The Love Which God Has for Us

[Christsfreeservant]

“We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.” (1 John 4:16-18 NASB1995). ​

A secular song titled L-O-V-E came out in 1964, when I was 14 years old. It was written by Milt Gabler, and composed by Bert Kaempfert, and sung by Nat King Cole. The lyrics to the song speak of love, but not the same love that comes from God and that we, as followers of Jesus Christ, are to have for one another within the body of Christ. The song’s “love” is more in the physical realm and it has to do primarily with our emotions, how we feel.

The love this song speaks of also has to do with how one person looks at another, so this is speaking more of romantic and fleshly love, a lot of which is not truly love, but lust and human passion and desire. It also speaks of love as being more than “just a game for two,” which means that “a game for two” is included in the description. And then it speaks of being “in love,” which is based in human passion, thus someone can “fall out of love,” too.

But the “love” being spoken of here in 1 John 4 is not that kind of love as was written about in this song. For the love, which is of God, because God is love, is not based in our emotions or how we feel or in how someone looks physically. This is not a love which you easily fall into and then back out of, because God’s love is based in who he is and not in who he is loving. For Jesus Christ loved us and gave his life up for us while we were yet sinners.

So, when we love other people with this love, which comes from God, in our emotions we may not even feel “feelings of love,” for we may be loving our enemies who hate and mistreat us and who betray us and say all manner of evil against us and who slander us and lead others to hate and reject us. But no matter how badly we are treated, we are to love even our enemies. For love is action regardless of emotions. Love is what we do, not how we feel.

Also, the love which comes from God is honest with one another. So many people do not love as they should, as God is love, not only because they are depending on human love, and not God’s love, but because they overhear something and so they make a judgment about someone, which may or may not be true about them at all. And the whole matter could be cleared up if they would just talk to the person who they are judging without mercy.

And on that same subject, in the secular world we get this idea of love that it is what makes people feel good, regardless of whether or not it IS good for them. And so, even some Christians will lie to people to make them feel good, while some might, too, speak ill of them behind their backs. But lying to people is not love, and it is not kind, no matter how you dress it up. Don’t be cruel, but please speak the truth in love to people that they need to hear.

So when we, as Christians, abide in love, we are choosing to love and obey God, and we are choosing to do what is good for others, even for those who hate and mistreat us and say all manner of evil against us. We love, whether or not we are loved in return, and we show that love by what we do and by how we treat others, even our enemies. And we will pray for them, for what is for their good, and we will pray for them to surrender all to Jesus Christ.

But love is not just saying what people like to hear, but it is speaking the truth in love to them, and saying to them what they need to hear, even if we are hated and rejected and persecuted, in return. And this is because love is unselfish, and it is self-sacrificial, and so it is willing to lay down one’s life to tell people the truth of the gospel to save their souls from hell. For telling people the truth does not gain us a lot of friends, usually the opposite.

And the thing of it is, then we may be accused of being hateful or judgmental or of being unloving or unkind when the opposite is true. Do some people speak the truth in hate or just to sound off, and they don’t care what people say about them in return? Surely! But not everyone who speaks the truth of God’s word is like that. Some of us are speaking the truth because we love the people and we don’t want anyone to end up in hell.

But this isn’t just about heaven or hell, but this is about the need for us Christians to love one another enough to speak the truth in love to one another so that we are not taken captive to false doctrines and so that we are not led astray by sin’s deceitfulness, and so that we don’t end up following after false gods and not truly worship the One and Only True God in truth, in righteousness, and in obedience to his commands in holy living.

[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Lu 6:27-28; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Ac 1:8; Ac 2:14-18; Ac 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Gal 6:1; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:11-27; Eph 6:10-20; Php 2:1-8; Col 1:9; Col 3:12-16; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; Jas 5:19-20; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6; Jude 1:22-23]

In Harmony

An Original Work / September 2, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Based off Ro. 12:9-21; 1 Pet. 3:8-17

Love each other truly.
Cling to what is good.
Hate all that is evil.
Never lack in zeal.
Serve the Lord with fervor.
Joyful in hope be;
Patient in affliction;
Praying faithfully.
Honor one another.
Live in harmony.

Share with all God’s people
Who are found in need.
Do not be conceited.
Sympathetic be.
Love, and show compassion
In humility.
Keep your tongue from evil.
Peaceful you must be.
Honor one another.
Live in harmony.

God sees who are righteous;
Listens to their prayers.
But He’s against evil –
Is His to avenge.
Do not fear what they fear.
Suffer patiently.
In your hearts, make Christ Lord.
Serve Him faithfully.
Honor one another.
Live in harmony.

The Love Which God Has for Us
An Original Work / February 22, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

[soldier of light]

1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

 

[soldier of light]

Walking in the Spirit I assume is to walk in love

Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.