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The Greatest Love Of All |
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Article by Tom Gilbert
All You Need is Love. In the Name of Love. What's Love Got To Do
With It? These are all titles of popular love songs. Love…it
makes the world go round.
You've heard that before, too.
When we look at the world today it's sometimes hard to believe that
love has much of a place anymore. There's so much terror and
violence. And that breeds fear.
Love does conquer all. Even fear. It does exist. It will triumph
over the dark forces.
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What Is Love…Really?
The problem may not be so much a lack of love but a misunderstanding
of what love really is. The Bible speaks of perfect love. We
must understand it is more than affection, more than sentimentality
and certainly more than romantic attraction. So often we mistake
"feelings" for love.
Sometimes God is described as love. Let's explore this. The Bible has
a lot to say on this subject. Jesus particularly had some heavy
commentary. Greater love has no one than this…(John 15:13).
Once again Jesus was teaching his disciples about His purpose,
His mission – to lay down His life as a sacrifice for us. Read
the passage in the context of surrounding verses and you see
that Jesus was giving us a commandment; to love the same way
He loves us. You can measure how great your love for others
is by whether or not you are willing to love to the point of
laying down your life for your friends.
If you have children you probably are familiar with that deep-seated
love that is so strong that at times you literally ache. A good
and loving parent would not hesitate to sacrifice their own
life to save their child's. If you feel that way, get in touch
with that feeling. Now you have inkling of how powerful God's
love, as expressed through Christ, is.
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Mercy (for) Me
God's great love for us is closely tied to His tremendous merciful
forgiveness. We have all sinned, over and over again. Despite
this, God never gives up on us! He went to the ultimate length – gave
His only son as a sacrifice. He did this to enable us to be
reconciled with Him. We fell away and there was no way to get
back on our own. So, while we were still sinners Jesus Christ
and God teamed up to bring us home.
Obviously, God does not hold a grudge. We're not deserving of this mercy.
The grace is given to us anyway. God has forgiven us. Not just
forgiven, but removed our sins, our transgressions from us!
Psalm
103
11For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
12 He has removed our rebellious acts as far away from us
as the east is from the west.
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You've heard that we are all made in the image of God. Since this is
so, that means we have the capacity within us (as provided by
Jesus when we receive Him and agree to His Lordship over our
lives) to love like God. I don't know about you, but sometimes
I find this hard to fathom. That doesn't make it any less true.
Oh, what an awesome God!
Dear Father, thank you so much for your love. Thank you for your
mercy and forgiveness. Teach us to be like Jesus. Dwell within
us and manifest your love through us. May we obey you and
not our own selfish desires. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
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Scripture taken from the Holy Bible,
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright © 1973, 1978,
1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout
the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks
of International Bible Society. Use of either trademark for
the offering of goods or services requires the prior written
consent of International Bible Society.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible,
New Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used by permission
of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189, USA. All
rights reserved.
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JOHN 5:13
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"Greater
love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his
friends."
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(NIV)
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