In order for us to love others the way God loves us, we must first understand a little about His love. First we’ll discuss how God loves us in times of sorrow and in times of joy. We’ll also talk about God’s love being a two-way thing; He desires for us to love Him too!
Romans 8:38-39: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
1) God loves us in times of sorrow.
A- God loves us when we hurt
God knows when we are hurting. He knows how we’re feeling and He knows our pain. Going through difficult situations may be hard to understand at the time, but often, once it’s over, we can look back and understand why things happened. There are times; however, when we don’t fully understand why but we can still choose to learn from those situations.
When we hurt, God hurts for us, and He’ll comfort us if we allow Him to. Second Corinthians 1:3-4: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
B- God loves us when others hurt us
God created humans with the free will to make their own choices. If we didn’t have free will, we’d all be like robots, automatically doing everything we’re supposed to do without any choices to make at all. This free will allows us to make bad choices as well as good choices, and it allows others to make bad choices as well. Unfortunately, others may make bad choices that hurt us, whether it’s physically or emotionally. There is a poem, written by an anonymous author, about how someone else’s bad choices hurt her.
My Dad
Wishing there was a way to hide all the fear
Hoping you were the dad I wanted
Now that I know from the past thirteen years
But in the end its the fear that haunted
Marks to show the way he is pleading
From them; that’s the only way we bonded
Showing me my father had no meaning
Hate with no love is all that he wanted
Bruising to starving from the bad time then
Wanting to fit in but could not manage
Hoping his anger would just go dim
All the bruises that did the damage
Now I am glad that I’m out of your raft
For once, My life is going by fast
This girl’s father hurt her in terrible ways, and I’m sure that when she wrote this, she didn’t feel that God was close to her. In reality though, He was crying right there with her, longing for her pain to stop.
As much as it hurts us when others are hateful, it hurts God even more. As difficult as it is to do, if we endure the pain, we will get through it, and we will be stronger people because of it. First Peter 5:10: “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.”
Christ loves us through our pain, and if we lean on Him, not only will we get through the bad times, but we will fully overcome them and we will thrive because of Him.
C- God loves us when we sin
Sometimes we do things that are so terrible we don’t love ourselves, so we don’t think God can possibly love us. God does love us, though, and He’s waiting with open arms to welcome us back whenever we turn back to Him and ask for His forgiveness. First John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and will take us back no matter what! There is no sin that is too big for Him to forgive, and no heartache that is too much for Him to bear. Colossians 1:13-14: “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
When we sin, we need God, and we need to ask His forgiveness for our sins, and allow ourselves to be reconciled to Him through the blood of Christ. Colossians 1:21-22: “And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.”
When we ask God for forgiveness, we can ask Him to help others forgive us. If we’ve done something to hurt someone else, we also need to go to that person, confess our sin to them, and ask their forgiveness. After we’ve done that, we also need to forgive ourselves, and to learn from our sins so we don’t make the same choices in the future.
We also need to make sure to forgive others when they sin against us, because God forgives us in the same measure we forgive others. John 20:23: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” When we are unwilling to forgive others, it’s usually due to a problem with the ugliness and sin in our own hearts, which will also contribute toward making us feel unloved. We need to get rid of that ugliness, and allow ourselves to love enough to forgive others of their wrongs. There will be times when we will need the same grace from someone else, and we’ll be more likely to receive grace if we’ve been merciful to others.
We need to remember that God loves us no matter what. He hates our sin, but loves us, and wants us to feel loved and be obedient to Him so that we can enjoy the blessings He has to offer for our lives.
2) God loves us in times of joy
God rejoices with us and He wants us to share our joys with Him. Just as He knows when we’re sad, God also knows when we are happy. True contentedness and happiness can only be found in Christ. Without Him, there is a void that can never be filled. Philippians 4:6-7: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
God wants us to be happy, and He knows that true happiness can only be found in living a life that’s fully dedicated to Him. Colossians 3:14-15: “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.”
3) God wants us to love Him
A- God deserves our love
Deuteronomy 30:20: “And that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
There are people who think that God has nothing to do with the life they’re living, the days that they survive, or even the time that goes by. God is in control and He has something to do with everything that happens to us––from how long we live, to how our life is at the time if we allow Him to be involved. God put all of us in this world for a reason. He wants us to know what having a life feels like, whether we want to accept it or not. He wants nothing more than for us to learn about Him, get to know Him, and allow Him to be in our lives. God deserves to be the center of our lives. He brought us here, and is showing us the world, letting us live amazing lives filled with different memories, whether they’re good or bad. Sometimes bad things happen to us, and we can’t change that, but we can choose how we handle ourselves in trying times. We can choose to love God. He deserves our love. Even though things won’t be perfect until we get to Heaven, if we choose to love and serve God, we will live content and fulfilling lives on earth, no matter what the circumstances. Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
B- God desires our love
God wants us to love Him. He sent Jesus to this earth to live a perfect life and die for our sins so that we can be made whole in Him. God loves us so much that He was willing to watch His son die so we could have the hope of eternal life. John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
We can’t fully enjoy God’s blessings unless we love Him, and He wants to give us those blessings!
C- God will take care of us when we truly love Him
It’s important for us to understand that our lives can change in the blink of an eye. We could, at any minute of any day, lose our life. It could be from a horrible, unexpected accident, or we could die because of bad health. James 4:14 says, “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” Understanding who God is and what he stands for should really change our lives. It should affect us in so many ways, such as the way we live our lives, the way we talk, and how we dress.
Bad things will happen to all of us at times, but trust Him through the bad, too. All things are in God’s hands, and His plans are always better than the plans we can make for ourselves. Something good will come out of even the bad if we allow it to, just as we’re told in Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
First Corinthians 2:9: “but just as it is written, ‘THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.’”
In conclusion:
We hope that you realize that God is love, as the Bible tells us in Romans 8:38-39: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
God loves us in times of sorrow and in times of joy. God wants us to love Him too, and to share that love with others. Mark 16:15: “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.’” So, ladies, let’s be the best role models we can be in order to show others how God helps and loves us.
We hope that you’ll choose to share the love of God with others, so they can also learn about Him, love Him, and choose to follow Him. We should all live, and teach others to live, in a way that will give us the hope of one day entering the Kingdom of Heaven, according to the promise made in Jude 1:21: “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
By Michelle Jane and Davonne Parks
I think it is very important for us to remember that God does not make bad things happen to us.
Bad things will happen to all of us at some point in our lives that are out of our control, but we also need to make sure we’re living right. When we sin, much of our pain is just a natural consequence of that sin. If we want God to make things work together for good, we need to be truly dedicating our lives to Him, just as we’re told in Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
The above verse gave me a lot of comfort when things were going bad in my life. Even though I had no idea at that time where God would lead me, His plan was more wonderful than I could have ever chosen for myself. It is important to be faithful to God, to be still, and to let God lead us where He knows is best for us to be: “Be still and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10.