God's Love, Our Love

Last week I wrote a blog on the 5 Tests of True Love. I made the point that true love is only possible through a right relationship with God. Once we enter a right relationship with God through the work and person of Jesus we actually have God’s love that we then can share with others. When we allow God's love to pass through us to other people, that is actually a test of our relationship with God. If we want to make sure we are passing the test we need to know that we are loving with God's love. So, how can we know it is God's love and not our love?

6 Signs a Person Has God's Love

The first sign of God's love is being in a right relationship with God. As I mentioned above this is the key unlocking God's love to flow through us. The way to a right relationship with God is through a relationship with Jesus Christ. 

The second sign of God's love is Jesus working through us. Jesus must become the boss of our life. We must get to know Him and what He is like, what He desires, and we must begin to emulate Him. This will show us the kind of love that God has for the world.

The third sign of God's love is a complete understanding of why Jesus came to the earth. The essentials of the Christian faith are key to allowing God's love to be fully understood. Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a perfect, sinless life, healed the sick, taught the truths about God, willingly gave Himself as a sacrifice for sin, died on a cruel cross, rose again after three days, appeared to many people after His death, and then ascended to be with God the Father. Jesus came to the earth for this purpose: to place on full display what God's love really looks like.

The fourth sign of God's love is the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Jesus left the earth, but He sent a helper to guide us in all truth. The Holy Spirit directs our steps but most importantly the Holy Spirit is the conduit of God's love through us to the world. 

The fifth sign of God's love is not living in fear. If you could give everyone a truth serum they would admit to fear of the unknown and fear of what comes after death. Fear is a natural part of life. Those who are in a right relationship with God however, have overcome that fear with the love that God has for them. You can only experience that love and lack of fear when you are in a right relationship with God. There may be moments of doubt but a follower of Jesus lives in love not in fear.

The sixth sign and most obvious sign of God's love is seen in how we treat people. Despite false claims, Christians have accomplished great things for those in need throughout history. These acts of kindness, care, and compassion are borne out of the love Christians experience from God and the desire to pass that love on to others.

"Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God." 1 John 4:7

 

True Love

There seems to be a great deal of confusion lately about what love is and what love isn't. This might be because people are fairly liberal with the use of the word, love. I say, "I love my wife.", "I love chocolate cake." and, "I love the OKC Thunder." While each of these statements are true, they should have a slightly different meaning for the word, love. So, it is important that we understand what true love really is. Here are some tests to help determine if love is true love or not.

5 Tests of True Love

1.  True love cannot be hidden, it will be displayed. Love will be on display for all the world to see and proud of it. When my wife and I got married, we held our ceremony in a public place and gladly invited our friends and family. To this day I proudly wear the same ring she gave me on that day. This is just an example of love on display.

2.  True love has only one standard, total sacrifice. The one standard for love is total sacrifice. This example and standard was set for the world to see when Jesus willingly gave himself on a cruel cross. This standard is still the expectation of those who follow Jesus and is the true standard for love to this day.

3.  True love can be confirmed, by actions. It is one thing to say, “I love you.” In fact, that is a pretty simple and basic thing to do. However, it is a completely different thing to show, “I love you.” From a very early age children in healthy homes learn to say, “I love you.” That doesn’t mean they know how to show love. It takes a mature and truly loving person to show love.

4. True love begins with the keeping of God’s commands. The place to start when you have a desire to truly love, is to show you love God by keeping His commands. Jesus even told us this when he said the two greatest commands were to love God and love people. The truth is, you can’t truly love people until you have first learned to love God.

5.  True love is only possible through a right relationship with God. People are not capable of loving unconditionally by their own power. We, by nature, are too selfish. When we learn to allow God to love through us, then we can display true love. The Bible said it best, “we are able to love because He first loved us.” God loved us by sending Jesus to die in our place. That is true love!

Don't Discount an Eyewitness Account

The Eyewitness Accounts

Currently there is a new television miniseries airing on NBC in the United States entitled: A.D. The Bible Continues. The series is a follow-up series to the amazingly popular 2013 miniseries entitled: The Bible, both created by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett. A.D. The Bible Continues, covers the first 10 chapters of the New Testament book of Acts. The accounts of the followers of Jesus are powerful stories of radical life transformation. I enjoyed watching the first episode and will continue to watch. One reason I will continue to watch is the trust that I have for the accounts from the followers of Jesus. The men and women, detailed in the book of Acts and other historical records, building on the foundation of Jesus, established a brand new religion. This religion is based on the facts of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. This religion is also based on the faith one places in Jesus. Facts and faith work beautifully together to develop an understanding of who Jesus is and what He has done. You may not trust the personal eyewitness accounts of the life and work of Jesus, but you can! Here are 5 reasons: 
 

5 Reasons you can trust the accounts of Jesus:

1.    You can trust the accounts of Jesus because they heard, saw, and touched Jesus. 
Don't neglect the importance of personal contact. The people who gave us the details of Jesus' life didn't just hear about Him, they had personal, daily contact with Him. Their testimony, although ancient, would hold up as a testimony in a court of law.


2.    You can trust the accounts of Jesus because they sincerely wanted other people to join them. 
It would be one thing for someone to have lived with Jesus and watched Him die to say, "He was a great man and He changed my life", but it is another thing all together to radically go throughout the known world at that time seeking more followers. These people were so committed to the person of Jesus that they willing died to tell His story. In fact, the Greek word for witness became so tied to the witness about Jesus that the word evolved in modern language to mean martyr. To be a witness of Jesus was equal to being a martyr.


3.    You can trust the accounts of Jesus because they were obligated to speak the truth about Jesus.
Jesus said that He was the truth. Would His followers then willingly spread a lie? No, His followers were committed to sharing the truth of Jesus and that commitment to the truth cost them their lives and changed the world.

4.    You can trust the accounts of Jesus because they wanted others so see the truth about Jesus. 
The Bible speaks a great deal about spiritual blindness. Those who do not know or seek God are blind. The followers of Jesus knew the truth and they wanted more than anything for other people to see the truth and have their spiritual blindness removed.


5.    You can trust the accounts of Jesus because they wanted other people to receive forgiveness of sins. 
What the early followers of Jesus knew was, Jesus could remove the penalty of their sin and make a right relationship with God possible. Only Jesus can forgive sins. No activity, no religion, no self-help book, no other person besides Jesus can truly forgive sins. Those other things may make a person feel better but deep down inside everyone knows their sin is a heavy burden. The followers of Jesus knew the only way to get rid of that burden was to believe in the person and work of Jesus.

You can trust the accounts of the life and work of Jesus but more importantly you can trust Jesus with your life!