The Divine Origin of Love

-


Scripture:

1John 4:7   Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.  9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.  10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.  12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Observation:

Love is not something that a human simply orchestrates in their own life, but it is of divine origin. The very nature of God is holy love and this is a gift provided for all of humanity. This love does not depend on what we do, but on who God is.  Jesus brings the very nature of God into the body of a human, providing a pathway for our participation with God. This act of Christ’s self-emptying is overwhelming and we recognize that the initiation of  love is always from God, not from humankind. Therefore, as we are filled with God’s love through participation in Christ, then that love is to flow from us to others. God lives in us and God’s love is brought to completion by reaching a lost world through us. God’s love proceeds from the heart of those who are being transformed into the likeness of the image of Christ. Pure and holy love, reflected in the lives of God’s adopted children who are bearing the family resemblance and therefore cannot help but reach out in love.

Application:

Not everyone we encounter in life will be lovable. Even good friends will, at times, frustrate and disappoint us. However, our reactions to these situations will be determined by our relationship to our holy God.  Also, our actions toward those who need our love will be defined by our relationship with God.

I find that I don’t cope as well with life when I am tired and I haven’t been spending the time with the Lord that I should. When I strike off on my own and try to make it through the day without having spent time with the Lord I will respond out of my own limited resources and not out of the deep well of God’s love.

Even ministering to others can become very tiring. Compassion fatigue is a very real thing which many face after giving of themselves to others for extended periods of time. Eventually, if we try to do this on our own we will simply become exhausted!

The divine origin of love is from God. We must remember that separating love from God is never really possible. We may try. The world around us may try. But anytime we do we trivialize what true love is and God’s divine act of mercy in Christ becomes lost.

Prayer:

Lord, please help me to live in and through you today so that your love may be revealed in me. Amen.

If you would like to read more "Reflecting the Image"  click on the image to take you to the NPH bookstore.The book is also available in Kindle format on Amazon.com.


http://www.nph.com/nphweb/html/nph/itempage.jsp?itemId=9780834135277

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take Off Your Ornaments

-
Scripture: Ex. 33:4 ¶ When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments. Ex. 33:5 For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.’” Ex. 33:6 Therefore the Israelites stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. Observation: The people had sinned before God by making and worshiping the golden calf!  They had taken their golden jewelry — the earrings and other items they had gotten from the Egyptians and used them to create an idol.  Now, in an act of humility and repentance they were to take off all of their jewelry and ornaments.  It was a time of mourning over their sin and it included intentional action on the part of the Israelites.  Application: We don’t do all that well with humility and repentance!  It seems that we live in a time when we try to carry
Read more

Does God Value Boys More than Girls?

-
Scripture: Lev. 12:1 ¶ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Lev. 12:2 Speak to the people of Israel, saying: ¶ If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. Lev. 12:3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Lev. 12:4 Her time of blood purification shall be thirty-three days; she shall not touch any holy thing, or come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are completed. Lev. 12:5 If she bears a female child, she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation; her time of blood purification shall be sixty-six days. Lev. 12:6 ¶ When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. Lev. 12:7 He shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement on her
Read more

The Advantage of Sanctification

-
Scripture: Rom. 6:22 But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Observation: Two sides of life are presented here in great contrast.  One is a life of sin and enslavement to evil.  The other side of life is freedom which provides the advantage of sanctification (or holiness as some translate the word) that leads to eternal life.  The options here are a life of sin, slavery and death; or freedom, holiness and eternal life.  The advantage of holiness or sanctification is the benefit of the life of freedom.  Jesus died so that we might be made holy like him and this is something that is offered as a “fruit” or “advantage” right now.  The end is eternal life — but the living of life is that it can be lived out in holiness.  The next verse is really just an affirmation of the verse 22.  Sin will lead
Read more