Human love and God’s love are different. Human love often says, ‘I’ll love you as long as you meet my expectations, agree with my politics, attend my church, or fit into my social circle.’ God’s love says, ‘I love you just as you are’. Basically, human love is often conditional while God’s love is unconditional. God didn’t wait for us to become worthy before loving us. ‘God showed his great love…by sending Christ to die…while we were still sinners.’ Jesus showed us a new standard for love. He said, ‘Now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you’ (John 13:34 NLT); ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ (Matthew 22:39 NIVUK); ‘Love…without hoping to get anything back’ (Luke 6:35 NCV). Loving others God’s way often requires sacrifice. It goes against what we naturally want to do. Pastor Bill Hybels said: ‘When I set about the task of loving, I usually end up giving instead of receiving. Love inevitably costs me the three commodities most precious to me – my time, my energy, and my money…When you’re concerned about the well-being of others, you usually have to sacrifice.’ It’s also harder to show God’s love to others when we don’t believe that He loves us. But the Bible tells us that nothing can separate us from His love (have a read of Romans 8:37-39). When we accept God’s love for us, and believe that He can’t love us any more or any less than He does in this moment, then loving others becomes a natural response. The Bible says: ‘We love because he first loved us’ (1 John 4:19 NIV). Our love for others flows from His love for us.

What Now?

Find as many Bible verses as you can about God’s love for you. Choose a few of them to reflect on throughout the day.