E30 - Hope’s Harbor Gritty Bible Devotions - Love of GOD & Love for GOD
Hope’s Harbor
Gritty Bible Devotions
Episode #30
Title: The Love of GOD and Love for GOD
Date: November 29, 2021
Contact: info@hopesharbor.net
Key verse(s): John 15:9 - "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”
Matthew 22:37 – ‘Jesus said to him, “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.”’
Intro: Jesus declared in John 15:9 GOD’s love for Him is equal to His love for us. Then He reveals in Matthew 22:37 the greatest commandment in Scripture is for us to love GOD with everything we have in us.
Devotion focus:
· GOD’s love for us is without measure – and our love for GOD must measure up
I was praying last week and the thought came to my mind that GOD wanted to declare His love to me. So I thought about the measure of His love and said, “I know LORD, your love is as deep as the ocean.” I was very pleased with my quick response.
Then the thought came, ‘Come out with me to the moon and look back at the earth.’ I envisioned the earth from pictures I’ve seen. The earth must be the size of a tennis ball held at arm’s length when viewed from the moon and I realized the ocean’s depths are too shallow to measure GOD’s love for us.
So I added, “Your love is as vast as the universe.” Too small. Why? Because the universe is limited. Only GOD is infinite and therefore His love is limitless.
What this reminded me of is the fact we cannot completely fathom the measure of GOD’s love for us. This is why in Ephesians 3:17 – ‘…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
Ephesians 3:18 - ‘may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—
Ephesians 3:19 – ‘to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.’
To know in vs 19 means to experience that which we cannot know intellectually. This means it is beyond theology.
I have found the only way to even begin to understand, or experience on an emotional level GOD’s love is by reading over and over verses that declare GOD’s love, like John 15:9.
I’ve mentioned this in an earlier podcast and it’s worth repeating here how it took me 18 months of reading John 15:9 first thing every morning and last thing every night before I came to believe it, to feel it deep down.
So this is GOD’s love for us and the best evidence is “…He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:16 & 17.
And now – our love for GOD: Why do you think Jesus said the greatest commandment is to “…LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND?” Matthew 22:37
John 14:15 - "If you love Me, keep My commandments.
John 14:21 - “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." (Emphasis mine)
John 15:10 – “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.
John 15:11 - "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”
In verse 21 manifest means: to exhibit (in person) or disclose (by words): - appear, declare (plainly), inform, (will) manifest, show, signify.
After reading these verses from John chapters 14 & 15 would you agree the reason Jesus tells us to love GOD with everything within us is now self-evident?
Summary: Relationships based on love are many times difficult to maintain. Relationships within work or hobbies, etc. are easier because they usually don’t require much depth from us. We can keep people at arms’ length emotionally.
But let me warn you: If you try keeping GOD at arms’ length or your loved ones, the results are devastating. Why such a strong word?
Because when it involves loved ones emotional unavailability tells them we don’t love them enough to make the effort and do the work required to be close to them, available to them. They will inevitably leave us alone. In marriage, this means separation or divorce.
When it involves GOD He loves us too much to allow us to push Him away for long. If you belong to Him and you keep a distance from Him, GOD has His ways for bringing us to Him, even if this means through trials or crises. Spurgeon called these means the ‘hounds of hell.’ Meant to bring us to GOD.
Action to consider: Read Matthew 27:21-31. Put yourself there and contemplate these verses. Also, write the following verses on 3x5 cards. Keep them with you and begin reading them first thing in the morning, throughout the day, and last thing at night. Read these (out loud if possible – more powerful that way) for as long as it takes until the truth sinks in.
John 15:9 - "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”
Romans 8:28 – ‘And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.’
Romans 8:35 – ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?’
Romans 8:38 – ‘For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
Romans 8:39 – ‘nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’
Next week’s devotion: Joy – The Evidence of Abiding with Jesus