Be Loved
- Before we can truly understand what it means to be loved, we must understand what love actually is. The world of Hallmark movies and Valentine’s day conjures up romantic ideals and a particular type of affection. People lament falling out of love with their significant other and revel in falling in love with someone else. Love is interesting in that it is both a noun and a verb. It is a truth and an action. When we say we are loved by God, that means both our status and his actions towards us are driven by love. God loves us, meaning that he holds for us an unselfish affection for us as humans. God cherishes his children. He also loves us in action. He chose to send his son to rescue us because of love. He gave us his spirit to grow and form us because of love. God’s love for us is not a fickle romantic notion of flowers and chocolate.
- What does is mean to be loved by God?
“The Lord your God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with gladness.
He will be quiet in his love. He will delight in you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17
- If we are loved by God, how should we respond to Him? If the supreme power in the universe feels deep affection for me, how can I love Him back? Put in the context of an earthly relationship, we invest time and attention in the one we say we love. Relationships are two-way streets. They require the efforts of both parties to build and maintain a loving communion together. God has done his part. He moved to us in effort to reconcile our relationship with Him. We should be drawn to daily relationship with him. We should rejoice in His word like a letter from a first love. We should revel in time with him alone in prayer and meditation. We should talk to others about this God who loves us.
- What is my ongoing response to the love of God in my life? Do I really understand the kind of love God has for me?
“I long and yearn for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh cry out for the living God.” – Psalm 84:2
- God loves us and we love him. This should be the mark of the Christian. If we are driven by anything other than love, we have created an idol in our relationship with Him. If we obey his commands in order to be a better person and not out of love, we are driven by legalism, not love for Him. If we tell others about the gospel to fulfill an obligation rather than because we want others to know Him, we are serving the obligation, not the Savior. Our motivation matters. God does not say that others will know we are Christians by our stance on a political topic, our bumper stickers, our church attendance record, our deep understanding of theological truths, or our passport stamps from mission trips. God says that we are known as his children because of our love for him and each other. This is not to say that any of those things are bad, but they do not define the Christian. Only love can do that.
- What defines the Christian? What barometer do we use to measure our relationship with Him?
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. ” – I John 4:16
Life Application: Love is more than a fond feeling. What does it mean for us to be loved by God and live out that reality?
For Prayer: Pray for the team preparing to travel to Uganda. Pray that God provides the finances and prepares them spiritually to serve out of love.