God is Love

I John 4:7-10; John 15:13; John 3:16

1. God is lovely

Psalms 50:2; 2 Chronicles 20:21; Psalm 27:4; 29:2; 50:2; 90:17; 110:3; Mark 9:2-5; Revelation 1:13-18

When Charles Kingsley was dying, he seemed to have a glimpse of the heavenly splendour into which he was going, and of God in His brightness and loveliness, and he exclaimed, “How beautiful God is!”.

Every revelation of God that is given us – is a revelation of His beauty. Everywhere in nature, in the flower that blooms, in the bird that sings, in the dewdrop that sparkles, in the star that shines, in the sunset that burns with splendour – we see reflections of God’s beauty. “He has made everything beautiful in its time!” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). In the Bible, every revelation of the divine attribute presents God to us in surpassing loveliness. Christ was “God manifest in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16), the beauty of the invisible God made visible to human eyes, and such enrapturing beauty has never been seen, except in that one blessed life.

David declared in Psalm 27:4 one thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.

Moses himself, when he came down from the mountain after his forty days communing with God. He had been so long wrapped in the divine glory that his very body was as it were, saturated with its brightness. Then, in prayer Moses said in Psalm 90:17 Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.

The following qualities will be seen in any life when the beauty of the Lord appears to them:

1. Spiritual thirst – The eyes look upward and beyond the things of earth. The heart is fixed on things above. The aspiration is for more holiness, and finds expression in such yearnings as “Nearer, my God, to Thee,” and “More love, O Christ, to Thee,” and in the prayer, “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.”
2. Purity – All spiritual loveliness begins within. For the beauty of the Lord to be on us, shining in the features of our lives which men can see; we must first have the divine beauty within us. A holy heart will in time transfigure all the life. And the only way to have a holy heart is to have Christ within!

2. God is loving

John 3:16; Jeremiah 31:3; Genesis 28:15; Deuteronomy 31:8; Joshua 1:5; 1Samuel 12:22; 1Chronicles 28:20; Psalm 37;25; Jeremiah 31:3; John 15:12; Ephesians 5:2

Jeremiah 31:3 “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore, with lovingkindness have I drawn thee”

The love of God is universal. It is unconditional. It is unfailingly. It is unending and eternal. The love of God is the reason for the works and acts of God. The highest love of God is man but the problem most times is that the highest love of man most times is not God. If your highest love is not towards God, there is a limit to what you can get from Him (James 4:8). God manifested this love in three ways

1. It made God to share his image with man – Genesis 1:26-28
   1. Man became an image of the invisible God on earth and after the fall
   2. God became man (in flesh) to redeem man from eternal death – WHAT A LOVE!!
2. God’s love cost him to send his only begotten son to die for the sins of the world – John 3:16
   1. This love cost God everything and by this, He is willing to do anything for us – Romans 8:32
   2. Creation cost God nothing really but His love for humanity cost Him everything.

• God’s love caused him to make us an eternal destination with him in heaven -Jn 14
  1. This love cost him to share his eternal glory with man.
  2. The love of God cost him to share his eternal habitation with man.

3. God is lovable

2 Corinthians 5:15, Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37-38; Galatians 5:22; Romans 5:5; 2 Timothy 1:7; I John 4:16-19; I John: 3:16

Seeing the nature of God as Love and how much He loved us, what should be our response? Matthew 22:37-38 ³⁷ Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment.

2 Corinthians 5:15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

We should not live for ourselves anymore. He died for us; therefore, we should live for him. He defended our interest with His life, we should defend His interest by living for Him and if necessary, even with our lives! We should express our love to God and man in three ways:

1. We should give HIM pleasure with our lives. Don’t do things that will annoy Him.
2. Represent Him with your life. Let people who come across you be reminded of Him.

• Defend His interest with your life. Be occupied for Him and the good of humanity.

Proofs Of Man’s Love

• What you talk about most of the time defines what you really love (Matt. 12:34)
  What dominates your time is a determinant of your dedication
• Where and on what you spend the most of your time (Ezek. 16:8)
  Where you direct your time is a determinant of where you have directed your love
• What consumes the bulk of your resources is a determinant of what you really love (Matt. 6:21). You don’t know what you love until you can confirm what you spend the bulk of your money on
• What occupies your thought most of the time is a confirmation of what you love (Prov. 23:7; Songs 8:6). A man’s thought is a definition of who he is
• What and who you are ready to sacrifice for is a determinant of what you really love (John 3:16). What you inconvenience yourself for is a determinant of what you really love

When you respond to His love, then 1 Corinthians 2:9 will apply to you. 1 Corinthians 2:9 “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him”