The Fruit of the Spirit (Love)

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, nether the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38,39 NIV).

   Paul is certainly convinced that God loves Him, and that He always will, and his statement in Romans, quoted above, expands that love to all of us for all of time.   That’s right, God loves each and every one of us, and He always will, no matter what.  He loves even those who choose to go to hell rather than return His love.  His heart sorrows for them.  In Romans 5:8, we are told, “But God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (NKJV).

   The Bible speaks of three kinds of love: eros, phileo, and agape.  For this message I will restrict the usage to agape, the selfless, unconditional, sacrificial love shown by God for us.  He expects us to express this love, agape love, for Him and for all those He created.  That is quite an expectation that God has for us—for everyone--Really, even the neighbor who parks his car on my lawn, even the guy who cuts me off in traffic, even the guy who swore at me today, even the guy who stole $500 from me, even the guy who disagrees with me politically, even people like Adolph Hitler!   The answer from God is, “Yes, everyone means everyone!”  Wow!  I don’t think I can do that.  Can you?  This is where God’s mercy and grace that He expresses toward those we don’t like, are also applied to us.  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins.”   That’s what He tells us in 1John 1:9.   Even though He forgives us for not showing His love to all, He does want us to do so, and Jesus told us that in John 15:12)-- “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (NIV)  

   What does God say about us loving Him?  Among the commands given to Israel by God, through Moses, before they entered the Promised Land were these words from Deuteronomy 6:5, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (NIV)   God expects from us total devotion to Him.  He leaves no room for other gods either explicit by name or implicit by action.   A heart not totally committed to Jehovah God cannot love Him all the time in all strength.  We, today, don’t think of loving other gods like Zeus or Apollo, but we do let our desire for the things of this world like monetary wealth, expensive cars, and lives of comfort, creep into our minds and even our hearts.  Again, God does apply His mercy and grace to us, but I can’t help believing that He does become disappointed with us.  Dare I ask, ‘What has God done to deserve our undying love?”  The Name of Jesus answers that question even before the question is out of the mouth.  

   Yes, God does deserve all of our love.  In John 14:23: “Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teachings.  My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” (NIV).com