God’s Love
God’s love is truly amazing. He loved us before we knew Him, before we loved Him. We can’t earn or deserve His love. He just simply loves us.
1 John 4:9-10 NIV says, “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 or sins.”
God’s love is perfect and authentic. Not like the world’s kind of love that demands something first or needs something in return. God’s love is forever. God’s love is self-sacrificing.
Most of us know John 3:16 - “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” That truly is unconditional (Agape) love. God’s love is action.
God’s love is “wide, long, high, deep.” (Ephesians 3:18) Is it possible to really love like that? Fear can keep us from loving like God loves. But when we begin to understand God’s love, His love will strengthen us to love others without fear of rejection or hurt.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV) has always been one of my favorite scriptures:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, 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. And love never fails.
At Easter we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. After Jesus was crucified and hung on the cross taking all the sins of the world upon Himself, He was laid in a sealed tomb. But on the third day He arose. An angel declared, “He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.” (Matthew 28:6) Our Lord of eternal love could not remain buried. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17)
Faith, Hope, and Love…but the greatest of these is love.