The reality of the consistent love that Christ has for humanity have been questioned in recent years, because of the wickedness which may have befallen them.Even faith and trust of the believer in the unchanging love as Christ is combated with doubt.
‘Where was God…’ is a common question in the lips of many. Our circumstances aims as questioning the existence of God in ourlives.
But truth is a personal conviction of the reality of fact, and the truthabout his love can only come by knowledge of who he is.
Who is he?
The simplest definition is - “God is love”. Love is the very nature of God. (1john 4:16 )
But is that all? How does it have to do with me? What’s the relevance of his nature?
Nature is not nature except it has expression. For example, the nature of the Sun is that it gives light and heat as its expression. The nature of the sea is to get you wet everytime you get in. The nature of satan is to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10) because he does nothing good but evil.
The Nature Of God
The nature of God is that he expresses his love all the time. So the question of “does God really love me” is a misplaced school of thought. It ought to be “what is my personal revelation or conviction of who God is, and then, who he is to me”.
LOVE
There are four basics kinds of love.
Philia: This love is the brotherly love. It is interested in the good and phobia for the bad. The love that makes you worried when your friend didn’t write the exam because he was ill. For this reason, it is brotherly in nature.
Storage: This is the familiar love. It’s the love that recycles amongst family members such as parent and offsprings, pet to owners, children to parents. Also the love which is based on an established longlasting relationship between couples after initial infacatuation.
Eros: This is the ‘Passionate desire’ for someone or something. It’s the romantic love. Such as love at first sight. Romeo and Juliet kind of love. Though the misplaced focus of passion results to lust.
Agape: This is the highest form of love.It is the unconditional love which has been fully perfected by God.
For “God so loved the world” and he gave his only begotten Son (John 3:16). The scripture says that “even when we were yet sinners, he died for us”. God still loved the world,He loved his people (mankind) despite the state of man.
He didn’t stop there by declaring his love, he demonstrated it! He went further to give himself as sacrifice for the sins of man, so we can attain salvation. Christ himself declared this in John 15:13 ‘Greater love hath no man than this, than for a man to lay down his life for his friends. He did that.
Remember Jesus said this before he died and rose and salvation came. Man was still in sin while he called us his friends. That means his love for man from the beginning didn’t change. Now this is agape. Romans 8:35 ‘who shall separate us from the love of Christ’ not even Satan at the garden, Hallelujah!
What is the difference between Eros and Agape.
Agape identifies with the interest of the next prison in total independence of his attractiveness. The love of Christ is deeper than the deepest path you have gone in sink; its higher than your mind have risen in rebellion; its bigger than your selfish personality and sin nature you wished you could change.
If he didn’t turn back his love on us when we had no beauty or any level of attractiveness, what about now that he has cleaned us and has become our groom (through faith and acceptance we have in him for who he is and what he has done for us).
Understanding His Love And A Call To Manifest His Love
Having being transformed by his love, there’s a need to reciprocate it. There is a need to maximize the effect of the love of Christ to us and in us (in order to conquer the doubt of his love).
The love of Christ is the expression of God. That how God expresses himself. Everything he does is based on love. But we must be aware and have full understanding and participation in this love.
Christianity is fold. God has poured out himself on us. We want us to enjoy him; to feel him; to bask in his love; to have full participation in the inheritance towards the Saints.
Ephesians 3:19 ‘and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with the fullness of God…’
Leaving Together As Families In Love
The word known as ‘ginosko’ means exponential knowledge. It is knowledge birthed out of experience. And this experience is gained by active relationship between the one who knows and the person to be known, which in this case is and was God.
‘Ginosko’ is gained by intimacy with the spirit of Christ which is here with us. By extension, ginosko is used in regards to the intimate relationship between husbands and wives. This is what God wants when he refers to Israel as his wife. He causes us to intimate relationship. Therefore marriage is a picture of what God desire for man and himself.
Ginosko’ in knowledge gained by obeying the Lord.
Obedience to God as an evidence of our love
And Jesus said to them: “If you love me, keep my commandments”. Our love for him is shown in our actions. Loving him is obeying him and not hardening our hearts to his word.
You experience God when you obey him. Obedience opens to you the move of God. For it is better than your sacrifice. Obedience is God’s demand from man so that he (God) can move on his behalf.
Obedience and faith
Faith of course is not just an intellectual assent. It is commitment. It is action taken to what you believe. Commitment to the word of God and activities of spirit releases in you energy to obey God which opens you to the experience (ginosko) of God, ‘that passeth gnosis’(knowledge based on facts and information).
A person must be determined to obey the word of God if he expect to understand it.
The next verse of Ephesians 3:19 which is 20 ‘Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundant….the fullness of God (his might power and ability to do) which worketh in us’ wiil only be fully manifested in our lives when we experienced the love of Christ. The love of Christ is the commitment of his power towards us.
In summary, we are called to live a life of love – love that is of God. Because the absence of love leaves us in chaos and diversity… while its presence makes growth inevitable.