Jesus' Overflowing Love for Us

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God (1 John 4:7 NLT).

Love is in the air! You likely haven’t been able to miss the aisles filled with heart-shaped candy, chocolate, flowers, and lovey-dovey-filled greeting cards! This is a reminder that Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching (February 14) for anyone who needs a reminder!

It’s very common to hear someone say, “Oh, I love your shoes,” “Oh, I love cheese,” or “Oh, I love (fill in the blank).” This is quite an exaggeration and has added to society’s misconception of the true meaning of love. In today’s hookup culture, love isn’t required to participate in the type of relationship that God reserved exclusively for husband and wife (Ephesians 5:31-33). 

So, what is love, and what does the Bible say about it?

One example of love that we see in Scripture is found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. This is the well-known love passage you may have also heard at weddings.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever (NLT)!

This is a tall order! To love one another this way is not natural for our sinful human nature, but as believers, we have the living, Holy Spirit of God living within us. Through the Holy Spirit’s power, we can love precisely as Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8!

Love is a central theme of God’s character. We read in John 3:16 that He loved the world so much that He sent his Son to die on our behalf so that we could be in perfect community again with God. God’s redeeming love is fulfilled by Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.

We can display God’s redeeming love in our lives by how we treat others and interact with them, putting others’ needs above our own and forgiving graciously as we’ve been forgiven (Ephesians 4:32).

Jesus says:

“You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).

Jesus says it is the first and greatest commandment (v. 38), and it is quite necessary to being able to carry out the second greatest commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 39).

As we continually surrender our sinful nature to Jesus Christ and give all of our heart, soul, and mind to Him, He fills our souls with His Holy Spirit. It becomes part of who we are and transforms us. His love overflows from us. When that happens, we have an abundance of love for others. It is evidence of His loving, redeeming work in us!

Loving and being loved from the overflow of God’s heart - that’s a great Valentine’s Day!

~

Scripture is quoted from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.