How God's Love Can Motivate Ours
Answer this question: What is love?
The best definition I have ever heard is love is putting the other person first even if it means at the sacrifice of yourself.
That is why the best model of love that exists is found in the person of Jesus Christ. We are told in NKJV,
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
While we were sinners deserving of eternal separation from God, Jesus took our place on a cross and took the punishment for sin that we deserved. His resurrection the third day proved that God was satisfied with His Son’s payment for our sin problem. Through simple trust in Christ alone to save us, we receive what we do not deserve – complete forgiveness for our sins and the free gift of eternal life.
That love is the motivating factor for us to show and share His love with others. In NKJV, we read,
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
And that is what our world desperately needs – a vivid demonstration of love. When Princess Diana died in a tragic car crash, her words were broadcast across the world. “The biggest problem in the world today is that people do not feel loved.”
How and why does His love for us cause us to reach out to others?
Two things come to mind.
1) God’s love is absolutely unconditional.
His love is not based on who you are, how you have behaved, what your income level is, what others think about you, or what promises you make in terms of reforming your life. He loves you because He loves you – no strings attached. You may be a person everyone knows and respects, or you may be a person nobody knows. You could be a person who has never seen the inside of a jail or a person who has rarely seen the outside of one. Regardless, He says, “I love you.”
Those of us who know what it means to be loved unconditionally can reach out to others with that same unconditional love. This is literally loving without condition and includes:
- A person who does not subscribe to the same morals we do
- Someone addicted to drugs or alcohol
- One whose vocabulary seems to be limited to four-letter words
- An acquaintance who is so irresponsible he cannot seem to hold down a job for more than six months
- A friend or loved one who is labeled as a social outcast.
In NKJV, the Bible says
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
If God loves the “whoever” without any condition, we can do the same.
2) God’s love will absolutely never be revoked.
It is not merely the fact that He loves us unconditionally that overwhelms us, but the fact that He will never stop loving us. That is why our salvation is secure. He promises us in NKJV,
“And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”
That is a promise that cannot be broken from a God who cannot lie.
We can turn our back on Him; He will never turn His back on us.
We are commanded to love others with that same love and tell them about God's desire to save them with a love that says, “I love you now, and I will never stop loving you.”
A young man was once seen wearing a t-shirt that said, “I love everybody – and you’re next.” What a great mindset to adopt for ourselves.
Copyright © 2020 R. Larry Moyer, used with permission.
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