Thousands of books and magazine articles claim to reveal the secrets of success to a good marriage. But when all is said and done, it is best to check with the real source, the creator of love and marriage, God.
God is love and the love He has to give us is like nothing we can imagine. It is empowering and inspiring and has the ability to transform the way we love others and ourselves.
God’s love can be described in seven ways:
- It is a person, not an emotion or feeling, but God Himself loving through us. Imagine that.
- It is supernatural, not dependent or based upon human understanding, desire or emotions.
- It is unconditional, with “no strings attached” no matter what. It is not based on the excellency of the object. It is always forgiving even when the object is unworthy, undeserving and unqualified.
- It is one-sided. It doesn’t have to be returned to be kept alive because it is not based upon a favorable response.
- It is free of prejudice in every form – racial, gender, social, economical, religious, denominational, education, etc.
- It is an initiating action. It is the first to reach out.
- It is “other-centered.” It is always putting the other person’s interest above and before its own.
You, too, can love like God. When you accept Christ in your heart, Jesus brings God’s supernatural love with Him. Christianity is the only religion where God Himself comes to dwell inside the believer.
Why, then, do Christians struggle with loving others? Because love is a choice. We must choose to yield ourselves to His Word and His Spirit, to set aside our own thoughts, emotional desires (which may be contrary to God’s desires), to die to self-will and disregard the misguided opinions and expectations of men.
There are seven reasons why it is important for believers to operate in God’s love:
- God’s love is the calling, goal and purpose of the Christian life. God’s plan for us as Christians is not that we are happy and content within ourselves, but that we experience His love firsthand, and then pass it on to others.
- God’s love is the goal of our instruction. The whole purpose of Bible reading, teaching and church attendance is to make us more “loving,” not more “scholarly.”
- God’s love never fails. Without God’s love, natural success (fortune, power, prestige, etc.) is unfulfilling.
- God’s love is the only genuine way others, sinners or saints, will recognize that we are Christians. Love is our ID badge.
- God’s love is the glue that ties us together and holds in places all of love’s virtues.
- God’s love is the sign of Christian maturity – the ability to set aside our thoughts, opinions, emotions and desires in order to please God.
- God’s love is the foundation for the fullness and power of God.
