God is Love

1 John 4:16 “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

Truly, the most profound words ever spoken are: “God is love”, and those words forever changed the way the world thought. But these simple words were backed up by divine deeds; the love of God was manifested in the life and love of Jesus Christ. It was written that we are so used to hearing about God’s love for us that we view it as our right and privilege to be loved by God. But the world into which Christ came was not at all familiar with that concept. The pagan gods were temperamental, impulsive, whimsical, unreliable, erratic and unpredictable. They were to be appeased, not loved. The idea of a God that loved was foreign and strange. Then came Christ.

Ephesians 3:17-19 “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Have you heard the good news that the infinite love Christ is displayed for us through His gracious life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection from the grave, followed by His present ministry on our behalf? His love cannot be earned but was freely extended to us. Even greater than that, His love was given when we were sinners by choice and nature. Romans 5:8 “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” His love for us never fails and never changes. He was willing to die so that our death penalty for sin would be paid and to adopt us into His family. Even now He rejoices over us. Why? God is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13 “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

In Christ, Brian