February is the love season where everyone celebrates their loved ones in their lives, especially their romantic loved ones. But have we ever stopped and wonder the meaning behind the phrase “I love you”? Does love goes beyond words?
If we really knew how to love, would we be more intentional about even saying “I love you”? Would we even feel capable of not just saying it, but showing it?
Today’s How To series we will be breaking down how to truly demonstrate God’s love to others using the scripture 1 John 4:9-12.
Now before you continue on reading, I would suggest you first read our Verse of the Day 1 John 4:8, where we shared what love really is, or should I say who love is. This would then give you a bigger insight to understand today’s blog post better. Then you can come straight back to this.
Now, let’s get to it!
1 John 4:9-12
“(9) 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. (10) This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (11) Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (12) No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”
Love is Giving and Sacrificial
We are used to hearing John 3:16 where it shows us the love that Jesus had for us by sacrificing His life for our sins, so that we can have eternal life.
We deserved the judgement of our sins which would have been death, but instead Jesus took the punishment, although He was innocent and never committed sin (2 Corinthians 5:21).
All so that we would be made acceptable to God (the Father) and be in right relationship with Him by His grace and love for us (2 Corinthians 5:21 AMP).
But the thing is it goes further than that.
Not only was the gospel a sign of Jesus’ love for us but also the Father’s.
Now, sometimes people mistake the Father as an angry God who’s looking to punish us with whatever we do.
This is far from the truth, because if that was the case, He would have never sent His One and only Son down on earth to experience everything He went through and die for us.
The Father giving us His Son was a sign of His love for us.
The Father sent the Son down on earth to dwell among us.
Look at the God that we serve!
We sometimes have the image of the Father that He is looking down on us screwing at whatever we do, but He incarnated Himself and lived with us through all the sin we did and yet loved us through it all.
Now, we may not have lived in those times when Jesus was physically living on earth with us.
But guess what? We have the Holy Spirit not living with us on earth but living INSIDE of us.
Look how close God wants to be with us.
Look how much God desires a relationship with us.
Look how much God wants to make it clear that He loves us.
Nothing can come between the love He has for us.
NOTHING! Not even ourselves.
Now, you may be thinking what does this got to do with us loving others.
Well, for starters love is not what you can get out of a relationship but what you can give into the relationship.
You’ve got to ask yourself how can you serve this person?
This doesn’t just apply in romantic relationships, but this goes for all types of relationships.
Look at it this way to show love for someone you have to give to and give up.
What are you going to give to the person to show that you love them?
Bearing in mind, this goes beyond materialistic things.
You’ve got to give to them out of what they need.
The Father knew that we needed Him, and therefore He put a rescue plan in place to reconcile our relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.
The same way when you give to someone, have in mind what they need not just want they desire.
Now, when it comes to giving up something for the person, that can be very tough.
Our nature is self-seeking, so to be selfless doesn’t come naturally to us, we need the power of the Holy Spirit for that.
One way to show sacrificial love is through compromise.
“Compromise” according to Merriam-Webster dictionary is “a way of reaching agreement in which each person or group gives up something that was wanted in order to end an argument or dispute”.
Jesus met us in the middle, He is our Mediator between ourselves and the Father so that we can have a relationship with God (1 Timothy 2:5).
Compromise works in a similar way, where both parties have to give up something in order to meet in the middle and make the relationship work.
As you can tell, love goes beyond feelings, it is very much a lot of action.
Love is a Choice
“But God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
God chose to love us before we even chose Him.
God didn’t wait for us to get our act right before sharing His immense, unconditional and abundant love for us.
God doesn’t love us in response to what we do for Him, or whether we love Him.
He doesn’t give us a set of conditions that we have to meet in order for us to experience His love.
He loves us because He is Love and that’s what He does.
That’s His character.
That is who God is.
See people get confused and believe that following God’s commandments is so that we can receive God’s love.
We may not think that’s where our intentions lie when we try and obey God commands but have a real good think about it.
You praying, reading the bible, fasting, serving at church, in your home or at work more doesn’t make God love you or love you more.
Trust me, I’ve been there and thought this.
He loves you regardless of what you do for Him.
Following God’s commandments has more to do with you.
““if you love me, keep my commands.” (John 14:15).
Choosing to obey God’s commands and not following our fleshly desires is us showing God that we love Him, not the other way round.
So, when it comes to our earthly relationships choose to love them not because of what they can do for you in return, but because the love of God that is inside of you is meant for them to receive and experience.
Also, choose to love all kinds of people, including those who you don’t like, who don’t like you and even those who are different from you.
Don’t think that they are hard to love, it’s actually a ‘you’ problem.
Yes, you know why?
You don’t have the capacity to love them. Stop trying to love them through your own strength.
Love them through the power of God.
That is why we are commanded to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength, because when we are filled with His love, we can then overflow the love of God to others, even those we say are ‘hard’ to love (Matthew 22:37-39).
Choosing to love someone the way God sees them, gives them hope and encouragement to become who God has created them to be.
Loving Others is a Command from God
“We also ought to love one another”. The word “ought” is used to say that it is necessary to express this action because it is morally right to do so.
This means that it is necessary for us as children of the One who is Love; God, to love others because it is morally right to share God’s love to people.
This is proven by Jesus telling us that the Greatest Commandment is to love God and to love others (Matthew 22:37-40).
He even goes further and commands us to love and pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:43-45).
This shows that God’s love is not limited to the people you like, get along with or reciprocate the love back.
God’s love is for everyone, whether you think they are deserving of it or not.
It is not down to us because God chose to love us first even when we were sinners, before we even knew Him, before we had a relationship with Him. He loved us through it.
The same way we ought to love others through it all.
We are not commanded to love one another to earn or become worthy of God’s love.
We love one another because we are loved by God and therefore out of the abundance of the love of God that we experience we ought and desire to share His love to others.
Sharing His love to people, whether we like them or hate them, it is so that everyone has the opportunity to not just hear the gospel by saying “Jesus loves you” but to engage them into encountering God’s love through loving them with the love of God that is overflowing from inside of you.
People can’t see the invisible God but by us loving them through the love of God makes Him visible to them.
Loving others is the best way to bring the gospel to life and make it real for people.
If you want to love others correctly and to experience God’s love, receive or rededicate Jesus as your Lord and Saviour of your life.
Know and believe that the Father showed His love to us by sending His one and only Son to die on the cross for our sins and resurrected from the grave, so that we can have eternal life in Him.
We get to now have a relationship with God and experience His love in our lives.
Amen!
Stay Blessed,
Divine L.
Hi, I am Divine L., your sister-in-F.A.I.T.H., who is passionate about discipling Christian girls to be a walking embodiment of Jesus Christ in their daily lives and to help young girls and woman become who God destined for them to become. It is a great blessing to welcome you to the F.A.I.T.H. sisterhood!