He loves us
...who shall separate us from the love of Christ?...
What does it mean to be loved by God? It is difficult for me, a fallible, filthy, human, to understand unconditional love. I am tempted to ask God why He loves me. There is no amount of good that I could do that would prompt a holy God to approach me, let alone love me. There is nothing that can be done to coax God to love; no means of man. The only explanation is that He extends it willingly and without expectation of return.
We need to be loved. It is fundamental to our existence. People may choose to deny this, but deep within, every human knows that love is necessary to life. The world defines love in various terms and phrases: "Love makes the world go round...Love is a many splendored thing...All you need is love...Love is any of a number of emotions related to a sense of strong affection and attachment..." It appears that man is unsure of how to define love. Why not seek the source?
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another...And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. - 1 John 4:7-11, 16
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. - John 15:13
Amen.
What does it mean to be loved by God? It is difficult for me, a fallible, filthy, human, to understand unconditional love. I am tempted to ask God why He loves me. There is no amount of good that I could do that would prompt a holy God to approach me, let alone love me. There is nothing that can be done to coax God to love; no means of man. The only explanation is that He extends it willingly and without expectation of return.
We need to be loved. It is fundamental to our existence. People may choose to deny this, but deep within, every human knows that love is necessary to life. The world defines love in various terms and phrases: "Love makes the world go round...Love is a many splendored thing...All you need is love...Love is any of a number of emotions related to a sense of strong affection and attachment..." It appears that man is unsure of how to define love. Why not seek the source?
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another...And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. - 1 John 4:7-11, 16
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. - John 15:13
Amen.
posted by jmf at
10:14 PM
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