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And in the 1st book of John chapter 4 verse 9 it is written “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.”
How does God express His love for us?
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
2 Thessalonians 2:16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace
Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
If we look at all the above verses closely, we can see that God’s love is expressed in His giving. He just did not give anything. He gave the best. He gave Himself.
What are the attributes of God’s Love?
We can see a portrait of God’s Love in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 4-8 which is as follows;
– Love is –Patient and kind, Love rejoices with the truth.
– Love – bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends
– Love does not envy or boast
– Love is not arrogant or rude.
– Love is not irritable or resentful
– Love does not insist on its own way.
– Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing
GOD IS LOVE and hence God wants us to love.
In 1 John chapter 4 verse 7-16 it is written “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. So, we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
Apostle Paul concludes by saying in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 that even if we have all the gifts of the Spirit and even if we live the perfect life of a hermit but if we do not have love, we gain nothing.
So, let our foundation be love.
LET EVERYTHING WE DO, BE OUT OF LOVE.
by PASTOR ALWIN D. VARGHESE
