THE LOVE OF GOD

God's love surpasses human love so much that it cannot even be compared to human love. Often His love can be limited by our human thinking or what we know of human love. Our love can be tainted because of circumstances i.e. things that have happened to us or how we were raised and it can affect our view of God's love to us.

The love of God can't be taken from us, but we can lose His love from our hearts - we ourselves can remove His love from us whether through misunderstandings or selfish reasons. When you have God's love in your heart, doing something wrong is strongly felt because His love is so strong that you don't want to displease Him and when you do, it hurts. Yet, God's love is greater than the mistake. It takes a lot to get away from God's love - namely, doing something that you KNOW is wrong - overstepping the boundaries God has set for us.

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not." (1 John 3:1)

"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous: And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:1-2)

In these scriptures, we that are saved and have God's love in our hearts are referred to as His children - as part of His family. He tells us that He is our Father. God has the love of a Father for us and He loved us so much that He sacrificed His only Son to come to earth for us - to die for us. When Christ died, He had no earthly support - no friends, no family - they all forsook Him. Why did God love us that much that He wanted to take sin out of our lives so that we could go to Heaven and live forever? Why did He love us so much that He sent His only Son from Heaven? Christ was our sin nailed to that cross. Sin makes people miserable. God wanted us to be happy and to be able to live a clean life. When we have His love in our hearts we to desire to do right and we don't want to hurt anyone. Holiness is manifested in our life - power through sanctification. By living holy, we show our love for Christ. God has laws so that we would know how to live and how to please Him. When have His love in our hearts, it hurts us to hurt Christ - we feel conviction.

"Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." (Galatians 6:1-3)

When our brother is overtaken in a fault, we are to restore him. We are not to condemn him, but to pray for him and help him if we have the opportunity. It is our responsibility, if we are right with God, to do our part to help our brother. What would Jesus do? He would carry a burden for that soul. If we are going to be Christ-like, we need to do the same thing.

We have to be careful not to get puffed up, feeling like we are "better" than others. When we get that way, our salvation can become just a religion or a form and not a relationship with God. We have to look at the motivation of our hearts. Is it prideful or humble? Is Christ's love what motivates us?

When we have God's love in our hearts, He has promised to deliver us out of the hands of our enemies. He also commands us to love our enemies. Christ's love sustains us.

The way to serve Christ without fear is to live in holiness and righteousness. Christ has redeemed us, like a slave, out of sin. Sin is a hard task master - it makes slaves out of us. Christ frees us to serve Him instead of the world and sin.

"We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even as Christ pleased not Himself; but, as it is written, 'The reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell on me'. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." (Romans 15:1-4)

If we have a brother or a sister who is weak in the faith, it's not time to put them down. They may have some trial or affliction in their life, that we don't know about. They may have gotten careless. We need to pray for them and be concerned about them. This is another way to be holy and show God's love.

At any time, the enemy can attack us and try to get us to forget about God. We need to be careful and watchful. Are we staying holy? Are we staying close to God? We have to be on our guard. We need to be honest and want a pure love for God - not just religion. We need a pure relationship with Christ. We can cut ourselves off from Christ by not being careful and not staying close to Him.

"Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." (1John 3:6-9)

God has given us the power to overcome sin. Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. Through Christ's love, we have power over all the power of the enemy.

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