All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
What is the biggest mistake we make about God’s Love?
Is it how we see His Love? Is it that His Love does not change us? How do you see His Love?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by a servant (Chris) on
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Some will define His Love on human terms. Once down that path, some will believe they are able to judge who deserves His Love and who does not. One of the dangers in this is, at some point they will pass by a mirror. Rom 2:1 You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things.
His Love is too Big and too complex, for us to even understand. So, what then if left? Well, we must receive His Love, and allow His Love to change who we are. This I believe is the biggest mistake we can make.
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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on
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Chris,
I don't know about the biggest mistake, but there is one mistake that is often made and it causes a lot of confusion. Too many people view God only as love when love is only one of His attributes which make up the totality of Who God is. For example, He is also holy, just and righteous. He is omnipresent, omniscience and omnipotent. These are only a few. All of His actions will be based on who He is and not just one segment.
Lord Bless,
LT
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Permalink Reply by Tammy on
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I just read your reply after I posted mine. Great minds think alike or maybe idiots think alike. Whichever it is, we're not alone.
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Tammy,
I read your other response before seeing this one and thought to myself "wow, that sounds a lot like what I wrote." Then I read this one ... hahaha. Great mind or idiot, still the 1% ... hahaha (joke intended)
Lord bLess,
LT
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Permalink Reply by Amanda on
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My understanding is that God's wrath is for unbelievers and that born again believers cannot do anything to cause God to stop loving them and are never under God's wrath again. Their sins will have consequences and they face divine discipline that is not punitive but given out of God's love for them. I also understand that God draws us to Jesus and we are enlightened and we can then choose darkness over light but after having chosen the light and being born again we are secure -- is that what you and Tammy mean by God's love having conditions -- before we are born again? When God disciplines His children we then do see in that action God's love as well as justice, righteousness, etc... Do I have the right understanding? Is it a big mistake that we make about God's love when we are born again that we will lose that love?
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I guess what I was thinking about was where so many people say & believe that God would never send anyone to hell because God is love. I wasn't specifically talking about you & me as Christians but how the world makes this mistake in their view of His love. And yes, your understanding is what I understand as well.
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They try to rationalize God into a box and to transform Him into an image that is more suitable to them.
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Permalink Reply by Colby on
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Exactly. Good analogy. Some see God not as he is revealed to us by his written word, the Scripture, but rather by who and what they think he should be, which is a man-made god. Sometimes we forget that we are made in God's image; not the other way around.
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Great question, Chris.
A few days ago I was reading Romans 5:12-21 and a few things came to mind.
I have a permanent relationship with God. I don't have to live in fear of Him. God has love and God also has wrath but His wrath is not for me. I am a child of God. Nothing will cause God to stop loving me. That has been my biggest fear all of my life -- losing God's love.
But grace is given regardless of whether I deserve it. My personality has nothing to do with it nor my works, and my failures will not cause God to withdraw His grace or to begin to hate me as God hates the wicked who will not turn from their evil ways.
We sometimes look at people's personality, history, performance, etc... and we do judge them and I think not all judgment is wrong --self righteous judgement is wrong -- but God does not look at merit.
Grace is freely given. The world does not operate this way but God does.
God's grace is at the point of salvation but also throughout our lives.
Because God has forgiven me for so much and I did not merit it, I am learning how to completely forgive others who have hurt me.
As I learn to love others I know that empathy must come first and it will open the door into compassion and compassion is necessary for us to be able to love others. We must have compassion for those who do us wrong, who hurt us, who sometimes must be forgiven by us in the same way Jesus forgave those who crucified Him -- they know not what they do. For those who do know what they do ... God will help us reach the point of forgiving them ... the point of grace.
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This is a terrific, if open-ended, question. Much has been written in the Bible on the subject of God's love for us. Accordingly, in the interests of brevity, I will approach your question from the perspective of one New Testament writer, John the Evangelist.
How do we as Christians understand God's love?
God's love is real and understandable, and integral to the life of the Christian.
- "So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.
God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God,
and God abides in him" (1 John 4:16).
In the Gospel, love and the cross are synonymous.
Our understanding of God's love must not be based on our own feelings, but rather on what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. As Christians, you and I would have no idea of what love could possibly mean part from the love poured out and displayed for us on the cross of Jesus. Jesus and his cross define love for you and me.
- "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in
him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
John says it is easy to give lip service to our love for God. We demonstrate our love for God in a tangible sense when we share his love with others.
If we love one another, God dwells and makes his love complete within us.
- "If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar;
for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God
whom he has not seen" (1 John 4:20).
- "No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us
and his love is made complete in us" (1 John 4:12).
If we follow Jesus, we will be obedient to his command to love as he has loved us. It is that simple.
- "This is my command: Love each other" (John 15:17) for
"as I have loved you, so you must love one another" (John 13:34).
"The biggest mistake," you ask?
As simple the command to love each other is, I sometimes fail to love others because I let my feelings and emotions get in the way. This is something I know we all struggle with. Sometimes my feelings still trap me. I still allow my feelings to dictate whether or not I practice loving behavior with another person. We are to love others because Jesus' command to love is based not on human feelings, but on the divine act of his cross and resurrection.
May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard our hearts in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Colby
- "So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.
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Permalink Reply by Jenny on
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"We are to love others because Jesus' command to love is based not on human feelings, but on the divine act of his cross and resurrection."
I am confused. How can we love others apart from our feelings? I thought loving another was the same as feeling love for that person. Isn't loving someone apart from feeling love for that person a contradiction, and not genuine love?
I have been struggling with what exactly it means to obey Jesus' commandment to love others, so I appreciate any help here! (don't know if this is off topic and if i should start a new discussion...)
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