The Love of God

"Behold what manner of love hath the Father bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God." (I John 3:1)


The love of God transforms hearts and melts the icy cold frigidity of inherent selfishness. God’s love is like a ray of sunlight penetrating the dark recess of the soul, awakening the callous, selfish soul to a new dimension of caring, empathy and sensitivity. If you have never experienced the love of God, then you have never reached out beyond your self to touch others, and to be touched by them, and to bond with others as if they were your extended “self.” However, although you can experience the love of God, such love is really beyond understanding. For example, consider these enigmatic, and perhaps for you, disturbing statements of Jesus about love: “Love your enemies,” “Bless those that curse you,” and also, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Who can understand the sacrificial nature of such love, which always seeks to give, but never takes? How illogical to the inherently selfish mind? How unnatural to the instinct of self preservation to love others as your self. Yet the Bible teaches that God so loved the world that he took on “flesh,” and became a man (God’s extended self) to die for you, so that you could live forever. Therefore, the Bible says, “Behold what manner of love, the Father hath bestowed upon us…” It is inconceivable! Such love is utterly incomprehensible to us, because God’s love is selfless, but we are selfish. The love of God is unconditional, but the love of the “natural man” is conditional to “self.” It is only in our brokenness through repentance that we can experience the love of God, which transforms our selfish hearts to beat like the heart of God, with the rhythm of divine love.

Comparing the life giving phenomenon of a mother’s love, which is devoid of the selfishness of other forms of love, to the unconditional love of God, perhaps will give you a glimpse into the fathomless love of God. Like God's love a mother’s love is unconditional; there are no prerequisites for her love. Why? At conception the bond of love for her child begins to form. As she feels the stirring of life within her womb during the nine months of pregnancy, her loving bond becomes increasingly stronger, and more and more the life within her becomes a part of her life with the realization that they are inextricably bound together. She willingly endures the awful pain of child birth, and quickly forgets such pain in her joy of holding close to her bosom the object of her tender love. Although the umbilical cord joining child to mother is severed at birth, the strong cords of love remains intact, enhanced and strengthened in her nurturing role as mother.

However, a mother’s love is only the merest infinitesimal reflection of God’s love. As the pale moon, without any light of its own, can only reflect the dazzling light of the sun, so a mother’s love is a mere reflection of God's infinite love. Long before you were conceived in your mother’s womb, you were conceived in the mind of God. How long? Infinitely longer than the nine months of your mother's pregnancy. Indeed, God’s mind was pregnant with you long before the world was ever created, because God is eternal and infinite. God’s loving bond with you is ageless. The Bible teaches that every hair on your head is numbered by God. He knew what you would look like before the sun, moon and stars were ever created. Yes, dear friend, he knew that you would be reading this blog, and how you would respond to his love at this very moment, long before the creation of time and space. If God has known you infinitely longer than your dear mother, shouldn't his bond to you be infinitely stronger? Indeed, it is. No wonder God made you into His own image. Eternally existing in the pregnant mind of your heavenly Father, at the moment of conception, God delivered you in the womb of your mother, where he fashioned and nurtured you. However, he prepared not only your mother’s womb for nurturing you, but he prepared her heart as well with unconditional love, so she could become God’s hand extended to provide tender, loving care for you. The comparison between a mother's love and God's love reveals that there is really no comparison between the finite love of your mother and the infinite love of your heavenly Father.

Perhaps you are now thinking about the pain your mother endured at your birth, and the sacrifices she made for you during the formative years of childhood. Your mother has proven her love. Perhaps you are asking, “What pain has God endured for me? What sacrifice has He ever made for me? Dear friend, “behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us” when you consider these facts: God chose your mother to deliver you in this world in your first birth. However, in your second birth ( born again) God chose himself to deliver you from this world to a world without end. Yes, God took on “flesh” to suffer the birth pangs of your delivery, when the sweat of Christ Jesus became as drops of blood in his travail. God in the form of His only begotten Son, suffered birth pangs to deliver you from sin, when his blood gushed from his nailed hands and feet upon the cross. Yes, Christ Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, sacrificed His life for you, so you could become a child of God. My friend, God is now reaching out to you for you to return His love. You were created, not only to be loved, but to love. What is God’s greatest commandment to you? It is, “Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.” Begin to love your heavenly Father now, because His love for you has no beginning, and no ending.

As you reflect and meditate upon God’s eternal love for you, consider the words of the song, “The Love of God:” 'Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade; to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.' Dear friend, God is saying to you right now, “I love you.” I hope and pray that you will respond by saying to your heavenly Father, “I love you too.”

Let us pray: Father, we thank you for loving us, when we were unlovable sinners, ruled only by selfishness and pride. We thank you and we praise your wonderful name for your tender loving care, and your saving grace through Christ Jesus. Teach us to love like you, dearest heavenly Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

The truest love, like devine love, is a lasting bond, a "oneness," when two become one. Jesus says, "I am the vine, you are the branches...abide in me." Our next topic, "The Tree of Life," deals with the concept that we are one in Christ, and part of His family tree.