The effect of God’s love on us (believers) is God touching our hearts so we can reach out to people, see them, treat them, and relate with them as Jesus would. As such, we ought to be as compassionate (a deep-seated motivation) towards people just as Jesus Himself was; we have to pass on compassion to others just as we too have received because we all are recipients of compassion. The love of Christ constrains us – it fills our passion and motivates us.
God is love and therefore, love is God! The Bible says that God is love and whoever loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God. (1 John 4:7-8) Knowing God entails loving one another, whether or not the love is reciprocated. And we also do not need to know people before we can love them. Just as we love God, we ought to love people unconditionally. 1 John 4:20 says that it is only a liar who claims to love God whom he has never seen and at the same time, doesn’t love his brother he has seen. Verse 21 goes on to say that whoever loves God must love his brother also. Therefore, we don’t struggle with loving people because once we get an understanding of how much God loves us, loving others becomes an easy thing to do. We will never partake in the fullness and entirety of God until we come to a complete understanding of His unconditional love for us.
The very foundation of our lives should be our knowledge of God’s love because the love of God gives us a glimpse into the nature of God. The Apostle Paul makes us understand in Ephesians 3:19 that we always have to define love from God’s perspective, which is at all times the ultimate. As a result, we don’t just know the love of God by book knowledge, we get to know the love of God by experience, by the way we live, interact, and relate with others and by so doing, we get continuous awareness that we are loved by God. Therefore, we grow in loving one another and as such, we are being made perfect in His love. We never should be afraid in life because we dwell in the perfect love of Christ. 1 John 4:18 helps us understand that there is absolutely no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has involves torment. And the one who fears has not been made perfect in love. Fear means we have no confidence in His love. Therefore, we’re perfected in love when we fear nothing in this life.
We love Him because He first loved us – 1 John 4:19. Therefore, our love is only a response to His, and so we must never get away from the foundation that He loved us first. So I’m not doing what I do to get God to love me; He already loved me and there’s nothing either I or anyone else can do to change that love. As such, God’s love for me is not based on my performance and my ministry (as a believer) flows out of my relationship with God, not based on my performance. God’s love motivates us to love Him; and the way to love God is to keep His commandments, which is to obey His word – John 14:23. We must never be ashamed of the testimony of Jesus which is love, and part of being loved by God is knowing that you’re in right standing with Him.
The love of God in me is changing me and I am a reflection of Christ. Therefore the evidence of the love of God in a believer is seen in their pursuit of souls – in how passionate they are in seeing souls saved and coming to the knowledge of the truth of God’s Word. That’s the heart of God, and as believers, we need to have such a heart towards the people always. Dear believer, ensure that you do life with a heart (genuine love) for people – it is very important! So then, some ways in which the love of God influences the life of the believer include;
• Loving others unconditionally, regardless. (Mark 12:31 – love your neighbor as you love yourself; 1 John 4:19 – we love Him because He first loved us).
The reality is, the Father’s love was never man’s idea – it has always been God’s original idea and as such, there’s really nothing we can do about it except to respond to His love by loving others (the God way) as well. Actually, God created us just so He can shower us with His unconditional love, and being bona fide recipients of that love, it is only fair enough that we give back by showing the same love (and compassion) we’ve received.
• Being selfless and kind. In Ephesians 4:32, Paul urges us to be kind, tenderhearted and forgiving towards one another.
Being kind and selfless towards people can only come from a genuine heart of love. Once we come to the understanding of the Father’s love towards us, it becomes easy to show that same love to others in several different ways. The Father’s love has brought us to a place of brokenness and service – serving people in the same way the Father serves us.
• Fear not. 1 John 4:18 – there is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.
Not even in death should we fear because where God’s love is involved, fear cannot make its dwelling there. The only time fear abounds is when the love of God has not been made perfect. But we fear not because we’ve been perfected in His love. Being afraid means we’re uncertain about God’s promises and we do not trust Him – that shouldn’t be the life of a believer.
The only kind of fear permitted in our lives is the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is to hate what God hates and to love what God loves. Even our faith cannot be executed without the fear of the Lord – therefore it prolongs our faith.
• Forgiveness – holding no one’s mistakes against them. Isaiah 43:25 says for His own sake, He will not remember our sins. Hebrews 8:12 says He will remember our sins and iniquities no more.
If God has taken upon Himself to forgive us of all our sins and unrighteousness, we have no business holding the mistakes of others against them. God does not deal with us based on our past!
• Giving. John 3:16 says that for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son…
God’s love is the motivation for His giving and His giving is sacrificial. 1 John 3:16 says that we know (recognize) love because He laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Therefore, giving is the primary proof of love and as such, no one can say he truly loves without giving. 1 John 3:18 says that we should not only love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Our actions towards others proof that we love them. So God’s motivation for giving is love, and our own greatest motivation for giving to God is love also – we give because we love Him. For God so love the world that He gave – for we so love the Lord that we give. The most valuable asset we can give that God truly deserves is ourselves. Money and material things are the least we can ever give God. When we do not have a good appreciation of the sacrifice of Christ, it makes our affection for God shallow.
In a nutshell, we cannot at any given point in time afford to be love ignorant. Being ignorant of the Father’s love could render ineffective our ability to receive answers to prayers; render our spiritual gifts and offices ineffective; weaken our ability to understand our position as sons of God; amongst others. We cannot compare the world’s definition of love to ours. The world’s definition of love is all about what you can do for them, not what they are committed to doing for you; but for us believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we love unconditionally, whether or not we’re loved right back. Our love is only a response to God’s love because it was He who first loved us.
THE MIRACLE OF LOVE IS THAT, LOVE IS GIVEN TO US TO GIVE TO ONE ANOTHER!
Am blessed
It has been a good teaching am so blessed, may God bless you.
I love your article. Blessed me.
However I wish to ask:
Can one love a spouse and love not reciprocated back same way?
Does the unconditional love work in relationships or marriage.
If I’m not an evangelist or carrying heavy burden for the lost. Does it mean I do not love or reciprocating God’s love.
I read through and i am blessed. I understand more about the love of God and what has done for me as s believer and i in turn demonstrate the love to others.
Thank you soo much sister.