But if the birds are singing, and the sun is shining, and we are happy, then God must really love us.
We also usually assume that God works only through the successes we have, and not through our weaknesses. The truth is that our circumstances are constantly changing but God's love is always with us.
His love for you does not ride the waves of your feelings. We also
bring many unwanted circumstances on ourselves, and because of
pride and sinfulness, we are the ones usually responsible for many
of those terrible problems that we often find ourselves in.
At the same time it is hard for us to understand that if God really loved us, then what exactly is his purpose for allowing so many bad things to come into our lives. But faith in God does not mean trusting God to stop the bad storms in our life.
Faith and trust in God are things which enable us to walk through
those periods of hurt and sorrow and come out victorious. We must
trust God and believe that when trouble occurs, he is going to give
us the ability to cope with it.
We are wrong if we expect belief and faith to be an exemption from suffering. If anyone should doubt this then just look at what the world did to Jesus. Instead, the storms of life should become workshops, where we can practice our faith in God's greatness.
We also wonder why, if God loves us, then why doesn't he answer our prayers immediately? But please remember that only God is able to see the total picture. We can only see a small fraction of what is happening right now. We have no idea what effect the things happening today will have on our lives and the lives of others in 10, 20, even 50 years from now.
I think that those of us here this morning are long enough in the faith to understand that, God's love is absolutely unconditional...that's another statement of fact, isn't it?
-- His love is not based on what we have, what we do, or what we
achieve.
-- It is not dependent on our background or our birth or status in
society.
-- God's love is not influenced by anything that we do.
When we are good He loves us and when we are bad He loves us. When we work hard for him, He loves us and when we do not work hard for him He loves us just the same.
This unconditional love is given to us because we are His creation. We are His children. If a person has never known genuine unconditional love, then they live only by rules for conditional love. And the foremost rule for conditional love is, "You must earn the right to be loved." You must measure up to my standards before I will love you. And of course the other horrible aspect of conditional love is that it can be taken back at any time. In other words if you do something to displease me I will stop loving you.
You can't earn unconditional love. God says you are worthy of his love solely because it is his desire to love you. There is nothing you can do to win more of God's love. In fact there is absolutely no way that you can get God to love you anymore than he does right this very second.
It is God's nature and character to love each and everyone of us. All through the Word of God it says, "God is love." It says this over and over again. Even as Jesus hung dying on the cross he asked his Father to forgive those that were in the process of murdering him. So because God's love is unconditional and not based upon our performance, we should accept it, receive it, and delight in it.
Another question: "What does it mean that God is love?"
Answer: Let’s look at how the Bible describes love, and then we will see a few ways in which God is the essence of love. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a).
This is God's description of love, and because God is love (1 John 4:8), this is what He is like.
Love, in other words "God", does not force Himself on anyone. Those who come to Him do so in response to His love. Love (God) shows kindness to all. Love (Jesus) went about doing good to everyone without partiality. Love (Jesus) did not covet what others had, living a humble life without complaining. Love (Jesus) did not brag about who He was in the flesh, although He could have overpowered anyone He ever came in contact with. Love (God) does not demand obedience. God did not demand obedience from His Son, but rather, Jesus willingly obeyed His Father in heaven. “The world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me” (John 14:31). Love (Jesus) was/is always looking out for the interests of others.
The greatest expression of God's love is communicated to us in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Romans 5:8 proclaims the same message: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We can see from these verses that it is God's greatest desire that we join Him in His eternal home, heaven. He has made the way possible by paying the price for our sins. He loves us because He chose to as an act of His will. Love forgives. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
So, what does it mean that God is love? Love is an attribute of God. Love is a core aspect of God’s character, His Person. God’s love is in no sense in conflict with His holiness, righteousness, justice, or even His wrath. All of God’s attributes are in perfect harmony. Everything God does is loving, just as everything He does is just and right. God is the perfect example of true love. Amazingly, God has given those who receive His Son Jesus as their personal Savior, the ability to love as He does, through the power of the Holy Spirit (John 1:12; 1 John 3:1, 23-24).
That leads me now to the matter of practicing God's love in the form of Agape love.
I had a dear, deeply religious friend recently close off correspondence with me, with the words "agape love". I had to pause a minute to consider what she really meant. It is not an expression often used in the 21st century.
So the question: "What is agape love?"
Answer: The Greek word agape is often translated "love" in the New Testament. How is "agape love" different from other types of love? The essence of agape love is self-sacrifice. Unlike our English word “love,” agape is not used in the Bible to refer to romantic or sexual love. Nor does it refer to close friendship or brotherly love, for which the Greek word philia is used. Nor does agape mean charity, a term which the King James translators carried over from the Latin. Agape love is unique and is distinguished by its nature and character.
Agape is love which is of and from God, whose very nature, as we know, is love itself. Again, the Apostle John affirms this in 1 John 4:8: “God is love.” God does not merely love; He is love itself. Everything God does flows from His love. But it is important to remember that God’s love is not a sappy, sentimental love such as we often hear portrayed. God loves because that is His nature and the expression of His being. He loves the unlovable and the unlovely (us!), not because we deserve to be loved, but because it is His nature to do so, and He must be true to His nature and character.
God’s love is displayed most clearly at the Cross, where Christ died for the unworthy creatures who were “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), not because we did anything to deserve it, “but God commends His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The object of agape love never does anything to merit His love. We are the undeserving recipients upon whom He lavishes that love. His love was demonstrated when He sent His Son into the world to “seek and save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), and to provide eternal life to those He sought and saved. He paid the ultimate sacrifice for those He loves.
In the same way, we are to love others sacrificially. Jesus gave the parable of the Good Samaritan as an example of sacrifice for the sake of others, even for those who may care nothing at all for us, or even hate us, as the Jews did the Samaritans. Sacrificial love is not based on a feeling, but a determined act of the will, a joyful resolve to put the welfare of others above our own. But this type of love does not come naturally to humans.
Because of our fallen nature, we are incapable of producing such a love. If we are to love as God loves, that love—that agape—can only come from its true Source. This is the love which “has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us” when we became His children (Romans 5:5). Because that love is now in our hearts, we can obey Jesus who said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. As I have loved you, you should also love one another” (John 13:34).
This new commandment involves loving one another as He loved us sacrificially, even to the point of death. But again, it is clear that only God can generate within us the kind of self-sacrificing love which is the proof that we are His children. “By this we have known the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3:16).
Because of God’s love toward us, we are now able to love one another. We have it within us. Why let circumstances stand in the way? Why suppress it?
Did not some one once say that we get what we give?...We believe that to be true.
Think about it.
Feel it.
Give it.
Be receptive to it.
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