Love like God

Saturday, April 2nd
Love like God.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16

Yesterday, we learnt that God's love is a self sacrificing love. In other words, God loved us not because of something He wants to get from us but because He wanted to give everything of Himself to us. When God gave Jesus for us, He gave us everything of Himself. Romans 8:32(GW) puts it this way, “God didn't spare his own Son but handed him over to death for all of us. So he will also give us everything along with him.” Understanding the measure of love that God expressed in sending Jesus to die for you will help you to understand that God has given you everything.

Also, from our opening scripture, we learn that love is always willing to share with the object of love; so when you withdraw from sharing or giving, it means that love is dead. 1 John 4:7-12(MSG) express to us how we ought to love and what it will accomplish in us, “My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the  first thing about God, because God is love--so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about--not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God. My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us--perfect love!”

Prayer.
Dear Father, I ask that you strengthen me with might according to the riches of your glory by your Spirit in my inner man. That Christ may dwell in my heart by faith, being rooted and grounded in love. That I may have revelation knowledge of the love of Christ and be filled with all your fullness, in Jesus' Name. Amen.    

For further study, read:
1 Thessalonians 4:9-10, 1 John 4:20-21, 1 John 5:1.

Doing the Word
Give to others the love Christ gave you.