God's Love

by John Michael Kennedy

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
( 1 John 4:7-11, NKJV)

It is difficult for me to understand God's love. I understand God loves me. I understand how he demonstrates that love. I understand the "what" and the "how" of God's love, but I cannot understand the "why." Why did God give salvation unto us? We cannot comprehend God's love from a human standpoint (a.k.a. - the world's standpoint). The world says that to love or be loved you have to be good-looking, smart, strong, rich, and so on. To love something by the world's standards means to put value upon it because it gives us something in return (benefits, identity, pleasure, etc...). God had nothing to gain from us in loving us - he didn't need anything from us. He doesn't need pleasure, benefits, or identity from us. In fact, God receives the opposite of those things when loving us - pain, loss, and suffering. Why does God love us and demonstrate His love for us; because His nature is love (simple, I know, but profound). God is love, and God initiates love toward us. We cannot understand love or initiate love towards someone else until we experience God's initial love.
God's initial love is not based on performance, standards, benefits, or anything else the world uses to define love. It is unconditional. God loves us because God is love. God loves us not because we deserve it or earn it. God loves us not because we are good. We are valuable not because we gave God a reason to love us, but because we were first loved by God. As sinners, we were given a value beyond measure when God paid for us with the blood of Jesus. That's right. We are worth the blood of God's Son because God (out of His love) decided that's what we were worth, and that's what He ended up paying for us. God's love is not based on us or our standards - God's love is based on God's nature, which is love. I invite you to struggle along with me in understanding the amazing, not-of-this-world love of God.

January 22, 2012

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God's Love by John Michael Kennedy "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." ( 1 John 4:7-11, NKJV) It is difficult for me to understand God's love. I understand God loves me. I understand how he demonstrates that love. I understand the "what" and the "how" of God's love, but I cannot understand the "why." Why did God give salvation unto us? We cannot comprehend God's love from a human standpoint (a.k.a. - the world's standpoint). The world says that to love or be loved you have to be good-looking, smart, strong, rich, and so on. To love something by the world's standards means to put value upon it because it gives us something in return (benefits, identity, pleasure, etc...). God had nothing to gain from us in loving us - he didn't need anything from us. He doesn't need pleasure, benefits, or identity from us. In fact, God receives the opposite of those things when loving us - pain, loss, and suffering. Why does God love us and demonstrate His love for us; because His nature is love (simple, I know, but profound). God is love, and God initiates love toward us. We cannot understand love or initiate love towards someone else until we experience God's initial love. God's initial love is not based on performance, standards, benefits, or anything else the world uses to define love. It is unconditional. God loves us because God is love. God loves us not because we deserve it or earn it. God loves us not because we are good. We are valuable not because we gave God a reason to love us, but because we were first loved by God. As sinners, we were given a value beyond measure when God paid for us with the blood of Jesus. That's right. We are worth the blood of God's Son because God (out of His love) decided that's what we were worth, and that's what He ended up paying for us. God's love is not based on us or our standards - God's love is based on God's nature, which is love. I invite you to struggle along with me in understanding the amazing, not-of-this-world love of God. January 22, 2012 Related Articles: Print this Article Discuss this Article Back to the Sermon Page	Mt. Juliet Church of Christ 1940 N. Mt. Juliet Road P.O.Box 248 Mt.Juliet, TN 37122-0248 (615)758-2274 Fax:615-754-2351 Email Worship Services: Sunday Early Worship: 8AM Sunday Bible Study: 9:15AM Sunday Late Worship: 10:15AM Night Worship: 6PM Wednesday Bible Study: 7PM