GOD IS LOVE

There seems to be some confusion about the true meaning of love, I mean the God kind of love, in the church today. We act like we know what it is yet we struggle with various interpretations; unfortunately, the pulpit has only further increased our confusion. May I suggest that the problem is this; we are explaining the love of God in the context of what the world calls love? We struggle to break away from the world’s interpretation but ours is often a variation of theirs and I really don’t understand that because God is not a variation of anything or being. I believe love can only be understood when we align with the mind of God. God is love and He cannot be boxed so that love cannot also be boxed; love is expressed in the way He deems fit in every situation in the same way that God reveals Himself in the most appropriate way for every situation though it is all within the limits of His written word.

1 John 4: 7B – 8 “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.”

I do not claim to fully understand what love is but I think it is much deeper than we say it is and can only be understood in the context of God so that love is not an attribute we struggle to acquire but a being on the inside of us who wants to be expressed through us. We cannot learn love but yield and/or submit to love because love is more than what we do, love is a person. When we get born again, love comes into us so that as we yield to Him we express Him. It is only to the extent that we are submitted to God that we can love. Isn’t it strange how we force people to express what they are unable to give? How does a life not submitted to God express the love of God? Even with all the best intentions in the world, they are unable to because this love can only be expressed as we are led by God’s Spirit. Anything they give is from the head realm and that is all they are capable of giving though it may seem like God sometimes.

Romans 5: 5 “For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.”

The more we are like God the more we love. No point in trying to acquire the attributes of love and yet remain far away from God. This is one of the problems of the church today. Our description of love is definitely too human which is why we think we can acquire it. Even if you know nothing about love, if God is in control of your life, you will naturally express love because His nature is what you will express. I think we have to approach the word of God with an attitude of humility so that we can depend on the Holy Spirit to give us understanding as we study because our minds are too small to understand or interpret the mind of God. We need to catch the Spirit of the word.