Experiencing the Love of God

Many people who come to faith have difficulty reconciling earthly love with the love of God.  When we grow up we may experience love in our families or love in our community but it does not accurately represent the love of God.

Rom 5:5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

God reveals Himself to us and the nature of the love He has for us in many ways throughout the bible.  God shows that His love is poured out on us.  His love fills our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  We cannot contain this love.  It must be poured out on everyone we meet.

At the beginning of the verse God states that hope does not disappoint.  Since He is the author of all things, He is the also the author of hope.  The hope that springs within us, the hope of something better which encouraged us to seek God, is a hope which He planted in us.  This hope cannot disappoint because those who seek after God with an open heart will find Him.  The disappointments and setbacks which we face in everyday life are not born of God but of the world.

The verse goes on to say that it is because of the love of God, that our hope is confirmed.  It is because of the love of God that our hopes of being courageous, willing and strong believers can be realized.  When we experience the love of God, we realize that no earthly love can equal or exceed His.  

Since God is the author of love, and has designed this love for us to have a fulfilling relationship with Him and with our fellow man, we can trust that God’s definition of love is just, pure and accurate.  This love which knows no bounds and is not mixed with worldly understanding is the love which God pours into us.  At the point of salvation, the Holy Spirit’s love starts to invade every cell of our bodies.

The first place in which God places his love is our hearts.  The reason for this is because we can understand and appreciate love at a heart level as human beings.  There is a  love which we hold for our family members. There may even be some of your family members which you don’t particularly like, yet you love them.  God starts with us at a heart level when the in filling begins.  

By using the gate of our hearts He is able to pour love in to us by the power of the Holy Spirit until the love cannot be contained by us.  Just as someone loved you enough to introduce you to God’s love so too He will fill you with love until you wish everyone else could love Him in the way that you do.

The joy and the love we feel which begins at salvation is part of the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  There is a concept which God has designed called progressive sanctification.  If God were to show us the purity, the quantity and the degree of his love at salvation, we would instantly go to glory.  

It is in His plan that we get a measure of love which we can bear when we are saved, and continue to grow in His love as we progress along our Christian walk.  This love is part of the infilling of the Holy Spirit is a gift which is given to every believer.

Rom 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God reveals His love to us. Nothing on earth or in the heavens can separate us from His love, which He has given to us in Jesus.  God frequently uses human terms to describe that which He has done.  The reason for this is so that we as humans can grasp in small measure larger Godly concepts.  In the beginning of this verse God uses height and depth and things which have been created to separate and distinguish His purpose from human purposes.  

It is easy to understand height as a concept when we can look upon the stars at night, at such a great height from the earth.  It is easy to understand depth as a concept when we think about the depths of the great oceans, or the depth and torment of hell.  It is easy to understand created things when everything that we see or touch has been created by God or by man.

As believers, God uses these concepts to show our security in Him and in His love.  Nothing that has ever been or could be can separate us from God.  No imagined thing or scheme of man or the devil can separate us from God who loves us.  We are His beloved children, part of His kingdom.  This love was demonstrated to us in Christ Jesus who went to death on the cross to bear our guilt and ever lives as an example of the great love which God had for mankind.

2 Cor 13:14  The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all

In this verse God shows us by way of salutation that His love, His grace and a Godly fellowship will be with us and all who love Him.  Grace is most easily described as unmerited favor.  Nothing that we could ever do would entitle us to fellowship with God.  It is a free gift which He gives to those who will accept it on the terms which He sets forth.  It is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ which is offered freely to every sinner who will come, sick of their sins and willing to repent and turn from their wicked ways accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and ask Him to be Lord of their life.  

By the fellowship and infilling of the Holy Spirit the love of God is manifested in the life of the believer.  All believers since the beginning of time have been able to experience this fellowship.  Those who choose new life in Jesus Christ rather than remaining in sin have chosen to become part of the fellowship of believers.  God Himself is giving a benediction in this verse to believers to fellowship with Him and be part of the family of Jesus Christ.

As it was common in the new testament church so it is common for us today to greet other believers with a Godly blessing and salutation.  It is our firm belief that as followers of Jesus Christ we can salute you and declare that you will be blessed in all things by the power of the Holy Spirit and in the perfect name of our risen lord Jesus Christ.    

Questions to consider-

·         Why is God’s love different from the world’s love.

·         How does God reveal his love to us.

·         In what measure does God show his love to us.

·         What can separate us from the love of God.

·         How did God demonstrate his love for us.

·         Who can experience the love of God