Chapter 4 (Part 4)
The Love of God

I want to quote from a message I preached to talk about that “Love.” 

“MEASURING THE LOVE OF GOD”

HAVE WE MADE IT TOO SMALL?

Much of the issue we have with “doctrine” and “beliefs” has to do with how we see the operation of God towards us and others; is He the God of the flyswatter? Or…the God of Love?

1 John 4:16 (KJV) ¹⁶and we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 

While we hold ourselves to a high standard in the operation of the “actions of love” as we perceive them, do we also realize God acts the same way in love because that is His Character?  

Because it is such a core issue, “God is love,” let’s again look at how “love” acts. We have a concise description of the “actions of love” from the Rabbi Paul in First Corinthians…

Amplified Translation:

1 Cor 4-8 “Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious or boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.

It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly.

Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it (it pays no attention to a suffered wrong). 

It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. 

Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances and it endures everything (without weakening.) Love never fails (never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end.)….” 

Applying the actions of love to God

 “Love endures long and is patient and kind;”

All of us know this is the character of God; He waited 30 years for me to return to fellowship with Him! He will wait until the last moments of your life, if that’s what it takes, to forgive you and receive you back! God’s kindness towards us is manifested in His “Grace.” He extends “unmerited favor” even to those who don’t know Him yet to give them an opportunity to get to know Him! 

“Love never is envious or boils over with jealousy,”

When we “boil over with jealousy” we get into the area of “pride” and make the developed character of God in us bigger than it is.

“Envy” is looking at what others have, and “coveting” it, right now, for us.

“Envy” and “jealousy” are the operational tools of every advertiser…”why don’t you have this right now!?” They are tools of our enemy (the devil) also.

God does not want or need any of the petty things we have! They are His and he gave them to us to be stewards over. 

“Is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.”

Since God owns all the “glory” and all the power that exists, He has no need to, and does not, boast! But also, God does not “show off” and has no need to do so! He is as He is! 

“It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride);”

Being “conceited” comes from us thinking we are something “better” than those around us. Since God is the “highest” we are amazed that he does not present himself as “the man!” Rather He “woos” us to draw us to Himself; he presents Himself as one to “love.” God is amazing! 

“It is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly.”

While God is not required to show us any good manners, and can indeed act any way He wants, nonetheless, He presents Himself to us in a gentle manner; again, “wooing” us rather than demanding our “love” and obedience. We have heard the Spirit of God described as a “gentleman;” and it is. God acts that way towards us because of the “image” of God in us. 

(God’s love for us) “does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking;”

This is an aspect of the love of God that is beyond the ability of our souls to comprehend. God “requests” our relationship with Him and our obedience to Him. He does that because of His nature in us and our “free will.” In effect, because of the way He created us…it’s up to us, not Him! 

“It is not touchy or fretful or resentful;”

Because of God’s love nature, we can’t “aggravate” God! The message of the gospel is that God is not angry with us, but rather that He wants relationship with us! He refuses to treat us the way we deserve! 

“It takes no account of the evil done to it (it pays no attention to a suffered wrong).” 

Thank God! If the love nature of God did not stand in the way, we would all be fried on the spot!

Even before we came back into relationship with Him, already His Grace preserved us and His Love wooed us! His desire to come back into relationship with us caused Him to overlook our blatant rejection of Him and continually attempt to draw us back to Him. 

“It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.”

God hates sin, but loves the sinner! How often have we heard that but not realized it was His “Love” that caused Him to act that way!

When we come back into fellowship with Him then “right and truth prevail” once more in our lives! 

“Love bears up under anything and everything that comes,”

The Love of God is rock solid towards his creation “Man.” His Love for us did not waiver when we were running away from Him and doing “our own thing.” Because of what is in us, the “image” of Himself, His desire to come back into our lives never ceases. His love nature in us causes Him to “woo” us until the last moment of rejection by our free will. 

“Is ever ready to believe the best of every person,”

Love, in us and in God, always “sees” beyond the moment and the actions before it. God always desires that we “come home” to fellowship with Him again. When we were cursing God and rejecting Him, He loved us patiently. Even when we know Him, and refuse His commands and directions, His love never waivers and He hopes we will return to obedience.

God’s love for us is…” fadeless under all circumstances” and it endures everything (without weakening.)” Love never fails (never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end.)….” 

How real is our love?

Recently, with a change in my beliefs, I had an opportunity to see how “love” acted in the lives of people around me whom I had taught “love” and loved. I was disappointed how their “love” acted towards me. Some of them were no longer “patient and kind.” No longer “believed the best;” were “resentful,” were “rude,” insisted on their own “rights and way,” and displayed “themselves haughtily.” Some flat out did not “love” me anymore; their love faded out and was no more. That made me very sad. Some of them I had spent 20 years teaching “love actions” to! 

On the other hand, many continued to display their love for me…I wonder if those are the more genuine reflectors of the love of God?

Our love is to reach far out beyond our beliefs, like God’s love does! 

Have we underestimated God’s love?

By trying to “dictate” how God operates we tend to limit the love of God for other folks; we certainly limit it in their eyes and soul (and in our own) and often drive folks away rather than draw them to our God. 

We have no idea of how great is the Love of God towards His most unique and special creation, Man. Just as we “love” ourselves because of what we see in ourselves…so God loves us because in each of us He sees Himself.

God will go to any means allowed by his covenant with Man (his Word) to draw to Him and reclaim fellowship with any human being who desires it. He desires that “all be saved;” all come back to the kind of relationship enjoyed by Adam and Eve in the garden.

1 Tim. 2:4 ⁴Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

“Saved” is not a formula, it is a Relationship! 

He cannot be the “God of the box;” our feeble attempts to classify how He expects us to “act” are always going to be restrictive (limiting) of the true nature of His Love.

Sometimes we “dictate” to others, often to ourselves as well, a form and formula that defines who will, and who will not, have relationship with the God of Love. We need to stop that! 

In Romans Paul indicates…
Rom. 10:13 ¹³for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

“Lord” = (Greek) “supreme in authority; god, lord, master.” 

We better be careful when we assert “there is only one way to get to God!” And condemn to hell those who will not do it the way we believe. More and more, as we learn how love acts and incorporate it into our lives; we show the accurate character of God to folks around us…we become effective and true ambassadors for our God! 

Sing the song! Live the love life!

At a “Louisiana Outpouring” meeting in 2011, we were taught a song about the Love of God compared with the love of Man. Even in singing and acting out that song, I did not truly grasp how little I understood about the largeness of the Love of God!

(We crouched down and made a small space between our fingers to indicate the love of Man; we stood on a chair and spread our arms wise to indicate how large the love of God was for us!) 

That concludes my quote from the message on the “Measuring the Love of God.”

A more mature understanding of the Love of God should wipe out the “fear,” from osmosis beliefs (author’s note: we’ll discuss those osmosis beliefs in a moment) that make us shy strongly away from other beliefs, religions, and churches. Just the fact we are “afraid” to listen to others beliefs underscores the insecurity most Christians have because of a lack of understanding of what it is they actually “believe.” More on this later…

Next: Christians and “Concrete” Mind-set