Love (Part 8)

Looking back on the last 7 weeks of posts and trying to wrap my mind around the vastness of our Father’s love is just so indescribable to me. But if I could sum it up it would come to this, God’s love is a lavished love without conditions and limits. It comes freely with no strings attached and no expectations. His love never grows tired, weary, or discontent with us. His love is patient, kind and respectful. It honors and elevates, hopes in and protects our hearts. His love is never boastful, proud, rude or arrogant. Our Father’s love is serving and selfless. It is slow to anger and abounding in adoration for us. It keeps no records of our mistakes and it carries our sins upon its shoulders. The precious love of God is rich in grace and mercy and drenched with compassion. His love rejoices over us with wholehearted zeal. His love yearns to be with us so much so that it causes Him to passionately pursue a relationship with us. This just scratches the surface of God’s love, but it has been enough to prove to my insecure self that I have a daddy who loves me more than words can even express and in my moments of doubt I find myself needing to rehearse these very words you have just read about His love. I know that this journey of discovering God’s love is not over, but I have just been simply undone by the immensity of it all! My prayer is that you have been able to discover some beautiful truths about our Heavenly Father’s love for you and that it profoundly affects your heart for eternity.

We have spent five weeks discussing 1 Corinthians 13:5-7, but what is important to note is the verses that precede this section of scripture.

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Love trumps all the giftings and talents we might have. There is nothing in our talents, abilities or God-given giftings that can withstand the test of time. When we operated without God’s love it is only a matter of time before someone recognizes that we are in it for the love of self. When we get right down to it, if we don’t have a love for God, we have a love of self, and that is precisely the kind of love the world recognizes as flakey, fakey and a bunch of bologna. Everything about us must be married and interwoven with God’s love flowing in us and through us or we truly are worth nothing to this world. Let’s face it, this world has enough talented people who do not love with the love of Christ, we certainly don’t need to add to that list of individuals. We don’t want to be the resounding gong in the ears of this unbelieving world, but rather the tender whisper of the precious love of Christ. That tender whisper will draw those around us to our Heavenly Father.  

“And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13

There are so many hidden truths yet to be revealed to my heart, but one thing I know for sure God’s love is the most important truth my heart needs to grab hold of and never let go. As we close out this series on love, I pray that your heart is drawn ever closer to the steadfast love of our Heavenly Father. He loves you to the cross and back.

Our precious Lord, there are no words to express the gratitude in our hearts for your unfailing love you have for us. Thank you for flooding us with a kind of love that chases after us in a very passionate way. Help us to grasp how wide, how long, how high and how deep your love is for us so that we can be a vessel used to pour out your love into a lost and dying world. Lord, we do not want to be a clanging gong in the ears of others, but rather a sweet and tender whisper that draws many to your feet. Let your love in us be evident to everyone we meet. We ask this in the precious name of Jesus Christ.  

To read the other posts from this series on God’s love please go to the Love series page.

Love (Part 7)

What an honor it is to be loved by a faithful Heavenly Father who loves us unconditionally right where we are, but He is also the ultimate example of what love is all about. There is no better way to learn about love than from the very author of love Himself. I don’t know about you, but I am so thankful to be on this journey towards a deeper understanding of God’s love. This journey has truly been a refreshing to my spirit in more ways then I can even express in words. We still have four more concepts about love to cover from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and they are, love always protects, always trusts always hopes and always perseveres. Let’s jump right in shall we?

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, 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. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love always protects.

The Latin origin of the word “protect” literally means to cover over or to walk in front of. When we think of protection our minds often go towards our own desire to keep hurt, pain and suffering from those we love. This can not always be the case. Love may not take the pain away, but like a bandage, it covers over and protects the wounds that have already been inflicted. Love comes alongside and holds our hands when the road of life gets rockier than we anticipated. God’s love works in an even greater measure than this simple bandage analogy. God’s love not only covers our wounds, but His love actually brings the healing oil that allows those wounds to begin the healing process. When we love with the love of Christ, we bring not only the covering of God’s love to others (the bandage) but also the healing oil that can change a heart for eternity.

Love always trusts.

I had a hard time wrapping my mind around this one because putting it plainly, our humanness is not always trustworthy. I don’t know about you, but I have dropped the ball a time or two and have needed to regain trust in different areas of my life. When I read this verse my mind immediately reverted in that direction. How is it even possible for love to always trust when we in our humanness are not always trustworthy? This is why I love studying out scripture because the Lord has a way of changing my views on things, especially when I am careful to keep a teachable spirit about me. This word “trusts” comes from the Greek word “pistis” which means: faith, belief, trust, confidence; fidelity, faithfulness. So, in other words, love believes in others. Love has faith that God is going to work in the heart even in those moments when the wrong path might be chosen. Love has confidence in God that He is going to bring the heart to a place where it will call upon the name of the Lord and seek His face. The takeaway here is this, when we put our focus on the sin that people are entangled in, we will become discouraged, but when we put our trust, faith, and confidence in our Heavenly Father’s love for that person, it is then that our love for them has the ability to always trust. Not that we are trusting in their ability to choose righteousness, but that we trust in the ability of our Heavenly Father to give them a desire to choose righteousness for themselves. Love always trusts God’s ability to do His part in the situation.  

God’s love always trusts in us. His love always has full faith in our potential. Our Heavenly Father is our biggest cheerleader. He desires for us to succeed in His kingdom. He believes in each and every one of us! What a precious thought to know that the Lord is our greatest supporter no matter what we are facing. We might be choosing the valley of the shadow of death, but God believes in the potential that He has created us for. His love trusts in us!

Love always hopes.

This word “hopes” means to expect or anticipate. When love always hopes, it is expecting and anticipating great things. Just like we talked about our trust needing to be in our Heavenly Father to see change brought about in the hearts and lives of those around us, our hope needs to lie in those same hands. When we hope in people we will be disappointed time and time again, but when our hope is in the Lord and His perfect timing for those around us we will never be disappointed. God’s love never fails. We don’t always see things turn out the way we wanted, but that does not mean that love should stop hoping. God’s love expects beauty to come from our ashes, strength to spring forth from our fears, gladness to take the place of our morning and peace to replace our despair. These things are all possible because we have a God who loves hopes for us.

Love always perseveres.

I think there is a reason why “love always perseveres” is the last on the list in this section of scripture. The Lord truly has saved the best characteristic of love for last! GOD’S LOVE WILL NOT QUIT ON US!!!!! His love will never fail, never give up or run out on us. It will never fade, grow tired, or become weary. His love will never weaken, never waver or soften one us in the slightest. It is unshakeable, unstoppable, unrelenting and unyielding. God’s love is immovable, constant, persistent and endless. His love does not slow down, take a break or relax. God’s love for you and I is intense, unquenchable and relentless. His love seeks and saves! God’s love never stops, it always perseveres. Wow! It’s no wonder we have a difficult time loving with the love of Christ. How many people do we truly love with that much intensity? I know I have a long way to go in this department. I pray that God teaches me how to love with the intensity of Christ.  

Heavenly Father, there are not enough words to begin to express the gratitude in our hearts for the immense love you shower on us each and every second of every single day. Thank you that your love always protects, always trusts always hopes and always perseveres. Help us to love others in such a way that we put our trust and hope in you in their hearts and not become discouraged when they don’t choose righteousness. Thank you for this intense love that does not waver in the slightest over us. Thank you for loving us recklessly. We pray this in the precious name of Jesus Christ.

To read any other posts from this series on God’s love please visit the Love series page.

Love (Part 6)

As we steadily work through 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, I pray that we are beginning to grasp how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ truly is (Ephesians 3:18).

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, 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. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love keeps no record of wrongs.

I believe this not only encompasses the actual wrongs that have been done to us, but maybe even more importantly than that, the wrongs that we perceive to have been done to us as well. If we are truly being honest here, we don’t see situations as they always are. Sometimes we get offended and get a chip on our shoulder all because we “think” we know what is going on, even if we “think” we know both sides of the story. Love holds the trump card against our freedom to get offended and dangle it over someone’s head. If we truly love, then we need to be willing to rise above the little black book of memories that we can have a tendency to cling onto until our knuckles turn white. Instead, we should be thankful for the precious moments that are set before us to make things right.

I am so thankful that my Heavenly Father does not keep a little black book of offended memories dangling over my head. If there was such a book it would not be so little because I know I am a sinner of the most tiresome kind. Not only does He not keep a little black book, but according to Hebrews 8:12, the Lord forgives our sins and remembers them no more. Our sins are wiped clean out of His memory when we place them at the feet of Christ. What an amazing kind of love that is! Sometimes I only wish I was that forgetful when someone has wronged me. It truly takes work to keep my offended self from wanting to throw up an entire black book of complaints!

Love does not delight in evil.

Love does not rejoice when others are hurting. Scripture tells us to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn (Romans 12:15). However, sometimes in our capitalistic society, we can have a tendency to rejoice when things don’t go as well for others, especially when their loss is our gain. This is not love!

We serve a God who does not take delight in evil, nor does He get any satisfaction from our pain. Christ loves us so much that He willingly took on our pain, not for His gain, but for our benefit, so we might have eternal life. Our God rejoices when we rejoice and mourns when we mourn. He hurts when we are in the throngs of a painful situation and His heart celebrates with us when we are rejoicing. What a beautiful picture of love!

Love rejoices in the truth.

Love turns it’s back on evil, but runs with arms wide open to truth. This is exactly what we must be willing to do. We must be willing to reject the evil and safeguard truth in our lives. Love flourishes in truth but is suffocated by evil. I am so grateful to serve a God whose very nature is truth.

Heavenly Father, I thank you that your love keeps no records of wrongs. I am thankful that your love does not delight in evil, but it rejoices in the truth. Help us to be filled with the kind of love that does not carry around a memory book of offenses towards others of when they have wronged us. Help us not to delight in evil, or secretly be happy when someone’s loss is our worldly gain. Help us to remember just how much pain you took on for our benefit. Lord, your love is truly amazing and we are forever grateful! We pray all this in the precious name of Jesus Christ.  

To read any other posts from this series on God’s love please visit the Love series page.

Love (Part 5)

This week we continue in our study of God’s love by looking at “love does not dishonor, it is not self-seeking and it is not easily angered” from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, 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. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love does not dishonor others.

The 1989 NIV version says “...It is not rude…” Love is never going to treat others with disrespect, dishonor, or be rude. Now that we know what love does not look like, let’s take a look at antonyms of this list of words in order to better understand what love should look like. The opposite character trait of disrespect is respect. The word respect means to esteem highly or to identify a sense of the worth or excellence within a person. When we are loving someone with respect we are willing to search out the good in them and formulate an opinion of them based on those good qualities. Wow! This truly is a skill that takes practice and persistence in order to carry out, especially when we come across those who seem to be unlovable. Our Heavenly Father’s love is one of respect. He always has the best in mind for His children.  

The opposite character trait of dishonor is honor. We should hold others in such high regard that they walk away from us feeling like they have just spent time with the Father Himself. When we interact with others we should always view them through Christ’s eyes. Every person on this entire earth, no matter how much sin they might find themselves entangled in, is created in the image of God. We should have no difficulty treating others with honor when we keep that thought in the forefront of our minds.

The opposite of rude is kind. We discussed in part 3 that love is kind. When someone is kind they actively search out the strengths of others. People who are kind elevate the good in others. We all enjoy when others treat us with kindness. We should be willing to love others in kindness.

Love is not self-seeking.

I have always said that babies are the most selfish living being on the face of the planet, and for good reason. If they were not wired with the “me first mentality” then they would far too often get overlooked and their basic needs would not be met. Think about it, when a baby cries they are usually trying to communicate some type of need. They are hungry, tired, need changed, or they are sick. If they never cried how often would we as parents miss their feeding times, napping times, changing times, or not recognize when they are sick? In the case of a baby selfishness is a matter of survival. As we grow up we should slowly grow out of this need for constant attention. However, some of us find ourselves in the battle against selfishness each and every day. We much rather be served then serve. The love of Christ does not desire for us to come bearing gifts every time we enter His presence. Christ came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). This concept of selflessness can be a tough one in our American culture today. We live in a generation that is obsessed with the “selfie.” We  want so badly to appear as if we have arrived, we have it all together and that we have life figured out. If you think I’m off track on this just a little, take a look at Facebook or Instagram. When was the last time we or any of our friends posted the challenges we are facing in our life? All we post is things that make us look “good.” The reality is never what is posted on social media. Social media is a incubator for shelf. I’m not bashing those platforms by any means. I utilize them myself, but when all we post are things that elevate self then we better reevaluate whether or not self-centeredness has replaced a love for others.

I am so thankful that Christ’s love is not selfish. If it was, He would have gotten as far as the Garden of Gethsemane and decided that He didn’t want to suffer for the sake of others, that the pain of the cross was not worth it to Him. Self could have sat on the throne of His life. If this were the case, the blood would never have been shed and my sins, your sins or for the sins of every person who ever lived and who ever will live. This certainly would have been an eternal sentence for every last one of us to hell. I praise God for an unselfish love because it means freedom from sin and the gift of life eternal!

Love is not easily angered.

Someone who is easily angered is quick to lose their patience with others. Anger in and of itself is not sinful, it’s when we act upon that anger and allow our temper to get the better of us. We can be angry and not sin. Ephesians 4:26 tells us “In your anger do not sin Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry” Instead of having a short fuse in the anger department scripture tells us we are to be slow to anger. “... Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” James 1:19 Again, not that we can’t get angry at times, but we should be slow in getting there. We are to have patience with others. In part 3 we discussed that love is patient.

If God’s love was full of anger, His fuse would be short, He would be impatient and I would probably have already been burned up by His wrath. But instead, God’s love is not easily angered and patient with me. I am incredibly grateful for this! How about you?

Heavenly Father, I thank you that your love does not dishonor, it is not self-seeking and it is not easily angered. I pray that you help us in each of these areas so that we can love others with honor, respect, and kindness. Help us to keep our eyes off of ourselves and on others so we can love unselfishly. Father may your love flow through us in such a way that we are extremely slow to anger and frustration and quick to be patient with those around us. Lord, we still have a long way to go in some of these areas. I pray that your holy spirit comes in and takes over our hearts so that it’s not us trying to love like Christ in our human capabilities because we know that this is limited. May you work in us so that your love flows directly through us straight to the hearts of others. Thank you for your beautiful example of love. In the precious name of Jesus, we pray.  

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

Love (Part 4)

Last week we began looking at Love being patient and kind from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Today we are going to continue our study of God’s love by progressing through this section of scripture and examining that love does not envy, it does not boast, and it is not proud.  

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, 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. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love does not envy.

The word envy means to have a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's advantages, success, possessions, etc. (Dictionary.com). Love does not want what others have. Love is perfectly content right where it is at. One of the biggest enemies we face here in America is the desire to have more, bigger, better, the latest and greatest thing available all because we see our neighbor with it. This desire is not loving. This discontentment puts our desires and wants before others. Scripture clearly states that we are to think of others interests before our own (Philippians 2:4). When we are too busy focusing on the next best thing to go buy or to get ourselves “ahead” we are missing out on any possibility of being able to love others as ourselves (Mark 12:31). When we are caught up being envious of others we are incapable of love because we are too self-indulged. Love does not look inwards. Love always looks outwards others. Envy will always have you looking inward to a place of discontentment.

I am so thankful that God’s love is not envious. God does not get discontent when I get a new job, or when I buy a new car. In fact, the opposite thing happens. God is the one behind the scenes opening the door for us to get that new job, and making our budgets work so a new vehicle can be possible. He rejoices over us in those situations, not because of the “stuff” we are getting, but because of the gift, He is giving to His children. Our response to the Lord in these situations is to recognize His hand in orchestrating our situation and give Him the praise He is worthy of. God’s very nature is not one of envy or discontent, it is one of desiring for us to grow and mature in the kingdom.

Love does not boast.

When someone is boastful they speak and think more highly of themselves than others. Boastful people will purposefully tear others down just to get the glory and praise. Boastful people are filled with arrogance and pride. There is nothing about boastfulness that is loving. When we feel the need to make others look bad in order to “get ahead” we have fallen so far off the love barometer it’s not even funny. God’s love does not boast. God does not make us look like a pile of junk so He looks gets all the praise. God does not have to make us look bad. In our human flesh, we are already weak. The best part about our weakness is that His strength has the ability to shine forth. In our weakness He is strong (2 Corinthians 12:9). In our weakness, all of the honor and glory goes right where it belongs, in the hands of our omniscient creator.

Love is not proud.

Similar in meaning to boastfulness is pride. I truly believe that pride can start out innocently enough then turn its ugly head and get us into a boatload of trouble in a hurry. Let me explain what I mean by this. We can be proud of ourselves for accomplishing a goal, but the second we begin to elevate ourselves above others is the very second that pride becomes sin. Love will always be abruptly halted by “self.” When we begin to put ourselves in some form of hierarchical order we have just cut off the flow of love entirely. Love does not elevate self but always elevates others.  

Heavenly Father, I thank you that your love does not envy, it does not boast and it is not proud. I thank you that you have clearly shown us a pattern in your word for love. Help us not to be envious of others, but rather to be thankful for what we have. Protect us from the spirit of boastfulness and pride. Show us ways to elevate others above ourselves so that your love can be seen in us and through us. We ask these things in Jesus precious name.

To read other posts from the series about God’s love please visit the Love series page.

Love (Part 3)

This week continues our series on love. If you have not already read part 1 and part 2 please take the opportunity to do so before reading today’s post.

As we learned from part 1 God is love, but what exactly does that look like? The most well-known place in scripture to go on the topic of love is 1 Corinthians 13.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, 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. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient.

The definition of patient is - “bearing provocation, annoyance, misfortune, delay, hardship, pain,etc., with fortitude and calm and without complaint, anger, or the like.” (dictionary.com) So, in real life, this means love is able to keep cool in moments when we want to hurl out a piece of our mind wrapped in all manner of disrespect. Patient love does not look like us honking our horn at the elderly person lethargically crossing the street as if they were purposely trying to make us later for work then we already were. There is nothing lovely about that scenario at all! Patient love does, however, mean, that we are to pray that this elderly person gets to where they are going safely and that the Lord touches their heart along the way in the very moment we want to honk our horn at them. When we feel our blood pressure rising in a particular situation our response needs to be measured against the barometer of love. Ask, is what I want to do patient love? If there is any hesitancy in our ability to answer “yes” then we need to rethink our response before it comes out as an impatient response. Can I just be honest here, I am not good at stopping and taking the split second needed to measure my response against the barometer of love. This is one area that I need God’s grace for sure!

I am so thankful that God’s love is patient with us. He is perfect, His love is perfect, and He does not make mistakes. I have always envisioned Him watching me go around the mountain for the 100th time and then feeling like He is banging His head against a wall all while saying, “when is she going to get this thing figured out?” The problem with envisioning God this way creates a huge discrepancy in the character trait of love being patient. If I envision God as being frustrated with every sin I find myself so easily entangled in, then I have just put an extremely limiting factor on God’s ability to love me patiently. Does my sin sadden His heart? Absolutely it does! As parents, it breaks our hearts to see our children fall into patterns of sin too. The difference here is that God will wait as long as it takes for us to continue to go around that mountain until we actually want to change. Patient love allows us to learn and grow. Impatient love will come in, take over and then we will find ourselves no better off than before. So, yes it saddens my Father’s heart to see me entangled in the same sin for the 100th time, but God also knows sometimes it may take me 101 times of fighting with the same old demon until I surrender and allow Him to change my heart. What we need to desperately understand, is that God NEVER leaves us or forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5). He is never going to give up on us! His love is patient. Patient enough to outlast our impatience and our stubbornness! Look at Jonah, God was willing to wait until Jonah was ready to surrender his heart to the Lord’s plans and purposes. We are no different. God’s love is patient with us. He desires to see us change. If that means 101 times around the same old mountain, then so be it.

Love is kind.

When a person is kind their very character will naturally look to the goodwill of others. They do not look at their own interest, but rather they attend to the interest of others. (Philippians 2:3-4) They desire to see others grow, learn and flourish. God’s very nature is kindness. He always has our best interest at heart. I thank God he looks at me with love that is full of kindness.

Lord, I thank you that your love is patient and kind. I pray that you help us to be full and overflowing with love that is patient with others especially in those moments when we are beginning to feel frustration trying to take over. In those moments may you remind us of the all the times you showered us with your loving patients so that it may move to be patient toward others. May our moments of frustration be turned into opportunities to show loving kindness.  Thank you for being so patient and kind to us. In the precious name of Jesus, we pray.

To visit other posts in this series please visit the Love series page.

Love (Part 2)

Last week began our first installment on this journey of understanding God’s love. If you have not had the opportunity to read last week’s post entitled Love (Part 1) please do so before reading today’s post.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!...”

1 John 3:1

The Father has lavished His love upon us! That word lavished means “to expend or give in great amounts or without limit” (dictionary.com) Our Heavenly Father gives His love without limit! There is no end to His love. We can never walk away, grow out of, or sin our way out of His love for us. Yes, I did just say “sin our way out of.” Our Heavenly Father does not base His love upon our actions! It breaks His heart when we sin, but that doesn’t change His love for us. When our children lie to us, do we stop loving them? Absolutely not! We teach them to tell the truth and we love them whether they sin or not. God is no different. We are His children. He loves us whether we sin or not. He loves us without limit and without condition. If there was a sin that could stop God’s love then He wouldn’t be God. Sin would be more powerful than the love of God if that were true. No sin or any amount of sin is ever going to keep God from lavishing His love upon us. Wow, what a revelation! I thank God that His love is not based on whether or not I am going to sin because the fact of the matter is that I am going to sin. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 And I am in every way shape and form part of that all.

The beauty of God’s love is this…

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (emphasis mine)

While we were still in the midst of our sin, not even looking for a loving Heavenly Father, He died for me! He died for you! I can’t wrap my mind around this because some of us have come from a past that cursed God, rejected God and outright denounced Him and yet He loved us so much that He died for us. In the very depths of our rejection of Him, He loved us enough to die for us. Do you know anyone on earth who would die for someone who hates them? I honestly can’t name one person. Yet, this is exactly what Jesus did for us. It is mind-boggling the kind of love that God has for the human race! There is another aspect of Christ’s death that I want us to take a look at, and that would be the great lengths of pain and anguish Christ went through in the process of dying. As if dying was not enough, He suffered! His death did not resemble anything peaceable or even remotely humane. It was horrifying torment. The process of the crucifixion was the most agonizing method of death ever known to mankind. The love of Christ was willing to endure the worst possible scenario of death, in the heart of our sin just so we could experience a love from a Heavenly Father that is unlike any love that can be experienced here on earth.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (emphasis mine)

The Lord sent down His one and only son to a world that hated Him, so He could lovingly pour out His blood for our sins. How many of us would willingly give our only child to save people who hated him knowing that they were going to mutilate him beyond recognition and mar him to the point of death? Hum….if we are being truly honest, probably none of us would want that for our only child. But this is how much our Heavenly Father loves us! He willingly gave His one and only son so that we have the opportunity to experience this kind of love for eternity!  

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35, 37-39

There is nothing in this world that can separate us from the love of Christ. If there was something that could remotely manipulate the intensity of the love that God has for us, then God would not be God. Not even the satan himself has the power to decrease the magnitude of God’s love for us. Please note here that unconfessed sin in our lives does have the capacity numb us, and therefore affect our ability to sense His presence, but in no way does it indicate a change in God’s love for us. Far too often our human minds revert to the thinking that our sin will render God’s ability to love us deeply and unconditionally. This can not be farther from the truth. Nothing can separate us from the love that Christ has abundantly lavished upon us. NOTHING!!!!

Heavenly Father, I thank you for abundantly lavishing your love upon us. I thank you that your love is not dependent upon our obedience. Thank you for loving us so much that you willingly gave your one and only son so we can experience your love for eternity. Thank you that nothing on the face of this earth can separate us from your love. Lord, I pray that these truths about your love transform our hearts and minds. I pray that we begin to grasp how wide, long, high and deep your love is for us on a very personal level. May this understanding so deeply affect us that it begins to reshape our personality and our relationships with those around us. We ask this in the precious name of Christ Jesus.

To read more from this series please visit the Love series page.

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.