His Love, our love, to love others
John 13:34 A new command I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
1 John 4:7-8 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Ephesians 2:4-10 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Romans 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.
Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.
We are so blessed to be loved by God. I have just been listening to a Youtube with Rick Warren stating our purpose is to be loved by God and know that we are loved by Him; and in turn love Him and by virtue of His love, to love all others.
Because we are limited in our love–we are humans, and we may want to love unconditionally, there are some conditions we unwittingly put on it, which others feel. For instance, when that newborn first arrives, we love and feel as though our hearts will burst with the amount of love. We are thrilled, overjoyed, enthralled and amazed at the beauty of this child, at the amount of feeling surging through us, and with the overwhelming miracle of this innocent, helpless person, totally dependent on you and others for all its needs. It is humbling.
God’s love for us is similar. He does not put conditions on His love for us. Yes, He can be displeased with us sinning and not living as closely to His Son as we should, but He still loves us.
We on the other hand, say things such as “Stop that tantrum or I will be very angry.” “You will be sent alone to your room if you continue to scream.” “If you’re going to be friends with her, then I don’t want to be friends with you anymore.” Although our feelings toward the person may not change—other than anger, you still love the naughty child, but you don’t want to be with it, or listen to the whining/tantrum/ misbehavior or whatever. Although it is not said, or even meant, there is a subtle message that is absorbed saying love is ‘conditional’…The interpretation could be “I could push so hard Mom’s/Dad’s/anyone’s/ love would disappear.”
We learn to believe actions over words. We may hear words of praise, love, and so forth frequently, but if what we see and experience is to be sent away, our needs just barely met, and not a lot of emotional sharing imparted, then we begin to feel a bit of doubt regarding the love others profess to have. You need to share time being with one another, to know more about one another, to solidify trust. And good, strong relationships are built on trust. Over time and situations, you have learned you can trust the other person.
Parents and others are busy. They work, they do house chores when home, spouses chat and reconnect and discuss schedules, plans, commitments and children—accomplishments as well as misbehavior; but it takes some time away from a child who may be patiently waiting for its turn to have some praise, some recognition, or some measure of quality time, which is one of the ways we express love and interest. It can feel oftentimes that love is conditional and because of the way we have grown up, experienced various love relationships—whether it be parent-child, friend to friend, or lover to lover, we feel conditions that add burden to some love. We believe it is somewhat conditional. that is not the kind of love God shows and gives. His is unconditional. Ours is somewhat conditional, even if it only feels that was, and is not–we tend to make it feel that it is or could be. And it then does not feel like God’s love which is s difficult kind of love for us to fully understand.
AGAPE is full on love all the time. No conditions, no reason to strive to achieve things because it is unconditional. God created us, chose us and loves us. It is our minds, our very human minds and hearts which have developed ideas saying love can be conditional. That does not mean we don’t trust, and that our love is not real, and not going to fade away, but often there is the slightest bit of angst that it might disappear, might fade, might, for some reason be withheld.
Rick Warren preached that God wants to love us, to show us His love, and takes delight in us. He states that God loves us unconditionally and that our purpose in this life is to be loved by God because He wants us in His family. He wants to take delight in us, to give us things to make us happy, to see the wonder and joy in us as we experience something new and impressive—a region you have never been before, and suddenly you are immersed in His creation. One will hear non-believers say they experience God in nature. This is true. But this does NOT allow you to share love with others, and to receive love from them. There needs to be a spiritual family, not just appreciating the beauties of this world.
There are bunches of beautiful, breath-taking areas throughout the world which will humble you and have you awed at our Creator. Nature and all His creation is beyond, beyond what any of us could fathom without experiencing. He loves to see our reactions, and is happy those things can be part of our happiness.
He wants us to worship Him. Life is about love—He loves us (ALWAYS) and wants us to know that, to be stirred by that wonderful fact, to be touched deeply in our hearts daily and to grow closer to Him. He wants a relationship; a sit down, ‘Hey my wonderful child, how was your day today? Did you see anything special, do anything special? What made you sad, happy, angered you? How did you handle it? I love you. I want to listen and spend time with you.’
How awesome is that? My parents were great, yet they did not have time carved out each day to spend time fully checking in with each of us. But that is how God wants to be with us. We have to open the door, and climb up and lean into Him, but He’s waiting.
Warren says life is all about love, and if we miss the importance of that, we have missed the whole point of God’s creating us. He wants a relationship with us, not sacrifices, not spending time out of duty, but looking forward to being with Him, confiding in Him, and LOVING Him.
He went on to say that a warning sign you are disconnected from God is worry. He called worry ‘practical atheism’ since you are not confiding and trusting Him to handle your life. You “mention” your concerns, but then do not hand them to Him with trust in heart, and see how things unfold. You don’t fully believe He can handle, will handle, loves you enough to handle. . .But bottom line that is a form of atheism.
We have a choice. God calls each of us; but we have to make the choice to answer the call and join His family. We are a spiritual family. According to Rick Warren, our prime purpose in this life is to be loved by God, and then love Him in return. As we experience that overwhelming, unconditional love of God, our hearts become so full we want to share it with others, and that is what God created us to do. He wants to see us live in peace, helpfulness, and love. We continue to drink in His living water, unconditional love and then want to share it with others. It’s a pyramid. A simple design; just not always easy since we attach too much thought and conditions on it.
Come to know in your HEART how much the Creator loves YOU, and feel it deep within, drink it in, and love Him in return. See the way life blossoms for you. You are His child, loved unconditionally—no ifs, ands, or buts—unconditionally and for always.
Thank You, God, for the blessing of walking with You daily—You have blessed me and ‘mybellaviews.’
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