All love comes through God to us. It does not originate in us, as we are sometimes led to believe through the law which tells us, "YOU love God with all your heart, mind soul and strength, and YOU love others as yourself."
This sounds really good and noble, but it is impossible to live by.
WE CAN'T LOVE GOD WITH EVERYTHING WE HAVE IN US
We're just not capable of doing this as human beings. We're too fragmented, with too many things and people that are important to us. We can include God, but we can't love God with everything we have in us. And, even if we could, which we can't, but if we could love God with everything we have in us, what would we have left over to love anybody else with? Preaching this is like putting a candle on the end of a stick in front of the donkey. I'm sure you've seen the picture of this. The donkey can never reach the carrot. It's always just a little bit in front of him.
GOD LOVES US MORE THAN WE CAN COMPREHEND
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We're told that the Father loves us every bit as much as he loves Jesus (John 17:23). This is really, really mind blowing. Abba Father loves us as much as he does his only begotten Son? Our minds short circuit and say 'no way this side of heaven.' At least this is how our flesh reacts. Our spirits tend to light up when we hear this, wondering if it could really be true. This is why we're called believers and not understanders. Jesus says our job is to believe God's truth, even as ridiculous as it may sound to our reasoning minds (John 6:29).
WHEN WE DO BELIEVE GOD, THEN OUR FAITH GROWS MORE
Paul says faith works through love (Gal 5:6). He is speaking of God's love, not our human love. You see, when we begin to take God at his word -- and believe and live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God as Jesus says to, then our faith grows (Mat 4:4). God's love is what causes our faith to grow, and as it grows then we receive more of his love. God's love and faith just keep growing in us. It's synergistic. It's like compound interest.
THIS IS WHY LIVING BY RELIGION HURTS US DEEPLY
If we live by law and religion, they point the finger at us, and tells us we are guilty before God. Paul calls it the ministry of condemnation and death. The more rules we live by the less a true, intimate relationship with have with God, and thus the less of his love we can receive into us.
Not only does law keep us from knowing God's love, but it keeps us from knowing who we are in Jesus: our identity in Christ. This is what Paul says. He says we are SELF-righteous if we live by law, and we can't receive the righteousness that comes by means of the faith of Christ (Phil 3:9). He says if we live by SELF-righteousness, then we can't know the righteousness of God in us (Rom 10:2). It is when we know our righteousness in Christ that we truly come to know God's love for us.
GOD IS IN LOVE WITH US
It's really hard to envision God really and truly being in love with us, which is what Paul says in Ephesians 1, but when we turn our belief system on, and truly grasp this, then we become rooted and grounded in God's love, as he says in Ephesians 3:17.
It's gospel truth: Abba Father loves us like crazy, as crazy as it sounds.
Paul says God chose us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame, standing before him in love (Eph 1:4). This verse is telling us something very significant. It tells us the reason God loves us is because he chose us before the world even began. Our minds again short-circuit at such a thought: "How can you mean this, God? I wasn't even born until just recently." But you see, God knows all things, and time is nothing to God.
He knew whether or not we were going to be in Christ long before we were ever born. Yes we have free will, but God knew before the foundation of the world how we would exercise our free will -- either to come to him, or not to come to him. If we come to him, he loves us as much as he does Jesus. Period.
It's something he decreed, and wrote in the halls of heaven. This is why Jesus says our job is to believe. When we truly reject all other beliefs, and only believe gospel truth, as Jesus says to do, then everything in life changes. This includes us knowing that Abba Father loves us as much as he does his only begotten Son Jesus.
More Information:
The Gospel Life Coach shows the gospel is the power of God, causing us to live life better by accident than we can on purpose:
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This article is also available as a video at: http://RogerHimesLifeCoach-GospelTranformation.com.
Read regular tweets on Twitter: /TheGospelCoach that will impact your day for the better. Religion demands that we live life right. The gospel empowers us to live life right.
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