The Love of God

by Candace Joy
from Virtuous Daughters, July 2008~Volume 8, Number 4

Recently, I have been very blessed to meditate on the love of God. In this article, I hope to draw your attention to the unfathomable love that God has for us, His children, as well as the result that this love should produce in our lives. This is by no means exhaustive, and I encourage you to study this topic further.

Please read the following Scriptures carefully. These verses are totally amazing if we stop to consider what they are actually saying.
 
As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. John 15:9a
 
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one; as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that You have sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them, as You have loved Me. John 17:20-23
 
Did you catch what God said in those verses? In the first verse, we read that Jesus loves His followers as (in the same way that) God loves Him! That should be enough to make us jump for joy. How about the second verse? The underlined portion states that God loves us as He loves Jesus! The love of Christ passes knowledge (Eph. 3:19)!
 
Here is another thought: John 15:13 tells us that there is no greater love than laying down one’s life for one’s friends. Yet, Romans 5:8 declares: “But God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Our Lord Jesus certainly didn’t die for us because there was anything in us worth dying for; in fact, He died for us when we were His enemies, dead in trespasses and sins, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and by nature children of wrath. What amazing love He has for us!
 
Following is a description of the powerful love of God: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35, 38-39
 
What are some things that God’s love has produced/is producing?
God giving His Son to be our Savior (Jn. 3:16; 1 Jn. 4:11)
Jesus’ laying down His life for us (1 Jn. 3:16)
The ability to be a child of God (1 Jn. 3:1, Tit. 3:5a)
Deliverance and forgiveness (Is. 38:17)
His rebuke and chastening (Rev. 3:20, Prov. 3:11-12)
 
What effect should God’s love have in our lives?
Love for Him (1 Jn. 4:19)
A life lived for Christ rather than for self (Gal. 2:20, 2 Cor. 5:14-15)
The laying down of our lives for the brethren (1 Jn. 3:16)
Continuance in God’s love (Jn. 15:9)
Zeal and repentance (Rev. 3:20)
Love for one another (1 Jn. 4:11)
Purity (1 Jn. 3:3)
 
I think that the hymn “The Love of God” would be a fitting summary to this article.
 
The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled, and pardoned from his sin.
 
Chorus
Oh love of God, how rich and pure;
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song!
 
When hoary time shall pass away, and earthly thrones and kingdoms fall;
When men who here refuse to pray, on rocks and hills and mountains call;
God’s love, so sure, shall still endure, all measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—the saints’ and angels’ song.
 
Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.
—Frederick M. Lehman
 
May you be humbled, awed, and spurred to gratitude by the love of God! 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that He died for all, that they which live should not from now on live to themselves, but to Him which died for them, and rose again