"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16
Have you ever tasted love? What it is like to be in love, and to be loved? And I am not talking about those soppy romances or empty relationships that we see so much of on television and in movies and read of in books nowadays. A real deep kind of love, the kind that when you taste, makes you feel like all the pain or sorrow that you ever had to go through for the sake of that love was worth it, the kind of love that you feel you would give up everything for.
That is the kind of love, and more, that God loves us with, the love that God longs for us to taste, and the love that He longs to feel reciprocated in a relationship that will last until eternity. But love is only love because it comes with a choice. If there were no choice in love, no free will to love, then love would be no more than a preprogrammed feeling, and we would be no more than affectionate robots who "love" only because we have no choice- we were made that way. True love, even in this world, is more than just a feeling. So many people look at their feelings and think it to be "love", and yet when the crunch comes that "love" does not last. We see broken relationships, divorces, broken people. Love is so much more. Love is a commitment, and requires choices to be made, often against feelings, choices that honour the relationship, choices that build up the other person, choices for the other party's good, even if it means sacrifice on our part. See 1 Corinthians 13...
People ask, why did our all-knowing, sovereign God create this earth and humans when He knew that they would choose not to love Him but instead disobey Him, leading to a curse on the earth and all the evil and suffering that we see today? Now I'm afraid of trying to answer this very deep question too quickly, but in a nutshell, He did it because He wanted to share that relationship of love with us. He knew Man would disobey, He knew Man would not choose Him, He knew the disaster that was going to take place, but believe it or not, that relationship is so valuable to Him that He still went ahead. He was willing to endure the pain of seeing His loved people rebel, sin and follow Satan instead. And the most amazing thing is, in order to restore that relationship, He had already planned before the world began to send His Son Jesus to come and die for us. "He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God." 1 Pet 1:20-21. In short, God had it all planned out so that we could have this relationship of love with Him, through Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, and worship Him eternally. He paid an enormous price but deemed that the relationship with us was worth every bit of the price, the pain, the sorrow. Isn't that amazing?
Two questions- how much are we living in the fullness of that relationship with Him, even as Christians; and how much are we striving to bring others who do not know Him into that awesome relationship with Him? God's love knows no end, but our love is pitifully weak; however even that love He is willing to accept, and in our lives we learn each day to love Him more and more. Is our knowledge of God just head knowledge? Or have we tasted the depth of God's love, and the fullness of joy that comes with being in a relationship with Him? A relationship that requires commitment, obedience, surrender and sacrifice on our part, and is filled with faith, hope and love beyond description. And when we have tasted even just that bit of that, can we still stand by and watch people who do not know Him miss out on it?
Have you ever tasted love? What it is like to be in love, and to be loved? And I am not talking about those soppy romances or empty relationships that we see so much of on television and in movies and read of in books nowadays. A real deep kind of love, the kind that when you taste, makes you feel like all the pain or sorrow that you ever had to go through for the sake of that love was worth it, the kind of love that you feel you would give up everything for.
That is the kind of love, and more, that God loves us with, the love that God longs for us to taste, and the love that He longs to feel reciprocated in a relationship that will last until eternity. But love is only love because it comes with a choice. If there were no choice in love, no free will to love, then love would be no more than a preprogrammed feeling, and we would be no more than affectionate robots who "love" only because we have no choice- we were made that way. True love, even in this world, is more than just a feeling. So many people look at their feelings and think it to be "love", and yet when the crunch comes that "love" does not last. We see broken relationships, divorces, broken people. Love is so much more. Love is a commitment, and requires choices to be made, often against feelings, choices that honour the relationship, choices that build up the other person, choices for the other party's good, even if it means sacrifice on our part. See 1 Corinthians 13...
People ask, why did our all-knowing, sovereign God create this earth and humans when He knew that they would choose not to love Him but instead disobey Him, leading to a curse on the earth and all the evil and suffering that we see today? Now I'm afraid of trying to answer this very deep question too quickly, but in a nutshell, He did it because He wanted to share that relationship of love with us. He knew Man would disobey, He knew Man would not choose Him, He knew the disaster that was going to take place, but believe it or not, that relationship is so valuable to Him that He still went ahead. He was willing to endure the pain of seeing His loved people rebel, sin and follow Satan instead. And the most amazing thing is, in order to restore that relationship, He had already planned before the world began to send His Son Jesus to come and die for us. "He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God." 1 Pet 1:20-21. In short, God had it all planned out so that we could have this relationship of love with Him, through Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, and worship Him eternally. He paid an enormous price but deemed that the relationship with us was worth every bit of the price, the pain, the sorrow. Isn't that amazing?
Two questions- how much are we living in the fullness of that relationship with Him, even as Christians; and how much are we striving to bring others who do not know Him into that awesome relationship with Him? God's love knows no end, but our love is pitifully weak; however even that love He is willing to accept, and in our lives we learn each day to love Him more and more. Is our knowledge of God just head knowledge? Or have we tasted the depth of God's love, and the fullness of joy that comes with being in a relationship with Him? A relationship that requires commitment, obedience, surrender and sacrifice on our part, and is filled with faith, hope and love beyond description. And when we have tasted even just that bit of that, can we still stand by and watch people who do not know Him miss out on it?
