"Jesus answered him, 'The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these.'" Mark 12:29-31, NKJV
The love of God is an extremely powerful reality. So powerful that it can completely change how we experience life, both now and forever more.
We all know John 3:16 which tells us that God sent His Son Jesus to this earth to die for our sins because He loves us. Isn’t that a staggering thought? The God who created the whole world, the God who created you – loves you without conditions and wants you to experience His love on a very personal level.
The Apostle Paul prayed a prayer for us 2,000 years ago in the third chapter of Ephesians that we would come to know practically, through experience, God’s absolute unconditional love for us. Paul prayed this because he knew the life changing affect that God’s love had on him, and he wanted us to experience it as well.
God’s love will cause two pretty major things to happen to us. It will cause us to love Him, and it will cause us to love people.
Love God: “We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19, NKJV) When we truly get the revelation of how much God loves us, it releases a response deep within our hearts to love Him back. Romans 5:5 tells us that the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which enables us to love God back for all He is, for all He does and for all He will do. When you start loving God in a real way it will ignite your worship life, because worship is simply an expression of our love for God. You see, God wants us to experience the love He has for us, and experience how He loves others through us.
Love People: Have you ever felt like you needed to love people out of obligation? Has loving people felt more like a duty or chore than a joy? If that’s the case then it’s time to tap into that love that God has put into our hearts. Actually, loving people ought to be really easy to do if we choose to connect our hearts to God’s. So I want to encourage you today to choose to love the people in your world. It will surprise you because you’ll find that love will cover a multitude of sins. In other words, the things that would normally bug the snot out of you will be no biggie, and you’ll find out that loving people really is a better way to live. Love never fails!
Say It: “Father, I want You to know that I love You and am so thankful for the relationship we have because of Your Son Jesus Christ. God, I choose to love You today with all my heart, mind and strength. And I choose to love the people you have placed into my world. May I experience Your love today, to me and through me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen!
