Christian Living

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As Christians we often refer to the love of God. We cite 1 John 4:8, that "God is
love". We also quote the beloved words of John 3:16. All of this is quite true, and
we should continue to remind ourselves and express to others the truth that God is
love.

But too often that truth takes on the kind of sentimentality and emotion that
characterizes much of our love for one another in this life. Please don't
misunderstand; these are good feelings. But when we think or talk about God's
love, we can too often overlook the depth and intensity that is the true nature of
God's love.

We speak of God's omnipotence, his omniscience, and his omnipresence, which
are most certainly true. But we should also understand that love is an essential
part of God's character, not simply one of his attributes that gives us comfort when
we go through difficult times or contributes to our joy during worship services.

We surely see God's love in the words and actions of Jesus Christ during his time
on this earth. Jesus' love is seen in countless illustrations of his compassion for
individuals in need or in distress. Obvious examples are his healing miracles.
Individuals who were blind, who were paralyzed, who had chronic illnesses, who
had leprosy, who were mentally unstable, were all made well by Jesus’ hand.
Jesus’ teaching was filled with the proclamation of God’s love and its extension to
us and our relationships with one another. When He was asked to specify the
greatest commandment, Jesus replied “Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest
commandment. And the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself.”
(Matthew 22:37-39)

But on a more fundamental level we see that God's love always existed. Before
God created the universe, when nothing existed except God Himself, there was a
perfect love among the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The reality of God as
the Trinity is a mystery that goes beyond the capacity of our finite minds to fully
comprehend, yet it is a truth that is part of his revelation to us. Love is something
that exists only between persons, and the revelation of God as Trinity shows us the
reality of how love existed before the universe and human beings were even
created. Love, as it exists in God, is eternal.

This is why Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13, after speaking of faith, hope, and love,
proclaimed that "the greatest of these is love." Our faith will become verified
knowledge once we are in God’s presence. Our hope for eternal life with God will
one day be fulfilled. Our love, however, will never be superseded or replaced. It
will endure forever when we enter into eternal life in God’s presence.

Moreover, God's love is self-sacrificing. Nowhere is the love of God more evident
than Jesus' willing acceptance of suffering and the sacrifice of his own life on the
cross as payment for the death we deserve. Why did He do so? Because He loves
us, and so we can live with Him in eternity. God created us for a love relationship
with Himself. But we human beings have chosen to serve ourselves and our own
desires rather than the One who created us, and this sin nature has separated us
from Him. But God has revealed his unfailing, self-sacrificing love for us in the
Person of Jesus Christ, and has provided the gift that his life, death, and
resurrection has made possible for us.

The kind of self-sacrifice that Jesus has made for us is something that only God
can do. It shows us the true nature of God, and the kind of life that awaits us in
eternity. Although we cannot achieve the perfection of such sacrificing love while
inhabiting these earthly bodies, we can recognize the truth and reality of it and
embrace the desire to have it ourselves someday in eternity. We sometimes have
the occasion to give ourselves in this life. This is perhaps most common for
spouses and parents, who love their spouses and children and make sacrifices for
them to a degree that brings pain. We do so when needed, not out of a desire of
self-punishment, but because we love dearly those whom we are trying to help. In
such circumstances we get a small taste of the self-sacrifice God has made out of
his love for us.

Self-sacrifice out of love for another is at the heart of reality, because that is the
nature of God. It is God's nature to be giving, to hold nothing back from those
whom He loves. And He knows what is best for those whom He loves, for He
created them. It is when we understand this truth, as Jesus said in Matthew 10:39,
that " whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake
will find it". It is the willingness to lose our life, to give ourselves in sacrificial
love, that will enable us to enter into the life God intended for us, and to know the
joy and blessing that comes with it.

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