The Love of God

The love of God is sure, and important in these dark times. In the Brit Chadashah we are told that the love of many will wax cold in the last days because iniquity will abound. If we believe in him we must be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, and still remain living wells of his love. I myself need to work on this, asking him to fill me with his love. We can take a look at some passages in the bible on God's love and reflect on the importance of his love in our lives in these dark days. Yeshua said that if you love me keep my commandments - a very clear directive for anyone who means to follow. 

Here are a few of many, many verses of scripture talking about his love.

Ephesians 3: 16-19

I pray that from the treasures of his glory he will empower you with inner strength by his Spirit, so that the Messiah may live in your hearts through trusting. Also I pray that you will be rooted and founded in love, so that you, with God's people, will be given strength to grasp the breadth, length, height and depth of the Messiah's love, yes, to know it, even though it is beyond all knowing, so that you will be filled with all the fullness of God.

Romans 15: 30

And now I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God on my behalf...

1 John 2: 3-6

The way we can be sure we know him is if we are obeying his commands. Anyone who says, "I know him," but isn't obeying his commands is a liar - the truth in not in him. But if someone keeps doing what he says, then truly love for God has been brought to its goal in him. This is how we are sure we are united with him. A person who claims to be continuing in union with him ought to conduct his life the way he did.

1 John 4: 7-12

Beloved friends, let us love one another: because love is from God; and everyone who loves has God as his Father and knows God. Those who do not love, do not know god; because God is love. Here is how God showed his love among us: God sent his only Son into the world, so that through him we might have life. Here is what love is: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the kapparah for our sins. Beloved friends, if this is how God loved us, we likewise ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains united with us, and our love for him has been brought to its goal in us. Here is how we know that we remain united with him and he with us: he has given to us from his own Spirit. Moreover, we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent his Son as deliverer of the world. If someone acknowledges that Yeshua is the Son of God, God remains united with him, and he with God. Also we have come to know and trust the love that God has for us. God is love; and those who remain in this love remain united with God, and God remains unite with them.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trust in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed.

1 Peter 4:8

The accomplishing of the goal of all things is close at hand. Therefore, keep alert and self-controlled, so that you can pray. More than anything, keep loving each other actively; because love covers many sins.

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The reality is that there are so many passages about God's love for us and the importance of love that volumes on this topic alone could be written. I can't add anything to the bible, it really is the source to get a deeper knowledge and understanding of how much God loves us and the importance of remaining in his love in all we do. With so many worldly definitions diluting our idea of what love is, coming from a world that teaches us that being self-serving is the ultimate way, it's refreshing, encouraging and life-giving to spend some time in God's word and study passages on what he says about love.

I would say a few words of caution concerning the idea of love however as it pertains to my Christian brothers and sisters. Love can not be a cover for bad behavior. In counselling circles that's called enabling. We think by sheltering someone's bad behavior instead of telling them the truth we are loving them, but actually we are harming them more and ourselves as much. Loving someone sometimes requires we tell them the truth. Just as God tells us the truth when we have sinned, that sin leads to death, but that if we confess our sins he is faithful to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We can not use the Gospel of his love as a cloak for everything under the sun, nor as a cloak for sin.

I recently was watching a video from Now You See TV and the commentator said something to the effect that God's laws are in place to protect us, not punish us. So if God corrects us or highlights an area of sin, it's because he wants to protect us, because he loves us. We are spiritual beings and God's laws are in place to keep us in a spiritually healthy state and walking in his immense love. 

We can talk about how God loves us but we are also exhorted by Yeshua to love God.

Matthew 22:37-40

He told them, "You are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. This is the greatest and most important mitzvah. And a second is similar to it, You are to love your neighbor as yourself. All of the Torah and the Prophets are dependent on these two mitzvot.

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Loving God is personal and Yeshua expresses how important this is in this passage. Keeping his word is one way we show him our love. This means reading his word regularly, washing our hearts and minds in his word. Praying, and loving one another are equally important. Praying draws us close to him and keeps us strong in his love. His word tells us to 'pray without ceasing' (1 Thessalonians 5:17). In one of the passage I shared above, Romans 15:30, included in his appeal to pray Paul states, 'and for the love of the Spirit', highlighting that love and prayer are inseparable.

The bible also warns us about the end times and love.

Matthew 24:9-13

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

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Keeping our hearts and building ourselves up in love will be important now especially. So remember the compass of God's love in these days and keep yourselves in the word so that His love grows in your hearts. He forgave us so we also must forgive others, praying for them and asking God to always help us love and forgive, and continue to share the Gospel of His love in Jesus Christ.