Prior to getting into ‘love’ let me lay a foundation. Many times, we think we are seeing clearly, but in reality we are only seeing a part of the whole. There is always something better.
Better food. Better music. Better sight. Better cars.
I think we all have had the experience where we thought we had something good until we realized that there was something better.
When I was single and in college, I would cook a dinner that I called: “The Bachelor’s Special.”
It was pasta with mushroom sauce. I loved it. I thought that it tasted delicious.
When I got married, I told my wife Kerry, “I am going to make you ‘The Bachelor’s Special.’ I used to eat it all the time. You are going to love it.”
I made dinner, served the food, sat down to eat and had a bit of a shock. The Bachelor’s Special was not very special. It did not taste very good. I did not understand. When I ate it when I was single, it tasted so good. What happened?
What happened was, I had been eating all of Kerry’s amazing meals since we got married and I experienced better, much more delicious meals. Truth had been revealed to me. The Bachelor’s Special was not special at all. Kerry’s food was way better.
Another time I was sitting in church listening to my Guatemalan pastor preach and I took off my new glasses. My pastor became a bit fuzzy. Not much, just a little. I was reminded in the moment when I went to the eye doctor a few months before. I needed glasses to read and I wanted to get a good pair that I could wear all the time. (I was always breaking the cheap glasses that I bought and I wanted a good pair.)
I told the eye doctor that I just needed glasses to read and that the rest of my vision was perfect. Then he did the exam. It turned out that my sight for distance was not perfect and that I needed a small prescription to see clearly at any real distance.
I realized that I was deceived. I needed the eye doctor to show that I needed help to see clearly far away. Now that I can see better with my new glasses, I don’t want to go back. I want to continue to see better.
It is God’s desire that we all see and taste better! Let’s approach love that way.
John the beloved was the closest to Jesus and he knew God’s love because he saw and “tasted” the depth of God’s love in Jesus. So, the questions this leads to for us are…
Do you know that you are loved? Do you really know?
Society tries to tell us all what love is but we need Jesus perspective on love, not that of our culture.
How do we know what love is?
1. Love laid down His life for us
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. (1 John 3:16)
Jesus gave up His life for you. This is the greatest example of love ever shown.
2. Love lavishes
See what great love the Father has lavished on us… (1 John 3:1)
What do you think of when you think of lavishing? I think of tables and tables and tables of all kinds of food that I can eat without limit. Having someone there all the time to take care of your needs. To be able to ask for anything and receive it.
God lavishes His great love on us, so much, that He calls us His children.
3.Love calls us His children
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1)
He would do anything for us. He died for us and call us his children. That is what love is. When we were His enemies, He thought of us and wanted us. When we were at our most evil.
4. What is love: Not that we loved first. Love did not originate from us. BUT God loved us first and sent His Son.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10)
Love started it all. Love is originated from God. This leads us to the next point.
5. God is love
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. (1 John 4:16)
The very essence of God is love.
You may say, “I know God loves me. I know He is love.” If that is the case I encourage you to sit in His love today.
If we know that God is love, that He died for us and that He lavishes his love on us as his precious children, then we can have confidence to attempt anything and not be afraid. I cherish what the Holy Spirit spoke to me years ago:
“If you know you are loved, you can attempt anything.”
When I was a child and a youth, my mom deeply loved me, and she expressed it to me everyday. Everyday she would say: “You know what Matthew, I love you. You know what else, Jesus loves you.”
That was imprinted on my heart, my soul and my being. It has carried me through many problems, pains and sorrows.
It is so important to know you are loved. You can risk a lot if you know you are loved. Even die on a cross.If Jesus knew enough love to risk it all on the cross, then He also showed us how we are to love.
How do we love?
1. Obey His word. When we do, the love we have for God is made complete inside us.
But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them.
2. How do we love? Live as Jesus Christ did.
This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. 1 John 2:5-6
How did Jesus live? Fearlessly. Obeying his father. Loving even unto his death.
3. How do we love? By not loving the world.
Do not love the world or anything in the world… For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. 1John 2:15-17
By loving God and His will.
4. How do we love? Lay down your lives for others
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 1 John 3:16
5. How do we love? Have pity/compassion for others
If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 1 John 3:17
6. How do we love? Love not with words and speech, but actions and truth.
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:16-18
God wants us to love like He did. Not just a words or good talk, but with actions that complete and accomplish something and are a reality for people.
Love does this. Love creates and accomplishes and brings real life and peace for and to others.
He wants us to love others as He loved us
7. How do we love? Love helps us to Overcome the world and all the fears in it.
This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5:1-5
When we know the love of God and live in His love we can overcome the world. Our strength will not overcome it, our knowledge will not overcome it, our talents will not overcome the world. Our life in God will. When we know the One who loves us deeply, we cannot be defeated because we rest in His love.
Remember today that your Creator loves you and that you have the power to love the life into the world.