The Love Chapter: What God's Love means for Believers

In our first blog post, we wrote about Love and Salvation as the demonstration of God's Love to the one yet to receive and believe in Jesus. In this post, we would be discussing Love, Obedience, and a New Standard, as the demonstration of God's love in those who are now Believers.

“Experts have recorded that 60% of the world’s population do not feel loved. That is 4.4 billion people.”

The believer is simply the one who has received and accepted Jesus into his or her life (if you would like to do so). The believer understands God's love for him or her in his son, Jesus, and accepts that gift; God’s love is revealed in a deeper form. Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 12:27-30 that there is a more excellent [Christian] way. In the verses mentioned, Paul speaks about all the parts and gifts in and of the church, but he concludes in verse 30, “but now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.” (NLT)

1 Corinthians 12:30-31 (NLT)

30 "Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not! 31 So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all."

This post is one of self-evaluation. Have you lived a more excellent way? Or have you focused on the gifts in and of the church?

Love is the Greatest

The believer’s deepest need is not the power to perform miracles or speak in other tongues or prophesy—the believer's deepest need is to know God's love and live it out.

Ephesians 3:18-19 (NLT).

“...to understand, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is… then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God”

Christians should be known for love before any of the works of the spirit. It is love that birthed the willingness for Jesus to sacrifice himself for us, to leave his throne to come to be with us and perform all those miracles. It all stemmed from Love.

Love is greater than speaking in tongues, prophecy, suffering/martyrdom, charity, and even faith that moves mountains! Each thing described in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 is a good thing. Tongues are good, prophecy and knowledge and faith are good, sacrifice is good. But love is so valuable, so important that apart from it, every other good thing is useless. Sometimes we make the great mistake of letting go of what is best for something good but not the best.

Yes! Love is THAT Important

When a loved one is about to die and their time is near, only the things of utmost importance would be said. Parting words that would leave lasting memories on those who are alive.

John 15: 9-17 (Cited from NLT).

“this is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you…This is my command: Love each other.”

He repeats it twice for emphasis. In verse 13, he shows how his ultimate sacrifice is the height of love. “there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

God has called us Christians to love first, before anything else, because everything we would do for his kingdom's sake should stem from that love. That is the only way to know you have the right intentions truly.

In conclusion, Paul’s letter in 1 Corinthians 13 describes every believer that the greatest indispensable mark of a Christian is love. This chapter aptly tells us that we can give all our money to the poor, sacrifice our body for another, speak in all the languages of the earth and angels, have the gift of prophecy, have faith that can physically move mountains, understand all of God’s secret plans and possess all knowledge; but if we don’t have Love, all of that amounts to nothing.

Do you embody God’s love?

Keep in Touch!

If the Holy Spirit showed you something, please leave a comment so we can all benefit.

God bless you. Jesus loves you!

---

Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our community (on Instagram) and listen to our Christian music playlists(available on Apple Music, Spotify, Boomplay, and Audiomack)