The Way of Love

God defines love beautifully in 1 Corinthians 13. This love is sacrificial and only God can display this to us. Man is marred by the corruption of sin, and it has blinded our hearts and minds to this supernatural love. God so loved his lost people so much, that He sent His Son to pay our debt. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Jesus’ great commandment was to love our God with all our heart and mind. He commanded us to love one another, even those who are our enemies. Our Father wants us to stride toward this love, but we are dreadfully lost, struggling against His plan and our desires. 

The word “love” shows up more than six hundred times in the Bible, depending on the translation. There are four Greek words for love, but each has a very different meaning. Agape is the deepest or greatest love which translates to sacrificially doing good things for others in way as we as humans are incapable of doing. Phileo is a brotherly affection toward another. Storge is love toward one’s relatives. The fourth word, Eros describing romantic or sexual love, is not used in the Bible.

In the beginning, God had a plan to redeem His people through His Son. In the Old Testament in Genesis, God’s love is in the details of His creation and His people. Adam and Eve disobeyed Him, but He still steadfastly loved them, creating clothing covers for their shame. Love fills the Psalms, appearing twenty-three times. The Psalmist wrote about God’s steadfast love for us. In the first four commandments, God instructs us how to honor Him. In the remaining commandments, God spells out how we are to treat our neighbors, which includes our enemies. Also, Jesus taught us about neighborly love during His ministry. But we repeatedly fall short.

Many other Old Testament figures struggled with weariness, depression, and anger, but God’s love for them held fast. His love was on display with His interaction with many Old Testament figures. Job suffered devasting loss, but God held him close and restored him. (Job 42) David was a man of His own heart, but David diverted from God’s plan many times. God showed David love like a father through discipline and blessings. God never forsook David, and He never forsakes us. (2 Samuel 12; 1 Chronicles 14) Jeremiah wrestled with rejection by the people he loved. God called him to preach, and he ministered alone and heeded to God’s plan. (Jeremiah 20) After Elijah won spiritual battles against the prophets of Baal, he became fearful, weary, defeated, and ran into the desert. God didn’t forsake him; God sustained his servant. He sent His angels to minister to Elijah. (1 Kings 17) After Jonah finally obeyed God’s plan, he harbored great anger toward God for redeeming the people of Nineveh. God’s slow, quiet response to his anger confronted him with the reality that God’s way was better than his. (Jonah 4) God never forsook their disobedient, defiant, disrespectful, because His love is greater, supernatural love – Agape.

Love is recorded the most in 1 John (thirty-five times) and the gospel of John (twenty-one times) in the New Testament. In 1 John 4:19, God loved us first, even though man disobeyed His simple command and sin entered His perfect creation. Living as sinners in a fallen world, it can be hard to express these traits of love. Many times, believers will miss the mark. God’s love is perfect in the way Paul described it in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. After receiving His saving grace, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to indwell us, transforming us from the inside out revealing the hallmarks of this supernatural perfect love.

 God so loved the world, that He sent His only begotten Son (John 3:16) to free His people from the bondage of sin. Jesus was deeply anguished over the task that laid before Him, but His love and obedience overcame His distress. Jesus was born one Person, fully God and fully man and these natures are inseparable. He felt emotions like man, but He never gave into temptation of sin. He was mocked throughout His life; He felt joy, anger, and despair, but none of these emotions would deter His love from redeeming His sinful people and reconciling them to His Father. The night before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed “take this cup from Me…” (Matthew 26:39), He expresses the natural human desire to avoid pain and suffering.

God’s supernatural love from the beginning of creation made a way to reconnect to His disobedient, belligerent, sinful people through His Son’s death on a cross and resurrection three days later. His overwhelming love is for all, even those afflicted, those unloved, and those unworthy. This love has endless forgiveness, an eternal security in Heaven, and freedom from the bondage of sin. His gives us a gift free grace through acknowledgment of sin, repentance from sin, and obedience to God’s plan. Will we mess up? Yes, but God will use our mess for His message. He will not forsake us even as we betray His plan. Salvation is endless after repentance.

Six Ways to Keep Closer to God.

1. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead you. 
   Jesus sent the Holy Spirit as our Helper because He knows the danger around us.

2. Let go of distractions.
   Our dangerous sinful world is full of desirable entertainments, and suffering.

3. Discover who you are in Christ.
   We are reborn as a new creation after salvation, but we pray to reveal His calling.

4. Give God your best.
   Never hold back from God; He knows your heart and mind.

5. Trust God’s plan.
   Trust His faithfulness through the storms and joys.

6. Discover your talents.
   God made us wonderfully, even with our afflictions, for His plan and His Kingdom. Prayerfully walk with Him and He will reveal them.

Your walk with God will reveals the nature of love, not defined by a perverted, twisted, wretched worldview. Love is not love when it distorts the truth. Love doesn’t always feel happy, because we are sinful people that need discipline from our Father. Love is not blind in our world; we are corrupted by sin and the world blends love with capricious desire of our flesh. The ruler of the world feverishly disguises lust for love. Jesus has ended the reign of the evil one by His love, taking the punishment of our sins on Himself. God made love and He covers us supernaturally with it.