God is Love by Mayada Naami
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them (1John 4:16, NIV).
Do You Believe in Love?
Love is more than a feeling or an emotion. To love God is the greatest commandment, and to love one another is how we demonstrate our love for God. It is the trademark of all Christians. It is a decision or a choice about how we treat each other. An act of will that lays aside self and extends itself to building each other up instead of tearing each other down. In this fallen world, people fail to love one another for different reasons, especially when hurt and misunderstandings occur. God does not put limitations on who He loves or how He loves.
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.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40, NIV).
God is Love, so when we love one another, we are unified with God, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Divine love, the love of God, becomes so rooted deeply inside of us that we reflect His love outwardly. To be reborn in the Spirit means that all contrasting values in our hearts that compete with Love must be surrendered to Him. Things such as anger, jealousy, pride, lust, fear, and unforgiveness have no place in our lives when we love each other the way Jesus loves us. When love is allowed to reign in our hearts, we are given a new nature in Christ. As the love of God through Christ grows within us, we find ourselves drawn to other believers, in fellowship, with Jesus as the Head and the Heart of the church.
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
(John 14:15-21, NIV)
God is love and He invented love. Will you choose to embrace His love today?