THE AMAZING LIFE OF GRACE: GOD IS LOVE

Today I was pondering on this fact, "God IS Love." This statement is so full of exploding power and revelation. It is the very heart of who God is, the fullness of His nature all wrapped up in this one thing.....LOVE!

I have been a believer for over 30 years, and from the day I came into the "Church," it was shown to me that now, in 'our' love for God, we are 'expected' to serve Him. 'Serving Him' is the one thing that we are led to focus on as new babes in Christ, and 'serving Him" is what begins to form the following years as we continue in this struggle of pleasing God. It becomes our entire life goal as we begin to contemplate on where do I fit, what can I do, which ministry will I be a part of, which program will I be involved in, I must get to all the prayer meetings and Bible studies, and the list goes on and on and on. How exhausting! No wonder there is so much burn-out in the church. Yet, as I ponder on this fact that "God is love," it just turns everything around because of what love IS. For the first time in my life, I am learning to rest in His love.....to relax and just live my life effortlessly.

The first few verses in the love chapter....1 Corinthians 13, clearly reveals to us one thing......LOVE IS 'NOT' SELF-SEEKING. Love is always outward, towards others. (NLT)

1. If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

Then I read the rest of the chapter........

(4 - 7) Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Wow.....is this talking about me? Or, is this talking about God? As I reread, I began to see this through the lens of grace. I began to realize that I can't possibly love this way....but because of my union with Christ, and because it is now Him living His life through me, loving this way should come naturally, because this is now who I am....ONE with Him. As He is, so am I in this world. The more I know Him, the more I understand what love is, and the more I understand my true identity as ONE with Him, the more I realize that it is never me doing it, but He is loving through me. I am His vessel....His conduit to do the 'greater works,' for now He is no longer limited to one geographical place, but in the vessel of every believer, He is at work all over the world.

I am now Christ-conscious and no longer "serving" conscious. It's not about our serving, it's about understanding love...who is a person, and allowing that love/person to live in and through you at all times and in every situation, whether good or bad, easy or difficult. It's all the same to Him. He is our All in All.

(8 - 13) Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

When we begin to realize that love is NOT self-seeking, then the cloudy mirror becomes clearer, and we begin walking in the identity of who we really are.

But in all this, as I ponder love, knowing that He is love and that love is not self-seeking, I realize that God is not all bout Himself. He is not looking for our service, or our doing for Him. He is wanting to pour out His lavish love and affections on us. He is wanting to reveal more and more of Himself to us through His written word, through the prophetic, through that still small voice, through those quiet times with Him. He wants to pour out His blessings on us. He wants to rejoice over us with exceeding joy. As He reveals more and more of Himself to us, we in turn live out this revelation in bestowing His love on others as He lives His life through us. It is an overflow of the heart. The more you have/know, the more you want to give it away. Love is about giving. God is a giving God. Love is not something that can just be for self. It doesn't benefit self, but it is for the benefit of others. In His love, He died for the whole world....not for Himself. He did it for us. What greater love is this than a man lay down his life for his friends? (John 15:13)

John 15:15 I no longer call you servants, because a master doesn't confide in his servants. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. (NLT)

This is all a two - fold thing here........understanding that God's love is outward bound, toward us, and also outward bound through us to the world. God lavishes His love on the world now through us. Believers are the Light or the Love of the world. As we shine that light/love, then the world will be drawn to Him. When a person is in darkness and can't find their way out, all they need to see is a tiny small light in the distance and they will begin to journey toward that light, watching it become brighter and brighter as more and more revelation of who He is, is revealed.

Isaiah 9:2-7 The people who walk in darkness will see a great light--a light that will shine on all who live in the land where death casts its shadow.

Israel will again be great, and its people will rejoice as people rejoice at harvesttime. They will shout with joy like warriors dividing the plunder.

For God will break the chains that bind his people and the whip that scourges them, just as he did when he destroyed the army of Midian with Gideon's little band.

In that day of peace, battle gear will no longer be issued. Never again will uniforms be bloodstained by war. All such equipment will be burned.

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, [fn] Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.