August 1, 2023 -- I John 4:8 -- What do you mean when you say 'God is love'?

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
I John 4:8 ESV

Our world considers love to be a feeling that rises and falls, that gets intense and fades. Scripture shows something profoundly different. God is love. God is just. God is faithful. God is good. God is holy.

God allows sinners to enjoy creation, life, health, beauty and family and work. It is amazing. However, those who enjoy such things in this life and do not credit the God Who is love, will be judged by God the Just for their refusal to express thanksgiving and love to Him for all the gifts they had enjoyed from His hand.

God Who is Love gives to believers delight in Him. With the Psalmist we acknowledge that it is in God in Whom is all my delight; at His right hand are eternal pleasures forevermore. Believers enjoy creation, life, health, beauty, family, work, and all things, as a gift from the Fatherly hand of our King. Christians endure hardships in the full knowledge that this life is not all there is. Eternity awaits us. We know God is love and from the fullness of His love we can love.

God is love. He is the source of love. He sustains His love in us through the power of His Spirit so that we can see the most perfect picture of His love, Jesus, most clearly. God is love, in Him we have the ability to love those who we’d otherwise deem unlovable. God is love, in Him we live in true and deep community because He is source of the love we need so that we can live with others who have as many faults as we do. Ah, what an amazing God we serve.

Our Father in heaven hallowed be Your Name. We confess how greedily we drink in Your love and how stingy we are in showing love to others. From the fullness of Your love extravagantly shown us in Christ, empower us by Your Spirit to be a people who shine Your love out in every area of our lives and to share Your divine love with all the people You put into our lives. Amen.

https://youtu.be/KLTu1xv2-Us “Oh, the Deep Love of Jesus”

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