by Josephine Appiah
1 John 4: 8
But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is LOVE
Have you ever taken a 6-month old baby from his or her mother because the mother had to do something?
I am sure you have done this before or seen it happen or heard of it.
You realise that most children in such situations would cry till they get in touch with their mothers. Some challenging ones would never let go of their mothers. Why is it so?
There’s a bond. A deep connection between the child and the mother.
Liken this type of connection and even a much deeper one as a relationship between God and His people. This connection is love. Precisely, the Agape love, which is the unconditional and fatherly love of God for humans as well as the human reciprocal love for God
God is love and without God, love ceases to exist. Everything about God is love. God’s love for us is beyond our human understanding. We cannot comprehend because He showed us love when we didn’t deserve it.
One well-known scripture, John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life” teaches us that God proved His love for mankind by sending His beloved Son to die for our sins.
Think of it. He was fully aware of the imperfect and sinful nature of man. Yet, it never deterred Him from making the greatest sacrifice ever- giving His one and only Son.
He sent Jesus who came in the form of man and endured the hardships of the world. He gave His life as an atonement for our sins, overcame the world and now, we have the chance to have a very deeper relationship or connection with God.
God will do anything to show His love for us and as Christians, we are admonished that nothing- absolutely nothing- can separate us from God’s love
Romans 8:38-39
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We are able to love when we encounter God’s love first. He fills us with His love and then, we are able to love others. But just as God took a step forward to show His love, we too as His followers must show our love to Him and to others as well.
Love can never be concealed. We need to express it to show as a shred of evidence that we indeed love.
Professing our love to God can be categorized under the 5 love languages ;
Quality Time: By spending time with God in reading and meditating on the word of God and through prayer to God
Words of affirmation: By worshipping and Praising God
Acts of service: Serving in God’s Kingdom and reaching out to the lost souls
Gifts: Giving to others and being there for people
Touch: Encounter with the Holy Ghost
Likewise, God expects us to show love to our fellow humans on earth (1 Corinthians 13:3 ) and the Bible again, enlightens us more on it through
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
God expects us to love others in this way.
But is it even easy?
There is a meme that shared a story of a man saving a snake from fire. He initially tried taking it out of the fire but it bit him and it fell back again in the fire. The man went ahead to get a stick, took the snake out of the fire and saved its life
When the man was questioned why he didn’t stop after he got bitten, he uttered “it is in the nature of the snake to bite but that isn’t my nature, mine is to help others”
Sometimes showing love can be quite tedious but then God never said showing love was going to be easy. God coming to die for us wasn’t easy as well
It always comes with a sacrifice. Therefore, even in difficult circumstances, we must portray love to others because we are God’s living love letters to the world. Our love attracts others into the Kingdom of God and so in all of our actions, utterances and behaviour, they must all depict God’s love
Finally, 1 Corinthians 3:13 says ” And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
The greatest is love and so wherever you go, be that outstanding, extraordinary and incredible God’s love letter!