Love is of God

Love is of God and comes from God.  To confirm this statement, the Bible declares “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16).

Love originated with God, was demonstrated in His Son, and is perfected in us. God's love is complete in us when we live it in our relationship with each other. Jesus said “I come that they may have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10b).

The word abundantly is the Greek word perissos. It means superabundant in quantity and superior in quality. The word also means exceeding abundantly, overflowing with increase materially, and excess in superabundance, more than is necessary or usual

Abundance also describes the sum total of God’s encompassing love for us. This truth is summarized in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

To further authenticate the love of God, let’s review Ephesians 3; 17-20:

“So, I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge; that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Romans 8:29 declares that God “predestined believers to be conformed to the likeness of his Son” As we follow Christ, His light illuminates our lives and lights our paths so that we arenever in spiritual darkness. The presence of Holy Spirit that lives within us helps to give us these spiritual insights. We see and hear the things of God through the eye of the Holy Spirit.  This transformative process is described in 2 Peter 1:3-8:

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.  For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul’s prayer for the saints (Ephesians 3:14-19) reads: “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Paul prayed that the Holy Spirit might work in God’s people in a greater measure and that believers may receive more wisdom, revelation, and knowledge concerning the love of Christ. That is, we must understand God’s love, have knowledge of the breadth of His love, and become filled with His love.  

God’s plan of salvation was to offer His Son as a ransom for many so that we could have fellowship with Him in love. His eternal plan of salvation is that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. When we understand the love of God; we will express it in our lives as described in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-9.