We love to be loved! Wouldn’t you agree? If there is something written, spoken or sung about being loved it gets our attention like few other things. Quite possibly the greatest love of all our loves is when we are told how much God loves us. This is clearly understandable since so many of us have struggled to have genuine loving relationships in our lives. It brings us great comfort to know God loves us.
We Seem More Receptive to Love Messages
This week, I was listening to a new song about what lengths God will go to show us how much He loves us. Oh, don’t you love it when someone writes a new song telling us how much God loves us? I visit a fair amount of churches regularly both in person and online and I would guess that 70% of the songs I hear being sung today are themed with the message of God’s love for us. I also notice how receptive we become when a message is geared towards loving us. Love is a complicated subject, so the Greeks had several words to describe the type of love they were trying to communicate.
Jesus Declared God’s Love While Religion Communicates His Anger
God loving us was an important part of the message of Christ when He came, because religion through the ages had always conveyed the idea that God was angry and distant from us. Religion has always made it our responsibility to find a way to make God love us. It was Jesus who first turned the tables to declare that God so loved us… This message was so profound and impacting that even if you talk to an atheist today, most of them will base their belief of the non-existence of God based on what they see is His failure to love us the way they expect. Their own expectations are rooted in God’s goodness that was declared by Jesus and therefore without realizing it they are acknowledging their own belief in the God they say they don’t believe in.
God’s message of love to us was intended to set the record straight and free us to live like no others could possibly live on earth. We no longer need to gain his love and acceptance. It turned twelve cowards into bold preachers that converted thousands into believers and they took the message of love to every corner of the known world. Over the next 1500 years, this love inspired millions of people to lay their lives down in the most humiliating and excruciating ways, but this love inspired more and more to take stands that changed the status quo of their times.
Last Day Love is Changing
Paul noted a key change coming in the area of love. He said, at some point near the end people would become the greatest lovers of all time except they would be broken into two groups. One group will become great lovers of themselves while another group would do exploits that have never been done on earth before. The vast majority would be part of the first group.
Think about this for a moment it’s God’s great love for us that leads us to repentance. It’s His love that initiates the relationship that leads us to stepping into our purpose and destiny.
When you listen to a large amount of the messages of love being broadcasted in our churches today they are used not to bring unbelievers to repentance, nor is it the underlining message to cause us to live radical uncompromising lives, but it has become a reverberating message to encourage us to feel good and confident that we will not be judged. This message is now being rebroadcast by advertisers, authors and musicians. If you want to be heard, then tell people that they are loved and whatever you do don’t tell them they need to change.
Throughout History God’s Love has Empowered People to Live Radically
Throughout history the message has always been focused on God and who He is and what He has done, but today the message has mainly focused on us and how much He loves us. There is no question we need to know this, but is it possible we are out of balance, and if we are, is the reason this message is so popular is because we are so in love with ourselves that we have reduced our relationship with God to how much He loves us too?
The message is important. God loves you! He paid it all so you could live with him forever. There is nothing He wouldn’t do for you. So, now that you know it, go live a life of radical abandonment. Heal the sick, make disciples, go to the nations. Be fueled by His love to freely give your life away. Perfect love casts out all fear, it’s the proof of what kind of lover you are.