God’s Love
[by Gerald Gates]
1 John 4:11 (NKJV) “Beloved, If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
Our Theme Topic for 2025 is God’s Love. I think of love as a deep care and desire for the good of other people. But the evidence of love is the actions taken which demonstrate that care and desire. I should be able to trust the words and actions of those who love me, and if I do not understand it, then I should ask.
God, who created all things, created people that he cares about. He provided for Adam and Eve placing them in the Garden of Eden to tend it. They did well until they were deceived by the serpent to disobey the command of God, who had given them all they needed for life. The consequence of their sin brought hardship in life and eventually physical death, away from the garden and without the tree of life.
Genesis 2:16-17 (NKJV) And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
God loved Adam and Eve. He gave them instructions by which they could live well. But they chose to do as the serpent deceitfully suggested, to eat of the forbidden fruit. Yet, God offered them hope by the condemnation of the serpent, who’s head would be crushed by the Seed of woman (Christ Jesus).
Today God calls all people to come to Him for eternal life by His Son Jesus Christ:
John 3:16 (NKJV) “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
By God’s word all are given the opportunity to receive the benefit of His love through belief in Jesus, the forgiveness of sins and eternal life–to live in the light of His righteousness. It requires a commitment to God, to do what He has told us by His word, the same word that Jesus revealed to His servants by the Spirit of God.
Jesus demonstrated love that we may also love one another:
1 John 3:16-18 (NKJV) By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
Consider this thought about God, who offers His love to all.
“God speaks to the crowd, but his call comes to individuals, and through their personal obedience he acts. He does not promise them success, or even final victory in this life. The goal of the adventure to which he commits them is in heaven. God does not promise that he will protect them from trials, from material cares, from sickness, from physical or moral suffering. He promises only that he will be with them in all these trials, and that he will sustain them if they remain faithful to him” (Paul Tournier).