Read: 1 John 4:7-5:4
God knows that your greatest need is to be loved and to
love. He created you to intimately connect with Him and others. The first “not
good” in all of creation is when the Lord said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18) He knows you need Him and others in your
life. Love is a key component of relationships. 1 John makes it very clear that
loving as God created you to love begins with the reality that GOD LOVES YOU!
God’s love for you is complete and perfect. Love is multi-faceted. His love encompasses all aspects of love. These are evident in Deuteronomy 6:5, where we are told to love God back with the love He pours into our lives. “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” The Greek language has a different word for each of these.
Eros is the love of passion, longing and desire. This is to love “with all your
strength.” The Hebrew word translated
“strength” is meod. It means “intense or impassioned.” It is that overwhelming being “in love” that is
emotional, mental, and physical all at the same time. It flows from the core of
our being motivating and energizing expressions of that love in
self-sacrificing ways. This is the love
associated with the relationship of lovers – a bride and her groom, a husband
and wife.
Phileo is the love of the heart – the feeling of
affection. This is the unsolicited,
natural love associated with the relationship of family and friends. This
feeling of love is unique and hard to describe. It is simply there filling our
hearts. Scientists have tried and failed
to determine what triggers this feeling of being connected, of caring and being
invested in the well-being of the one loved.
Created to be emotional beings, responding to and with feelings of love
is in our DNA.
Agape is the love of the will (soul) and mind. It is choosing to care and prioritize the
needs of the recipient. This is the love often associated with the relationship
of parent. A mom instinctively loves (phileo) her precious baby. However, as time passes and both child and
his/her will grows, the love of a parent is a love of choice that remains
steadfast and overcomes a multitude of challenges. It is a love that chooses to love unconditionally.
Agape is most often associated with God as He chooses to
love us despite all He knows and we put Him through. He loves you with the love of a father. It is a love anchored in His unchanging
character. But God also loves you passionately with all the desires, enthusiasm
and abandonment of One who has fallen deeply in love with you. He loves you wholeheartedly with genuine
feelings of warmth and caring. Zephaniah
3:17 says, “He takes great delight in
you, He will quiet you with His love, He rejoices over you with singing.” Just
thinking about you makes His heart swell with love. He truly loves you!
Jesus wants you to experience His love beyond anything
you have ever understood or experienced before – a love beyond the familiar.
Making It Personal
You may be hearing this for the first time or the
millionth, but STOP and listen to Him tell you as if you have never heard it
before. “I LOVE YOU!”
What do you hear the Lord saying to you and only you?
What does it mean to you that God is heads-over-heels
“in love” with you?
You touch a deep and personal place in Jesus’ heart. How
does it make you feel that the Lord doesn’t just have to choose to love you,
but genuinely feels love for you right this minute?
What does it mean to you to be loved absolutely
unconditionally? Is this something you
want or need? Why?
What does it mean to you that God chooses to care
about you and prioritize what is best for you without conditions of any kind?
How does knowing that you are so completely loved
prompt and enable your loving?
