JESUS LOVES ME

God's love for me is so great, it is beyond my understanding. The hymn "The Love of God" states the difficulty of describing His love.

"Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above
would drain the ocean dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
though stretched from sky to sky."

The Hebrew nation, God's chosen people, rebelled against Him, rejected His commands, and refused to follow Him. Yet God did not completely refuse them or destroy them as a nation. He grieved over their sins but continued to love them with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3.

Likewise, God continues to love me in spite of my weakness, my rebellion, and my failure to obey His commands. The love of Jesus is shown that while I was still His enemy He loved me so much that He died for me. Since Jesus’ loves me so, I will love Him in return in the same way He loves me.

I Will Love the Lord My God With All My Heart:
When I delight in someone else more than in God I am not loving God with all my heart. When I put God first, His love flows through me. Then I have a greater love for others. This is the proof that I love God.

I Will Love the Lord My God With All My Soul:
When I long for times of deep fellowship with God in His Word and in prayer I am confirming my love for Him. “I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts, and consider your ways. I will delight myself in your statutes.I will not forget your word.” Psalm 119:14-16.

I Will Love the Lord My God With All My Mind:
My love for God is revealed by how I think about Him and His ways during my leisure moments. What do I think about most? Whatever it is, that is my god. Whatever I love most will constantly be in my mind. “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ;” 2 Corinthians 10:4,5.

I Will Love the Lord My God With All My Strength:
I view the commands of Jesus as expressions of His love for me. So, when I do not overcome my habitual sins, claiming that I am “only human,” I do not show love for God. For Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” “One who has my commandments, and keeps them, that person is one who loves me.” “If a man loves me, he will keep my word.” “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and remain in his love.” John 14:15, 21, 23; 15:10.

I Express My Love to God By Meeting the Needs of Others:
If I have material possessions and I see my brother in need but I do not meet his needs, how can the love of God be in me? I do not show my love with words or speech but with actions and truth.

I Love God When I Look Upon My Brothers and Sisters in Christ As I Would the Lord:
"...Most assuredly I tell you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." Matthew 25:40. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just like I have loved you; that you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:34,35.

I Prove My Love for God By Not Loving the World or the Things of the World:
"Don't love the world, neither the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father's love isn't in him." 1 John 2:15. "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." John 15:18,19.

My Love for God Is Demonstrated By Giving Up Those Activities that Offend a Weaker Brother:
"Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don't destroy with your food him for whom Christ died." Romans 14:15.

A Test of My Love Is in the Attitude I Have Toward the Flood of Wickedness that Has Invaded America:
Are we complacent with the sinful conditions around us? Or are we grieving with God over it? "Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold." Matthew 24:12.

I Love God By Clearing My Conscience:
I show my love for God when I confess my sins and ask others to forgive me. Then I will have nothing to fear from Him in the present and also at the time of my death. I can accept my death without fear and with thanksgiving, knowing I will see the One I love. "...God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. In this love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so are we in this world. {4:18} There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love." 1 John 4:16-18.

My Relationship With My Brothers and Sisters in Christ Reveals How I Love God:
If they offend me, I forgive. If they abuse me, I return good for evil. "Put on therefore, as God's elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do. Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection." Colossians 3:12-14.
"If a man says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn't love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother." 1 John 4:20,21.

God is Not a Respecter of Persons:
I also, as an expression of my love for God, will not be a respecter of persons.

I show my love for God by my love for others.
Because love is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, it is the sign to me and others that I am filled with God's Spirit and guided by Him. As I look at my life, am I under the guidance of the Holy Spirit? Am I forgiving? Am I a good Samaritan? Have I stopped judging others? All these are tests of my true love for God.

"And above all things be earnest in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:8

"Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love. Amen." Ephesians 6:23,24.

O MASTER, LET ME WALK WITH YOU
by
Washington Gladden, 1879

O Master, let me walk with You
In lowly paths of service free;
Tell me Your secret, help me bear
The strain of toil, the fret of care.

Help me the slow of heart to move
By some clear winning word of love;
Teach me the wayward feet to stay,
And guide them in the homeward way.

Teach me Your patience; still with You
In closer dearer company,
In work that keeps faith sweet and strong,
In trust that triumphs over wrong.

In hope that sends a shining ray
Far down the future’s broadening way,
In peace that only You can give,
With You, O Master, let me live.

Previous Page - Contents Page
Next Page - My Hope Is Built On Jesus

Who Is Jesus? - Contents Page
A Better Hope - Homepage.

Thanks for Visiting This Page

Revised June 2000. Scriptures changed to The World English Bible.
URL: http://www.abetterhope.com/whois/love.html