God's Promise Of Love

God's Promise Of His Love

      A few days ago we celebrated Valentine's day, a day dedicated to expressions of love. Many cards were sent, many gifts were purchased and given. Many tokens of love were undoubtedly received, and many commitments of love promised at the altar. When you sent that card, or letter, or gift to your sweetheart, your wife, your husband, your children, or parents, to say I love you; when you made that commitment at the altar, just what did you mean when you said, “I love you”? How do you define love? What is love?

      The dictionary defines love as - a strong, complex emotion causing one to appreciate; delight in; and crave the presence or possession of another; and to please or promote the welfare of the other; direct affection or attachment, specifically, such feeling between husband and wife; or lover and sweetheart; sexual passion or the gratification of it; a very great interest or fondness. This seems to be the worldly definition of love commonly known among us who live in a materialistic society; but there is a much more abiding form of love than we can ever imagine – that is, God's definition of love.

     What is God's definition of love? We find it expounded to us in the holy scriptures – charity, or another name for love. The apostle Paul explains the way of love: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing; and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself; is not puffed up; doth not behave itself unseemingly; seeketh not its' own; is not easily provoked; thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things; believeth all things; hopeth all things; endureth all things. Charity never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail, whether there be tongues, they shall cease, whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.” 

     1 Corinthians 13: 1-8 “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity.” 1 Cdorinthians 13: 13.

      This is God's kind of love, and this is the kind of love we ought to be exhibiting one to another. This is truly a Godly kind of love that we ought to have for one another, whether it be our brothers and sisters in Christ; our husbands, wives, sweethearts, children, or parents. God's promise of love for his children far surpasses anything that we could ever know here on earth. To love the way God loves us, we must completely crucify ourselves, and think only of the object of our love.

      Christ our Savior allowed himself to be crucified for us, having us completely on his mind, that we might be saved and have everlasting life. God has promised us that, no matter how much we have sinned, no matter how far away from him we have wandered, he loves us with an everlasting love.

     “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kingdom shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.” Isaiah 54: 10.

     “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee.” Jeremiah 31: 3 -4a

     “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you; continue ye in my love. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” John 15: 9, 13. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3: 16. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him.” 1 John 4: 9.

     “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or disasters, or persecutions, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us., For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, not things present, nor things to come, nor height, not depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8: 35-39.

     God has loved us, and will love us forever with an everlasting love; therefore, let us seriously consider what an offer of love God has presented to each of us, and if we have not already done so, let us accept it with praise and gratitude.