If choosing love were always easy, everyone would do it, because the benefits of choosing to love always outweighs everything else. However, the reality is that choosing to love others rather than repaying them the same unkindness they’ve doled out to us is not always easy. We know that our Master Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:39 to turn the other cheek, but many saved, sanctified, and Spirit-filled individuals haven’t yet learned to do this. In Mark 12:30(NLT), Jesus Christ commanded us, “And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” This is not only the greatest commandment, it’s the greatest accomplishment in all of life. If we understand that every good and lasting thing we enjoy is the result of loving God in this way, we will choose to walk in His love every moment of each day, come what may.
We are empowered to love like Christ
Romans 8:38-39(NIV) says, “38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This passage is extraordinary! It gives us the assurance that nothing can separate us from the love of God. He loves us unconditionally, and He will never stop loving us. Romans 8:39 tells us that God’s love is in Christ, and because it is in Christ, it is in us, for we have received Christ through God’s gift of salvation!
1John 4:8(NLT) teaches us, “But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” And 1John 1:5(NLT) says, “This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.” Our Heavenly Father is love and light. He is brilliant beyond brilliance, and perfect beyond perfection. He never makes a mistake, and everything He does is out of His tremendous love for us all. John 3:16 tells us that He loves us so much that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to become a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that we can become saved and have the gift of eternal life.This demonstrates the heft of God’s unconditional and unlimited love for every individual, because He’s made it possible through Jesus Christ for every person to love like Him.
Every person has the free-will choice to love through the love of God in Christ, but not all will do this. Many will reject His love, but those of us that recognize we desperately need His love have surrendered to it. This is the very best thing we could have ever done. God commands us in Colossians 2:6(NIV), “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him.” To live in Christ is to live in, by, and through him and his love. We are commanded to love others in the same way that Christ does. This is a distinction we can’t afford to miss.
The characteristics of real and genuine love
As living, breathing human beings, we are all capable of loving, and of course we have love for other people in our lives, but in some cases, we allow that to fade. Some of the people that we’ve loved weren’t at the same level of spiritual maturity that we are. There might have been attributes and aspects of their personalities that just didn’t jive with us. It rubbed us the wrong way, and over time, our affection for them diminished. We just don’t feel the same way about them. Relationships end this way, and it’s because we choose to love people with our brand of love, and not with the love of Jesus Christ.
The love of God that was in Christ is real and genuine love. 1Corinthians 13:4-8(NIV) gives us some of the characteristics of it. This passage tells us, “4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.” Again, we are capable of loving others this way, because God has made it possible through Christ, but some of us choose not to. We don’t renew our minds to love through our Blessed Lord, and this yields dissatisfaction and a lack of fulfillment in life.
The love we put out there is coming back to us
It stands to reason that if we desire to be loved in a quality way that we would need to give out the love we hope to receive. If we desire someone to love us with a full commitment, through thick and thin, then we have to love them that way as well; despite the stuff about them that we don’t like. We really need to understand the heft of this truth. God tells us in Galatians 5:13-14(NIV), “13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.””
Joy and peace come from confidence in God. When we arrive at a place where we simply refuse to live without these yummies, we will not allow anything or anyone to separate us from them. We will walk in God’s love without abandon. Philippians 4:6 (ESV) says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” This verse conveys the faith in God that we must have in our hearts and minds. There’s no labor or struggle. We simply must have faith in God and tell Him what we need. Then, we thank Him for all He’s done, because we know He’s going to come through. This simple instruction paves the way for our responses to people, relationships, situations, and circumstances as well. There’s no second guesses about the potency of God’s love. We simply make a decision to love through Him. And if anything seeks to disrupt our peace and joy, our go to response should be to put on a heavy dose of God’s love.
God’s power is displayed through His love, and He has taught us in His Word that our devotion to live by it will open doors that no one or nothing else can. His love allows us to be activated in His power, but our faith is the thing that puts all this at our fingertips. We can overcome any adversity, respond to everyone gracefully, and draw to us the most amazing blessings and people when we simply have faith that God’s power is exercised through our discipline to choose to live and respond by His love. ■
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“Choose God’s Love”, written for Springfield Fellowship © 2023. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.