Look at Jesus and you will see the perfect example of love. There are many things that characterize God’s nature. His power is obviously one of His great attributes. It is absolutely amazing to watch God’s power in action. God is good and righteous and holy. He is faithful, trustworthy, and merciful. There are many wonders of God’s nature and character.
Of all of the things that can be said about God, we most definitely should say, “God is love.”
All of the manifestations of God’s nature and character are tempered and expressed with His great love. When any revelation of God is seen or manifest we see, “God is love.” His love is not just what God does, it is Who He is; “God is Love.” To help expose mankind to His great goodness and love, God sent His Son into this world.
Before God sent His Son into this world, Jesus knew the unconditional and full love of the Father. Although separated by distance, the love of the Father was not diminished for His Son. As Jesus was being baptized in water, God the Father loudly declared His love from heaven.
Matthew 3:17 NKJV And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
The word “beloved” means “much loved or worthy of love.” It can also mean “particularly loved and cherished.” We can see all of that in God’s love for His Son. Jesus knew the depth and fullness of His Father’s love.
Since God is love, it is only natural that His love would be an expression or manifestation of God.
God’s love does not stop with His love for His Son.
1 John 4:9 NKJV In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
Think about this: “The love of God was manifested toward us.” The measure of love that God the Father has for His Son is the measure of love the Son has for us.
When Jesus came into this world, He demonstrated or “manifested” God’s great love by the things that He did. We should consider the depth of Christ’s ministry that was motivated by love. Some of the most familiar words of Christ shows this love in action.
John 3:16-17 NKJV For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Consider all of the things Jesus did so that He could demonstrate the Father’s love. Jesus came to give good news to the poor. He came to release captives and give sight to the blind. He came to deliver the oppressed, downtrodden, bruised, crushed and broken down. He did this by fully giving Himself in love.
God the Father’s love was perfectly demonstrated through the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 15:9-10 NKJV As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
Jesus is a perfect example of the love of God. He walked in the love of the Father and kept His Father’s commands. Then He extended the possibility for us to abide in His love. As believers remain in His love, they will keep His commandments.
The Lord wants us to stay in His word and fellowship so that we may experience and understand His love for us. It is important for us to know the love that God the Father and God the Son has for us. To really understand His love, we must abide in His love. In other words, we cannot understand His love without abiding in His love.
Ephesians 3:14-17 NKJV For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
Think about that.
God wants you to be rooted and grounded in His love.
“Rooted and grounded” means to be “firmly established in His love.” God wants us to be strengthened and unmovable in His love. This is not a surface or casual knowledge or relationship in His love. Jesus wants to love you fully and He wants you to experience His full love. Something marvelous happens when we are rooted and grounded in His love.
Ephesians 3:18-19 NKJV May be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
When we are rooted and grounded in this love of Christ which passes knowledge, we may be filled with all of the fullness of God. This is an amazing benefit of abiding in His love. It is why Jesus said: “Abide in My love.” He wants you to stay rooted and grounded in His love. His love surpasses the width and length and depth and height of your knowledge. Let me encourage you to dig into the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.
A sign that you are rooted and grounded in the love of Christ is your ability to love one another.
John 15:17 NKJV These things I command you, that you love one another.
Just before Jesus said this, He said: “I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” (John 15:16)
Consider this. Jesus chose you so that you could love one another with His love as He loved us. I find it interesting that He did not leave this as an option.
Jesus commanded us to love one another.
He said, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Sometimes it is hard to love others like that. I have found that there is only one way that we can do it. We must be so filled with the love of God that is in Christ Jesus that we can do nothing but love others.
The deeper our roots go into the love of God, the greater our love will be for others. His love will overwhelm our feelings, hurts, prejudice and history. His love supersedes our desires.
Let me show you one more thing about the love of God.
1 John 4:7-11 NKJV Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Did you know that God did not wait until you loved Him? Before you even knew Him, God demonstrated His love toward you. He gave you the greatest gift of His love.
He sent His Son Jesus Christ to be the propitiation for our sins. “Propitiation” means the gift and sacrifice to take away our sins. That is how much God loves us. He sent Christ Jesus to take away your offenses, sins and deficits. Through God’s Son, you can know the depth of God’s love.
Consider how much Jesus loves you.
Isaiah 53:3-5 NKJV He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
We need to really understand the depth of the love of God. These words show the depth of God’s love for you. God saw how we were stained by sin and unclean. He saw that we were without hope in this world. He knew that we could not save ourselves. So, God sent His Son into the world to save us. Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. Oh, how He loved us. The ultimate expression of God the Father’s love is that by Christ we have been brought near by His blood.
