Everyone wants to enter into the joy of love. That is what enjoy means, it means to enter into the joy of something. However, few people really know how to enter into the joy of love. Love is the most basic need of a person’s soul, that is, to love and be loved. When a person is loved then they thrive spiritually, emotionally and physically. God made everyone to be loved and to love others.
We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. I John 4:16
Love must first be received by one person to be given to others. We love because we have first been loved. The source of all love is God and God expressed His love to the world by giving His Son, Jesus Christ.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16
When we believe in God’s love for us by believing in Jesus Christ then we receive the gift of God’s love into our heart. God is love and when we abide in love then we will abide in God and God abides in us. Abide means to live within, so therefore, we will live in God’s love and His love will live in and through us when we believe in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is perfect love. His love is perfect towards us and His love is perfected in us when we love each other.
No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. I John 4:12
When we abide in God then we learn to love with a Godlike love, which is pure, good, unselfish, patient, kind, true, bears all things, believes the best, forgiving and enduring. God’s love will never fail. God’s love is only possible for the one who receives this Godlike love through believing and receiving God into their life through Jesus Christ. God’s love is an unconditional love that is not based on the recipient of the love but comes from the one who loves. God loves because God is love and He wants to teach His children, who are called Christians or Christ-followers, how to love with this kind of love.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. I John 4:7
It is only to the degree that we have experienced God’s love that we can love another. The depth of our love for another is determined by the depth of our knowledge of the love of God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. I John 4:8
We can love God and others because God first loved us.
We love, because He first loved us. I John 4:19
God’s love is expressed to us through Jesus Christ dying for our sins. He took the punishment which we deserved and paid for our sins through dying on the cross in order that He might restore us to a love relationship with God.
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, I Peter 3:18a
God, the Father, raised Jesus Christ from the dead and Jesus Christ is alive today. He who believes this and calls on the name of Jesus Christ to save them from their sins can come into a love relationship with God.
See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. I John 3:1a
When a person receives God’s love then He also has his heart cleansed from a guilty conscience. It is a guilty conscience that prevents us from entering into the love of God. It is a guilty conscience that prevents us from experiencing the love of others. It is a guilty conscience that keeps us from being able to love others.
let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience… Hebrews 10:22a
Once our hearts have been cleansed from a guilty and evil conscience then we can draw near to God and experience His love and comfort. As we learn to fellowship with God and spend time in God’s Word and prayer, our hearts are continually cleansed as we confess our sins to Him, so that we might have a clear conscience with God.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9
In the same way, we must have a clear conscience with others. If we have not loved someone else and have sinned against them then we need to ask their forgiveness.
Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. Matthew 5:23,24
You can not worship the Lord with a clear conscience if you do not have a clear conscience with others. Your worship of the Lord is an expression of love and devotion to Him. You can not love God if you have not loved others. Your love for others is an expression of your love for God.
for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. I John 4:20b
There are three requirements for entering into the joy of loving others. We need a pure heart with a good conscience and a sincere faith to love and enjoy love. When these are in our lives then others will see the love of God in us.
But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. I Timothy 1:5
God’s love is so amazing, satisfying and fulfilling. There is none to compare with Him. God’s love is what changes a person, a marriage, a family, a neighborhood, a town, a city , a nation and the world. God’s love began with God and was expressed through the giving of His Son, Jesus Christ, and His love is alive in the lives of His followers who belong to Him.
Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. I John 3:21-23
You must be logged in to post a comment.