Love OF God & Love FOR God
Written by Andy Buchanan
I’m always amazed at the Love of God. Are you? During this time of year everyone’s buzzing with talk of love, but I’m afraid that most have no idea about the greatest love of all. Nor do they really understand the depth of the “Love of God.”
The Bible tells us that God IS love. It’s in His character and nature to love. It’s His starting place with each of us. It also tells us that “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
Here’s the good stuff : “God’s Love begins with Him, not with me.”
God’s Love begins with Him,
not with me.
Unlike the “love” of our world and culture, God’s love begins with Him and is extended to us. Most of the time, if you will look at nearly all of the cards at the store you will see this, our love is in response to something someone does for us. While we were sinners and opposing God at every turn, HE LOVED US and Jesus DIED FOR US. While this world was hopeless and dead in sin, God sent His one and only Son to die for us.
I hope you can see the difference clearly. We can only move forward in our LOVE for GOD if we realize the depth of His love for us. Also, if we are going to LOVE like CHRIST, which we are called to do, then we must move from the world’s “love in return” mentality to a “love no matter what” mentality. That’s AGAPE. That’s the Love of God.
Because love is such an overused term in our culture, we are quick to say, “Yes, I LOVE GOD.” But what does that really mean? It could mean that I get the warm and fuzzies when I think about God’s love for me. Or, it could mean that I follow the cultural “DO” and “DO NOT” lists for my community. Maybe it means that I’m religious and do everything that is expected of me like go to church and do nice things. While these are all good things, they fall short of backing up the declaration of “I love God.”
Before you give up, I want you to know there is a Biblically correct and measurable answer for this. The answer to the question, “Do I LOVE God?” is found in His Word in several places. Let me give you two quickly and then I’ve put a ONE QUESTION EXAM ON LOVING GOD at the bottom of this page.
First, DO YOU LOVE OTHERS?
Since love generates from the very nature of God, then the more we love Him then the more we will love others. The two go hand-in-hand and are evidence of each other. According to 1 John 4, if we don’t love others, we don’t know God, because God IS love.
Second, ARE YOU OBEYING HIM?
Jesus said, “If you love me, obey my commandments.” So, to OBEY is to LOVE. And in order to OBEY we have to KNOW Him. We know God through the Holy Spirit, His Word, and prayer. Keep that in mind as you take the ONE QUESTION EXAM on the next page.
I’d like to wish each of you a special Valentine by telling you how thankful I am to get to serve Troup Baptists and that I love you. I pray you will grow in your knowledge of God’s Love FOR you and practice of LOVE FOR others.
Here is your long awaited, ONE QUESTION, SELF EXAMINATION mentioned in the article on the front page. It’s a simple way to evaluate how well you are showing your love for God so that you might grow in your love for Him in the future.
How much do you PRAY?
Isn’t that simple? It is, yet it also will reveal much about your love for God. When we PRAY we show our LOVE for God, our dependence on God, and our willingness to OBEY Him.
Let me encourage you to PRAY MORE. Love and Blessings!