One of my favorite questions to ask when i started dating was “what do you mean when you say “i love you”. I would ask this over and over because i needed to know what that was going to look like in the eyes of the person i was about to date. Well here’s what love looked like to God!
“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 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.”
1 John 4:8-9 NIV
All of our hearts long for love whether we know it or not. We were literally made to love. God is love. Do you long to know the true love of God? Then do you long to truly love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength in return?
But what is true love? The very word takes on so many meanings. We can say in one breath, “I love this dress. I love my spouse. I love Jesus.” How can we know what true love really is? What does it look like? What does it feel like? Does it even matter?
True love is more than a sensation, a feeling, a mission, or even a doctrine. True love is a genuine desire for the well-being of another. True love that brings glory to God is the very purpose of the life and existence of every child of God.
God commands His people to love Him with all their heart, soul, and strength. Jesus reiterates this, telling us that the first and greatest commandment is that we are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, and all of our strength.
How do I love God with all my heart?🤷🏽♀️
“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”
1 John 4:20-21 NIV
Point Blank Period.
How we love God is by loving our neighbors. To say you love God whom you do not see and hate your neighbor whom you can and do see is to be a liar… and here is the bigger truth, your brother is a manifestation of God, so if you cannot love Him with all his differences and intricacies then you are yet to love God.
And here is the biggest secret! No one originates any love because love first comes from God, so the only way to love is to receive the love of God and give it over to your brother. Extend the same grace and kindness that God showed you to another person, because really, what do we have that we have not received.
God showed us His love by giving us His son and we spread that love by also giving it to others! To love is to be of God. And this is How you get to know God because you will always need to know How he’s doing so you can do it too.
Now think about all that God had to deal with in loving you. See how hard it was to give His son over to you. It wasn’t easy but He found that you were worth it! Can you credit your brother with that same grace and love them even when it isn’t easy???? Because eventually your love will be put to the test and you can only survive it when you understand that He didn’t have to do it, but He did it anyway!
And that’s on love!
🥰,
Zoe🌟