The Love of God The word love is the most misunderstood; lately. Someone can say to you, I love my car, I love my dog and then turn to their spouse and says "I love you, darling." What does love mean? Many people have a misunderstanding of what love is. Many people have a wrong image and understanding of God; however, the Bible tells us who God truly is. The Bible says that “God is love.” 1 John 4:16. God is not declared to be loving, but to be love. He is the ultimate pure love. Now, that sounds countercultural, for usually, we think of love as a sentiment or feeling or that which unites a man and a woman. The Bible does talk about love as something that is given towards another person as well, but primarily, the Bible teaches that true love comes from Him who is Love. Let us look at the following verses. Starting with this famous verse in John 3:16, the Bible says, “For God so _______ the world the world, that He _______ His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Furthermore, the Bible says that God’s love was manifested how? Read 1 John 4:9. Dear friend, God's love for you and I is bigger than our sins if we give God a chance he can forgive and take our guilt. What He delights in more God loves mercy more than sacrifices; He forgives sins (Micah 7:18). If it were not for God’s continual mercies, we would not be alive today. You would not be listening to this podcast. God is patient with us, and “it is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassion fail not (Lamentation 3:22-23), He spared not His own Son to deliver us all, surely He will save us (Rom. 8:32). Our response Jesus said that “He that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father.” John 14:21. I love Jesus, how about you? I invite you to accept Jesus today, if you have not already, simply say, Jesus, I accept you as my Lord and Savior. If you mean it friend, God is going to do marvellous things in your life. God will take you into His own family, and the Holy Spirit will identify with our spirit for “the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” Rom. 8:14-16. The apostle John added onto this and said that if “God loved us, we ought also to love one another.” 1 John 4:11. God's love, therefore, is both vertical and horizontal. If you love God, my friend, you must love your friends, and neighbours as well. God's love is contagious. It is beautiful. Furthermore, let us read the following verses: Eph. 2:4-6; Titus 3:5-6. God’s mercies are never-ending. He can turn curses into blessings. Read Deut. 23:5. It is equally true that God permits certain things to happen sometimes, and at times, we suffer consequences of our sins, at other times we are punished and chastised because of our faultiness so that way we can be brought back in line. This happens in many ways, in many different situations for different people. If a parent loves his or her children, punishment is inevitable for correction shapes the behaviour as well as character. All this is done out of love would you agree? Well, the same thing with God. Because He loves us, sometimes when we err, He has to correct us in one way or another. Let’s read Heb. 12:6. In closing, keep these following verses in mind: Jer. 31:3; Rom. 8:38-39; Rev. 1:5 So, does God love us? Definitely, it is because of God’s love that we are still breathing, and God’s unending love brought Christ down to earth to take our sins and die in our place. It is because of God’s love that we are still breathing. God is love, and His promises will come to pass. I have experienced God's love, and I hope and pray that you will receive Him today. PDF DOWNLOAD [iframe style="border:none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/5791703/height/100/width/480/thumbnail/no/render-playlist/no/theme/custom/tdest_id/556138/custom-color/#87A93A" height="100" width="480" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen] Check out this episode!
