Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. 1 John 4:7-12
I have often talked about being conformed to God’s image. Well, what exactly is it that I’m talking about? We don’t know what He looks like, we can only guess. The pictures and images that we have is an artist rendition and has been built upon until it has become recognizable. The bible really doesn’t give us a description except of what Jesus will look like at His return, which would not look anything like what He looked like when He was here on earth.
So what is the image that I’m thinking of? The image of His spirit. His spirit is truth, He is love. If I can’t love my neighbor, if I can’t love my enemy, if I can’t love my husband, then I am not being the child of God that I should be by conforming myself to His image, the image of love.
Loving, like God loves, is so contrary to our sinful nature. We desire revenge, lust after anger, dwell in all the fears and anxieties that we can, but to love…that would really be a stark contrast to the world around us. They would think that we were not for real. But that would be okay, God would know. If I could love my husband the way that God loves me, what a testimony to God’s grace that would be!
Several years ago, this statement really hit me hard…God is love. I couldn’t believe it was so simple. I started seeing the entire bible, both Old and New Testaments, in a whole new light. Everything God has done and is doing, is out of love. Creating us, extending grace when we fell out of grace, extending mercy when we were wrong, helping, guiding, carrying us through the hard times, no matter how many times we – or the children of Israel – strayed, it was all done out of love. But, most importantly, sending His Son to die on a tree for us is the epitome of love.
Is it really too much to ask, especially if I have a desire to be conformed to God’s image, to love my husband? No, I don’t think it is. I must rely on God to help me, and it is through Him that this will be accomplished.
God is love. I desire to be love too. I know that I will never accomplish it perfectly until that blessed day that Jesus returns, but I will never cease to strive for it.
May God provide the increase.
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Thanks
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Daily Spiritual
Quotes
The two laws of Jesus.
Love god, and love each other.
Thank you Uma Shankar.
DTH, you are exactly right. Thank you for your input.
great post! i reckon we are called to be demonstrations of God’s love and grace – his ambassadors making that love and grace real to those around us! thanks for your encouragement! blessings, fireball