When we feel insecure, we look for security in relationships with others, and sometimes the people in those relationships let us down. We’re so disappointed by this that our insecurity grows. Wondering if there’s anyone that can truly understand and relate to us, sometimes we lose our confidence in love altogether. We allow this tremendous God-given potential to take a backseat to our lack of confidence. We forget how dearly and how much our Heavenly Father loves us. The reality that Christ died the most humbling, humiliating, and horrific death so that we could know the depth of God’s love must take center stage in our lives. We must recognize that our Heavenly Father has given us the privilege and responsibility to live through His love, and He expects us to give it to others as well.
Romans 5:8(NLT) tells us, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” Humanity had to be in pretty rough shape to nail the Son of the One True Living God to the cross. The unmitigated audacity, arrogance, and wickedness is beyond comprehension, but it is true, nonetheless. The very people he came to save mocked and murdered him. God did not destroy us because of this. Instead He offered us the most supreme act of love known in all of eternity by giving His only begotten Son to die and pay the price for our sins.
Our Heavenly Father looked beyond our faults and saw our needs. He knew who we would become through the love of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:11(NLT) says, “Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.” God chose us to be His very own people, and now that we have received this unfathomable privilege, we can’t just sit with our hands folded and wait for someone to show us love. We must show them love.
We must grow in the love of Christ and spiritually mature to the point where we desire to be givers more than receivers. This is the way Christ lived. He expressed his faith by loving others, and because of this, he walked in tremendous power through the Holy Spirit. God has empowered us through the Holy Spirit in this same way. We are here to carry on the ministry of love that Christ began. God commands us in 1Peter 1:22(NKJV), “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart.” As God’s children, we’re to love others with a pure heart, and Christ made it possible for us to do so.
God tells us in 1Peter 1:16 that we are to be holy because He is holy. God wouldn’t tell us to do something that we’re incapable of doing. We can live and love with a pure heart, and we can live holy and please God because He’s made this possible for us through the sacrifice and resurrection of His Dear Son. All this is possible, and more, because God has given us the gift of His precious Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5(NLT) declares, “And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” Our goal must be to love people through God’s Spirit, because doing so means that we love wholeheartedly, with the compassion and kindness of Christ. God has commanded us to love and live this way, and it’s the very best and most rewarding experience in life.
All of us are growing in the example of Jesus Christ daily, but hiccups do happen, and they can set us back. Sometimes, we’re distracted by how we want people to treat us and our feelings are hurt when we receive far less than what we give. We can become resentful and bitter about this, especially in our significant relationships. There are different types of love; romantic, friendship, brotherly, and family love, but agape—the love of God in Christ is by far the most important. It’s the foundation upon which all the other types of love rest. 1Corinthians 13:4-5(NLT) tells us that God’s love is patient and kind, and it “is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.” The bottom line is that we are to love each other in the same way that our precious Lord and Savior loves us.
Romans 13:8(NLT) says, “Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.” As God’s children of light, we must be committed to grow in the love of Jesus Christ and to love one another with his heart. We might think that we don’t have it in us, but indeed we do. We can love like Christ because of the salvation we have received from our Heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit has come to live in us, and he has filled us with the love of Christ. We must trust this with all that we are and remain committed to grow in the love of our beloved Redeemer every day of our lives. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“Grow in the Love of Jesus Christ”, written for Springfield Fellowship © 2023. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.