Our love vs. His Love

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The other day, as I was doing my morning devotions, I was submerged into this unusual state of disclosure. Let's just say God really revealed His love to me. It changed my general perception on love. I had been struggling, striving to love God. It's not that I don't, but I'd always feel bad.. because I knew I'd fail. Spare some time to think about the TRUE meaning of loving God. It's not as easy as saying the cliche 'I love you, Lord' a hundred million times, yet do nothing about it. Going to church, uttering profound words in prayers, singing praises, helping people.. is that it? No. It's not enough. It surely is ironic because the phrase 'I love you, Lord' consistently rings on my lips, yet I'm still such a fool when it comes to love.

I then realized that no matter how hard we try to love God, we can never love Him the way he does us. It occurred to me that there really isn't a point in TRYING to love God, rather, we should just focus on His love for us. That way, we can love him back without trying. I want to take you back and compare two of the most significant people in the bible: Peter and John. Do you remember the conversation between Peter and Jesus before the crucifixion? Jesus asks Peter if he loved him.. 3 times. Here is the dialogue from John 21:15-17 (NIV).

¹⁵When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"
"Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."
¹⁶Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"
He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."
¹⁷ The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."

You know what happens next, right? Peter denies Jesus.. 3 times. He told people he didn't know who Jesus was (Luke 22:57-60).

Conversely, take a look at John and his focus on GOD'S love for him. He considers himself 'the disciple whom Jesus loved'. Moreover, it is in the gospel of John (and his other 3 books in the bible) that we find loads of verses and teachings about love. In fact, the most well-known bible verse is in John 3, verse 16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." You see, John did not boast his love for the Lord. He didn't try as hard as Peter to show Jesus his love for him.. instead, he manifested God's love THROUGH himself. Didn't Jesus love ALL of his disciples? Yes, He did. But, out of all the 12 who were with Him, only one of them heartily UNDERSTOOD God's love for him.. and that was John.

The Law in the book of Deuteronomy says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." (Deut. 6:5). This is by far the first and greatest commandment, indeed. But if we were to expand and explicate this verse, we would get more than a billion words to meticulously explain what it means. What does it REALLY mean to love God? I'll leave that for you to ponder on as you deepen your relationship with Him.

We are not perfect. Our love fails. I'm sorry to break it up to you, but that's truth. We don't have the patience to love someone unconditionally.. let alone having eternity to sustain that patience. Think about this: how often do you love God? Reality checks in. Sometimes. Yeah, when he does this.. or when he does that.. or whatever. All the time? Never. Not one of you is able to love God ALL the time. If you say you are, you actually don't because it'll make you a l-i-a-r. We're all sinners and by what we were redeemed? By HIS love. By our love for him? No, but by HIS love and grace FOR us. We weren't required to love God in order to be saved (1 John 4:10). He loved us first (1 John 4:19).

This is what made me feel so guilty. How can a small, unworthy sinner like me be tremendously loved and adored by such an enormous God who created the universe? But, that's the whole point of it. If everybody in the world was righteous, there would be no need for Jesus.

I want to love God.. but not out of my own strength. I want to love him unshakably, but not BY my own power. What I want to do is to just enjoy the love of God which has been revealed to me through Jesus Christ (himself). Does this mean I'll stop loving God? No. I will stop loving God with my OWN might.. but let Him love ME, so that I can love him back with the love He's given me. It's kind of hard to elucidate, but here's a clearer way of saying it: 'you can't give something you don't have.' In other words, if we are not aware of God's love for us, how can we love Him back? It breaks God's heart to see broken promises, lying lips resuming its deeds.. people who constantly say they love him, yet not do it.

One of Jesus's missions on this earth was to set an example for us. He is like a template which we draw from.. the instruction guide to our lives. Each and every single day, we are to be more and more like him in what we do and say. He has showed and given us His genuine love. Now we are invited to love him back with that Love. The bible doesn't say we are constrained to love God, rather it is an open, cordial invitation. When we have come to discern God's love for us, it would be difficult to not do the same for Him. You can't help but to fall deeper and deeper in love with our beautiful Saviour.

I'm not saying we should stop loving God. I'm just reminding us that His love always comes first. He knows we will fail. God sees right through us. That's why we shouldn't be proud and boastful about our love for God.. or we're going to end up like Peter who incontrovertibly broke God's heart into myriad fragments. However, I'm sure Peter was forgiven in the end and is now in heaven with God =). I don't know if this has any relation whatsoever, but Peter's life ended by murder, while John died naturally. Jesus even bestowed his mother upon John before He died on the cross (John 19:26). Wow.. he really was the disciple whom Jesus loved. Or should we say, he was the disciple who TRULY knew Jesus's love.

"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). What is it to love God? To love God is to keep his commandments (1 John 5:3). How do we do it? There's a lot of other references in the bible. One of them is to love your neighbour as you love yourself. (Leviticus 19:18).

It's easy to say we love something/one, but to fully comprehend love, is a very difficult matter. This doesn't end here, though. There are deeper meanings to what we're able to distinguish thus far. I'll end this post with a passage from Paul's letter to the Ephesians:

"... And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." ~ Ephesians 3:17-19

May you be more tactful of God's love for you because there's no other love, greater than the One He has sent for us... Himself.


Love in Him,
Hazel