Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein 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 ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
According to what we read in that text of bilbia we discover that love is deeply connected with God. The bilbia tells us that "Love is from God," and that "God is love." The first thing we need to understand is that the word "love" as used in that text, is derived from the Greek word "agape."
"For God so loved us that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life."
"God's love is great."
Eph 2:4 "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us."
Will the wife of her baby be forgotten, and will she stop feeling sorry for the child of her womb? Even if they forget, I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you in the palms of my hands; your walls are always before me.
"Love is patient."
"Love is benign."
In the 105 verses of 1 John, love is mentioned more than 40 times. There is no doubt that it is a very important topic in that short epistle. But the apostle John condenses his teaching in these 10 words: We love Him, because He loved us first. And we also love others because He loved us first.
But there is something else. Not only must I love God, but I must love myself: You will love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31). Some believe that this reflects a haughty and selfish spirit, but the truth is that the world has corrupted the concept of self-love and made it a motto: "If I do not worry about myself, who else will?" The Bible does not teach us that, rather it teaches us a healthy and clean love because we are the masterpiece of our Creator and that is why we are worthy of being loved.
Do you know how someone can say if he truly loves as God prescribes? By the way he treats himself. If you are someone who abuses your body with alcohol, tobacco or other drugs, or eating too much, you do not love yourself enough to take care of your body. Satan tells him: "It's not worthwhile for someone to love you." But God has said: "You are my masterpiece, I have made you worthy that my only Son died for you, for you you are incredibly valuable".
The Lord not only asks us to love our neighbors, but also our enemies. This is a supernatural call, outside of human understanding and we must depend on the Holy Spirit to achieve it, since he is the only one capable of giving us the ability to love us. If we believe that love is a feeling, we really have problems because our feelings are fickle and fluctuate but God's love is eternal, never ends. This is the whole, in that he loved us first and gave his only son, Jesus Christ, so that we could experience that inexplicable love in our life. If there is resentment in you for lack of forgiveness or for some damage from the past, today is the day when you can invite Jesus to be the Lord of your life and thus let your perfect love heal your heart of any bitterness or pain.