Knowing What Love Is

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.   1 John 4:9-10 NIV

God has spoken to me a lot lately… Well I take that back, He is always speaking but I think I finally took the time to listen intently to Him. We all know John 3:16, and I think the whole world knows it now thanks to Tim Tebow’s public profession of his faith. But the question on my mind and heart, is do we really believe it? I think I only shallowly believed it because in the past when I would go through things, I questioned God’s love for me and His care. I did not realize that it was because He loves me (and you too) so much that He allows us to choose our own way without forcing Himself on us. He loves us so much that if we truly seek to be more like His son, He allows us to experience life which of course draws us closer to Him. He loves so much that He really answers prayers!

As wave after wave of realization hit me, I started crying. I cried realizing how much I had taken God’s love for me for granted. It was at understanding how He orchestrated my scholarship so that I would be working for the government and ended up having to come here, it was so He could right the wrongs in my life and restore/rebuild relationships. He taught me to forgive, to truly forgive so that when I am able to close this chapter, I can go on without looking back. (Don’t be like Lot’s wife!) It was because of Christ’s blood, that I am forgiven and that all the things I have done have already been forgiven.

God’s love is not superficial. It doesn’t fade when you wrong Him. Yes He hurts, but he forgives you. His love doesn’t evaporate or change at a whim. It is longsuffering and patient (1 Cor 13:4); I know God has waited patiently with me through all the changes I have gone through. Because God loves you, you can trust that He will be there with you every step of the way, and if you truly think about it, you can see how if you allowed Him to, He carried you through all the way.

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:15-18

Remember the footprints in the sand? It’s below just to remind you of how much God loves you…<3