Every Now and Then

Every now and then I get the urge to write a little commentary on a particular subject. It's nothing spectacular, but it helps my understand my own faith a little better. Here goes...

To know the love of Christ is to know Christ. Not just the person, but also the heart behind the person. How does one come to understand this love, which surpasses all understanding (Eph. 3:18)?

First you must know that you will never comprehend the love of Christ. It is the goal of the Christian life that can always be strived for but never attained. The depth of the love of Christ is what keeps Christians always searching for more of God. And the more God that is in your life, the less there will be of yourself, which is God's goal. God's dream is to fill you with His Holy Spirit so that you may be holy as He is Holy. Many times in the Old and New Testaments God gives us that command. In the Old Testament the example was the Holy sacrifices of the unblemished animals. But those animals lacked something...love. The animals didn't love the person that was sacrificing them. They couldn't comprehend any kind of love. Then in the New Testament Jesus became the sacrifice and He did not lack love at all. He was love incarnate.

Secondly, you must know why you love God. You can easily do this by listing out the attributes of God and then pick the ones that you like the best. Don't just focus on those attributes alone, but use them as a starting point to find out why it is you love God. In I John 3:16, John says, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us..." The passage goes on to ask how can a person see a brother in need and not have pity on him? If he does this the love of God is not in him. If nothing else, we can love God simply because He sent His only Son to die for us. Start there if you have to.

Finally, know that the only love you can possibly have comes directly from God. Your understanding of the love of Christ is in direct proportion to your acceptance of His love for you. If you ever find yourself not loving a person, yourself or God take a look at how much love you are accepting from God. All love comes from God, and any person that denies that doesn't have true love in them. In the Bible it says that God is love. The word "is" usually implies a definition. It can be equated with the word "equals". God equals love. Therefore if God is the definition of love, no love comes from any other source but God himself. The love one person has for another is the love of God being distributed though those people.

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