God’s love is our model for loving each other—but we can ONLY love each other with HIS love when we’re experiencing it for OURSELVES. To experience God’s love, we must experience HIM. Paul the Apostle said this of his own experience of God’s deep love:
“For I am PERSUADED, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be ABLE to SEPARATE us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39
How could Paul say with such confidence that NOTHING could separate him from God’s love UNLESS—he had REALLY experienced God’s presence to a degree that he, in fact, had this assurance?
Is this how you would describe the way you experience God’s love?
Look, I’m about to get real with myself! If I am REALLY experiencing God’s supernatural love, then there is no question that I WILL be giving it away. The basic nature of God’s love is unselfishness. So what stands in the way of our experience of God’s love? Well, for me, it seems to always come back to my desire to do life my own way. I fail to trust God enough and believe that He has a better plan for my life than I do. I doubt the love of His commandments; or to say it another way, I doubt His love for me.
Furthermore—is it any wonder we struggle to trust the love of God when so much of the “love” we’ve experienced has just hurt and disappointed us?
We seem to never look good enough, be rich enough, be successful enough, be fascinating enough to keep someone totally in love with us. It is pounded into our psyche that our value is based upon what others think about us and so—we always wonder if they’ll still love us if we’re old, poor, boring, or unsuccessful—right??? Can’t someone just love us for who we are instead of for something they get from us? It’s no wonder we can’t love each other without demanding something in return because—this is ALL we know.
But then—there is God.
God, who wants to be the hero of our story. God, who thought we were worth dying for. God, who offers to make our spirit alive again so we can know Him. God, who chases us down when we run from Him. God, who sent His Spirit to guide us, give us peace, and even teach us how to talk with Him. God, who simply longs for us to surrender our heart to Him so He can love us better than anyone else.
My friend, why did Jesus say in John 13:34: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another?” Because to love anyone else—we must first allow ourselves to enter into a love-relationship with God. Jesus said the proof of our love for Him was in our obedient surrender. Isn’t that really the proof of our love for anyone? So after we are born again, we must develop the daily habit of surrendering our whole heart to Jesus. It is only by surrendering to Jesus that we are able to love others without reservation or expectation.
God’s love transforms our love.
We experience His example of love to us and we emulate it. We know He doesn’t withhold His love in retaliation for our sin and such similar nonsense which often characterizes our “love” for each other. When we sin—we walk away from Him. We reject Him—not the other way around.
When we practice surrendering our whole heart to God, He begins to heal our heart so we become unafraid to love others in the way He loves us. Surrendering to God’s will gives us all the love we’ll ever need and the best love we’ll ever give away!
To love others well, we must first allow ourselves to surrender to God and be loved by Him.
