This is love!

"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."  1 John 4:10-11

Thanks to Hallmark and lots of television and print advertising, we can't help but know that Valentine's Day is around the corner. For many, it's a time where we take a little more time to think about the ones we love and let them know how we feel. For others, it can be a painful time where we are reminded of love lost, challenges in our existing relationships, or the absence of a meaningful "love relationship" in our lives. What if this year, we turned our focus away from human love and made it about our relationship with God?

We are all familiar with John 3:16, which says "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son....," but we often miss the part about the fact that he SO LOVED THE WORLD. He loves each and every one of us and desires an intimate relationship with us. In fact, he loves us so much that he sacrificed His one and only son to restore the relationship with his beloved. Agape love. A sacrificial love that knows no bounds. A love that bears all, forgives all, and is completely unconditional. It is the kind of love that Paul speaks about in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 "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" 

So why am I focusing on how much God loves us? Because until we know and believe how much God loves us, and we receive his love, forgiveness and grace, we will not be able to love others in a meaningful way. We can phileo love, which is the kind of "brotherly love" we experience in a friendship. We can eros love, which is sensual love we experience in an intimate relationship. But, we cannot agape love apart from God. The greatest commandment of all time tells us to love God with the entirety of who we are and to love others as ourselves, but we can't do the second part without the first.

If we are struggling in a relationship or simply want to improve a relationship, we can begin by knowing God more through his word. The more we know him, the more we can begin to understand how he loves us, especially through the example of Jesus. Since Jesus is God in the flesh, and God and love are synonymous, go back an insert the word "Jesus" into 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 to begin to understand who he is and how he loves you.  "Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind. Jesus does not envy, Jesus does not boast, Jesus is not proud. Jesus is not rude, Jesus is not self-seeking, Jesus is not easily angered, Jesus keeps no record of wrongs. Jesus does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Jesus always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Jesus never fails." The more we know him and understand his love for us, the more we can love him in return. The more we love him, the more we can love others. 

1 John 4:7-11 says "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." Love comes from God. To know love, we have to know God. God loved us first. God sent his one and only son as a sacrifice so we could have a restored relationship with him. This is love. Because of his great love for us, we can and must love one another.

 

Want to know Jesus more?  Join us for "Living an Empowered Life" Holy Yoga Retreat February 25-27. Registration ends February 17!  Click here for more information.