Live in love
IT’S WHEN we are submitted to the Holy Spirit, rooted in Christ and our foundation is on Him, that our grasp of God’s love starts to become clearer, and then we will begin “… to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge…” Ephesians 3:1819 (NIV). It is then that God’s love will start to break through in our hearts and we’ll begin to understand that God chose us to love us, not because of what we can do, but because of who we are. God loves us by His nature, not our attributes. Love is not merely one of His attributes, but it’s His very nature. The Bible says, “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.” 1 John 4:16 (NIV).
When we start relying on God’s love, the power of it will start manifesting in our lives. We will then begin living lives of faith and demonstrating hope, which improves everything. For some persons everything will change. The Psalmist in recording the love-nature of God stated, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His faithful love toward those who fear Him” Psalm 103:11 (NIV), which means that there’s nothing He won’t do for you. He also states that “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him” Psalm 103:13 (NIV), and “… from eternity to eternity the Lord’s faithful love is toward those who fear Him” Psalm 103:17 (NIV).
God just loves us, and His love is unconditional. The truth, though, is that we cannot appreciate and understand the truth and depth of God’s love if we haven’t surrendered our lives to Him, and even then, it may take us a while to understand and accept it. This is one of the reasons why people stay on the periphery of a relationship with God. It’s hard for us to relate to God’s love outside of Christ, because deep down inside, we know that we’re not worthy of it.
Before we’re rooted and established in God’s love, it’s hard to fathom that God could love us because we have a hard time loving people who are like us. When we’re wronged or hurt, we tend to hold a grudge. We have a hard time processing that God doesn’t, but over time, with Christ and much prayer, we’ll get it. God isn’t in and out of love with us, He has and always will love us. Although He has been broken-hearted for us many times, the love has been and will always be there.
Ephesians 3:19 (NIV) expresses that God wants us “… to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God”. When we allow ourselves to be rooted and established in God’s love, we can be filled with the fullness of God. When we allow ourselves to have the Holy Spirit strengthen our inner person, we open our hearts for Jesus to dwell within it, and allow ourselves to be rooted and established in God’s love, which allows us to comprehend the depth of it, then we will walk in the fullness of Him and His love. Jesus tells us, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” John 14:23 (NIV).