God Is In Love With You

The gospel is the revelation of God, and his finished work on the earth. One of the greatest revelations in the gospel is that God is in love with us. I know Jesus says the greatest commandments are to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, and then love others as ourselves. But when he said this, the Bible tells us he was responding to a trick question from a lawyer about the law. The lawyer was not sincerely seeking truth.

If the lawyer had been seeking truth, Jesus would have told him real love is not about us loving God, but it's about God loving us (I John 4:10, 19). God loves us as much as he does Jesus (John 17:23). The Bible says God is love -- and he loves us because of Jesus, not because of what we do or don't do. The way love is preached today, we're told WE have to show we're good Christians by being loving.

But if love isn't received, and then shared by us, it isn't the love of God. All that any of us have, that is worth anything at all, is God within us.

Ephesians says we are holy, blameless, and stand before God in love -- that we are 'rooted and grounded in God's love.' Ephesians 3:16, this takes place in our 'inner man' -- our soul, not our spirit. It's our feelings and emotions. Thus, we are meant to personally experience God's love, not just accept it as a theory. It's God's love that impacts us to live a powerful life (II Cor 5:14).

Paul says faith works through love. But faith is more than just simply believing God loves us, and then trying to love other people. This is why we must know God's love personally and intimately. When we know something, in an intimate sense, then we receive it as ours. It is RECEIVING God's love fresh every day -- and then sharing what we have received with others.

There is a big difference between trying to love God -- and knowing that God is in love with YOU! If you are sitting at a banquet table full to overflowing, you want to share it with others. But if you only have a piece of bread to eat, your willingness to share is diminished. If we know we are loved, it is then easy to share the love we have.

Love becomes practical if we truly embrace the gospel, and come to know God's love experientially-- each and every day. His love is a gift of the cross of Christ -- a gift that allows John to say, "As Jesus is, so are WE in this world" (I John 4:17). As you continue to read Gospel Snapshots, they will progressively reveal and impart the power of the love of God into your life.

About the Author:
Gospel Snapshots is a short newsletter about living Practical Gospel Christianity in the truth and the power of the finished work of Christ (published Mondays and Fridays). Religion demands that we live right; the gospel is the power of God that enables us to live right. To subscribe send an E-mail to: GospelSnapshots@Royal-Responder.com