Love (Part 1)

Today will begin a series here at learningirl4life about love. I personally have been dealing with some trials in my own walk that has left me feeling rather torn and tattered. I want us to take a journey together as we seek out what love is. Please know that I have not come to a full understanding myself, but I am hoping to have a better grasp of the love of my Heavenly Father by the end of this study. I pray that you will also walk away with a deeper imprint of God's love upon your heart as well as we journey together.

The very definition of the word love is actually God himself. It is impossible to understand love without first knowing the Lord.

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” John 4:8 (emphasis mine)

God = Love, and Love = God. they are synonymous words. I can’t vouch for others, but speaking for me personally, I have long pictured the equation to look more like this... God = Judge, and while this is a true statement, I did not equate that judge to be a loving one. In my mind, since God was a judge, He could not possibly be loving. I had forced God into the box of ruling with an iron fist, one who was ready to strike down every injustice and sin that had so easily entangled me. So, if my God was simply sitting on his throne ready to point the finger at my every wrong, then naturally I would not comprehend a love that flows from that understanding of God. My God was too limited. By doing this, I had set God up to fail because in my mind it was not even possible for a judgmental finger pointing God to love me. I had way too many sins heaped up in a pile too big to be loved out of. In other words, I had taken the definition of love right out of God’s very nature.  

How about you? What does your God look like? Does your God equal love, or do you equate His name with something else? What picture comes to mind when you think about the Lord? Is it love? If not, why not?

Paul writes a prayer to the Ephesians and in that prayer, he prays that they may understand the vastness of the Father’s love.

“...And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19 (emphasis mine)

I can only figure that if Paul had to pray for the Ephesian church to have the power to grasp the depth of God’s love then, I probably have to do the same. So, join me as I pray…

Father, I thank you that you are the very definition of love. I pray that you open up our hearts to begin to grasp the vastness of your love for us. I pray that this becomes more than just a knowledge, but rather an all-encompassing experience. That your love begins to shape and mold our hearts so that we can be vessels that will pour out your love upon everyone we come in contact with. I pray that your love overtakes us so much that it becomes contagious to those around us. Thank you, Lord, that you desire a relationship with us and I thank you that those who seek you will find you. Help us to seek your heartbeat of love for us and those around us. In the precious name of Jesus Christ.

To read other posts from this series please visit the Love series page.