Jesus Christ is my God!
Issued 14.08.2007
Holy Love
What is true love? If you could love your neighbour with God's love, you would be living true life. However you cannot do it until you first have received His love.
Appearance of God's love
God proved His love for us by becoming man in Jesus Christ so that we would be able to know Him. Jesus lived a human life in the way that perfectly carried out God's love. God has granted Jesus to suffer the punishment that our wickedness deserves so that we would be able to get forgiveness for our sins. This is love that suffered everything.
Does this kind of love make an impact on you! Is this message even worth telling to those who think they are good? Only those who confess their own evilness can experience this to be love. If only someone repented and thought: What have I done! Woe to me, how bad I am! Is there any hope that a godless one would repent and would convert? In the heart of God there is the love which hopes for the salvation of every person.
While monitoring thoughts of people God notices that most people do not regret their evilness and do not receive His love. What does He think about this? He loved billions of people in vain. They despise His sacrifice. He knew this beforehand but even so He loved all people by granting the atoning sacrifice of Jesus to happen for the atonement of the sins of everybody. Impartially He loved every human being with the same love.
He didn't love us to gain our requited love. He loved us because He is love. Love given in vain proclaims the quality of God's love. This is love which is not self-seeking.
However if someone receives His love this cannot be without causing requited love. Whoever claims to have received God's love and doesn't love God has not truly experienced His love.
This is love for God: to obey His commands. He, who loves Him, doesn't think that His commands would be burdensome. This love believes everything that God says. Although I would do everything right, but of selfish motives, I would gain nothing. If God's love is not in me, I am nothing.
I wish that God's love would come into you when believing in Jesus, and I hope that it also remains in you till your resurrection, when you will be made perfect. Although you would not care about God's love, it doesn't remove the fact that He has loved you. It remains forever.
Faith, hope and love remain in Jesus Christ, but will they remain in you?
God proved His love for us by becoming man in Jesus Christ so that we would be able to know Him. Jesus lived a human life in the way that perfectly carried out God's love. God has granted Jesus to suffer the punishment that our wickedness deserves so that we would be able to get forgiveness for our sins. This is love that suffered everything.
Does this kind of love make an impact on you! Is this message even worth telling to those who think they are good? Only those who confess their own evilness can experience this to be love. If only someone repented and thought: What have I done! Woe to me, how bad I am! Is there any hope that a godless one would repent and would convert? In the heart of God there is the love which hopes for the salvation of every person.
While monitoring thoughts of people God notices that most people do not regret their evilness and do not receive His love. What does He think about this? He loved billions of people in vain. They despise His sacrifice. He knew this beforehand but even so He loved all people by granting the atoning sacrifice of Jesus to happen for the atonement of the sins of everybody. Impartially He loved every human being with the same love.
He didn't love us to gain our requited love. He loved us because He is love. Love given in vain proclaims the quality of God's love. This is love which is not self-seeking.
However if someone receives His love this cannot be without causing requited love. Whoever claims to have received God's love and doesn't love God has not truly experienced His love.
This is love for God: to obey His commands. He, who loves Him, doesn't think that His commands would be burdensome. This love believes everything that God says. Although I would do everything right, but of selfish motives, I would gain nothing. If God's love is not in me, I am nothing.
I wish that God's love would come into you when believing in Jesus, and I hope that it also remains in you till your resurrection, when you will be made perfect. Although you would not care about God's love, it doesn't remove the fact that He has loved you. It remains forever.
Faith, hope and love remain in Jesus Christ, but will they remain in you?
Holy love and created loves
Say the word love and many think you are talking about love between man and woman. Nowadays for many people the meaning of this word is only sensual pleasure of a sexual intercourse. For most people this word means that persons who love each other are either relatives or friends or they are of the same mind. Don't mix up God's love with these loves.
God loved His enemies, that means, He loved the rebellious mankind. It is much more than to love one's relatives, friends or kindred souls. He suffered the punishment of the people who hate Him and experienced pains for those who don't love Him. It is much more than to rejoice at one's spouse or to be good to those who are good to you.
God's love is holy love, because it originates from a quite different source than all other things that are considered love.
God has created love between man and woman but God's love is not created love. When someone loves one's spouse or children, the person loves himself. A created love will pass away, but God's love is eternal.
A created love and the eternal love are not equal in value. If you think too much of a created love, this attitude of yours can prevent you from finding your true bliss and causes you to reject God's holy love. Those, who honour more created things than the Creator, don't recognize eternal values.
Say the word love and many think you are talking about love between man and woman. Nowadays for many people the meaning of this word is only sensual pleasure of a sexual intercourse. For most people this word means that persons who love each other are either relatives or friends or they are of the same mind. Don't mix up God's love with these loves.
God loved His enemies, that means, He loved the rebellious mankind. It is much more than to love one's relatives, friends or kindred souls. He suffered the punishment of the people who hate Him and experienced pains for those who don't love Him. It is much more than to rejoice at one's spouse or to be good to those who are good to you.
God's love is holy love, because it originates from a quite different source than all other things that are considered love.
God has created love between man and woman but God's love is not created love. When someone loves one's spouse or children, the person loves himself. A created love will pass away, but God's love is eternal.
A created love and the eternal love are not equal in value. If you think too much of a created love, this attitude of yours can prevent you from finding your true bliss and causes you to reject God's holy love. Those, who honour more created things than the Creator, don't recognize eternal values.
Love as an idol
We often hear it said that all loves are different expressions of the same thing. They speak about agape, fileo and eros loves. All these three Greek words mean love. The Bible uses the word agape about the love of God because it makes a clear difference between God's love and the love of friends (fileo) and the love of spouses (eros). Choosing of this word tells us about the holiness of God's love. Love to a friend or to a spouse is not expressions of God's love.
Marital love is a created thing and it will run out. Jesus proclaims that in the new world there will be no marriages. Sexuality is only for this time. In a wedding they often read the Bible passage of 1Cor.13 "the praise of love", as if it somehow was linked with the situation. However that text speaks about God's love and not about love between a man and a woman.
That text is read, because it is believed that a feeling of falling in love would be able to cause the things mentioned in the praise of love. Practice proves that human love is not able to do it. So what is this all about? It is worshipping of the feeling of falling in love. Especially this is typical for the western civilization. An idol worshipping often uses nice words which are not true. Therefore it is not a wonder that exalted words of God's love are used to praise the Eros idol.
When erotic love has been in this way raised on the same level with the love of God it defames His love. Reading that Bible passage at the great moment of the romantic love is worshipping an idol. It is no wonder that this happens in the Greco-Roman civilization, because Eros is an old Greek idol.
Pink little angels don't represent God's love but human ecstasy of falling in love. Blood-red Jesus, the Son of God executed on the cross represents the holy eternal love. In that event God loved His enemies!
Who is able to look at God's love in the Crucified One! Many consider it such an ugly sight that they want to cover it with flowers or with other mawkish things. This sight is unfolded to be love only for those who have received God's testimony of their own evilness.
Many would like to get forgiveness for their bad deeds, but they would not like to face their own badness. They think their bad deeds are only mistakes of good persons. Therefore they make God's love into a rosy cross. They want to cover the bloodiness of the cross in every way, because atoning blood tells that God hates evil doers.
Also love between friends is a created thing and it will run out. Peter loved Jesus as his best friend. In the flame of his love he affirmed: "A friend will not be forsaken." However he had to experience it bitterly how his love disappeared like the early dew when he at dawn denied knowing Jesus.
If our love for God is only like loving of a friend, it is as the early morning dew which dissipates when the Sun rises. God has created friendship and the marital love which are beautiful, but woe to us, if exalting of friendship prevents us from sharing the love that gave His only begotten Son for the sake of His enemies.
The mutual unity of the Jesus believers is based on God's love and not on friendship. However, in practice it is human friendship that keeps many believers together and not God's love.
Many altars have been built on friendship. Good brother clubs are closed fellowships where friends love each other. Often these people oppress those who are outside their friendship. Therefore the oppressed ones find their own friends with whom they have a good working unity.
God's love contains a new kind of "friendship", where we are one in God. The human friendship is only a weak shadow compared to the unity that God's people experience in the Spirit of God. The unity of the Spirit unites the believers to each other not a human friendship.
Who is able to look at a human being for whom God gave His only Son! If you were able to see yourself as such a person, see also others in the same way. The Gospel presents a true human being to us and many consider this sight so ugly that they want to cover up it with something. They hide their hostility to God. All people, who have become God lovers, are His former enemies.
Only those who have received God's testimony of their own evilness can take up a loving view of all people. He, who knows his own evilness and has been released from it in Jesus, is able to see the badness of all people. Knowing the truth about man sets us free from demanding or waiting for too much from human love.
We often hear it said that all loves are different expressions of the same thing. They speak about agape, fileo and eros loves. All these three Greek words mean love. The Bible uses the word agape about the love of God because it makes a clear difference between God's love and the love of friends (fileo) and the love of spouses (eros). Choosing of this word tells us about the holiness of God's love. Love to a friend or to a spouse is not expressions of God's love.
Marital love is a created thing and it will run out. Jesus proclaims that in the new world there will be no marriages. Sexuality is only for this time. In a wedding they often read the Bible passage of 1Cor.13 "the praise of love", as if it somehow was linked with the situation. However that text speaks about God's love and not about love between a man and a woman.
That text is read, because it is believed that a feeling of falling in love would be able to cause the things mentioned in the praise of love. Practice proves that human love is not able to do it. So what is this all about? It is worshipping of the feeling of falling in love. Especially this is typical for the western civilization. An idol worshipping often uses nice words which are not true. Therefore it is not a wonder that exalted words of God's love are used to praise the Eros idol.
When erotic love has been in this way raised on the same level with the love of God it defames His love. Reading that Bible passage at the great moment of the romantic love is worshipping an idol. It is no wonder that this happens in the Greco-Roman civilization, because Eros is an old Greek idol.
Pink little angels don't represent God's love but human ecstasy of falling in love. Blood-red Jesus, the Son of God executed on the cross represents the holy eternal love. In that event God loved His enemies!
Who is able to look at God's love in the Crucified One! Many consider it such an ugly sight that they want to cover it with flowers or with other mawkish things. This sight is unfolded to be love only for those who have received God's testimony of their own evilness.
Many would like to get forgiveness for their bad deeds, but they would not like to face their own badness. They think their bad deeds are only mistakes of good persons. Therefore they make God's love into a rosy cross. They want to cover the bloodiness of the cross in every way, because atoning blood tells that God hates evil doers.
Also love between friends is a created thing and it will run out. Peter loved Jesus as his best friend. In the flame of his love he affirmed: "A friend will not be forsaken." However he had to experience it bitterly how his love disappeared like the early dew when he at dawn denied knowing Jesus.
If our love for God is only like loving of a friend, it is as the early morning dew which dissipates when the Sun rises. God has created friendship and the marital love which are beautiful, but woe to us, if exalting of friendship prevents us from sharing the love that gave His only begotten Son for the sake of His enemies.
The mutual unity of the Jesus believers is based on God's love and not on friendship. However, in practice it is human friendship that keeps many believers together and not God's love.
Many altars have been built on friendship. Good brother clubs are closed fellowships where friends love each other. Often these people oppress those who are outside their friendship. Therefore the oppressed ones find their own friends with whom they have a good working unity.
God's love contains a new kind of "friendship", where we are one in God. The human friendship is only a weak shadow compared to the unity that God's people experience in the Spirit of God. The unity of the Spirit unites the believers to each other not a human friendship.
Who is able to look at a human being for whom God gave His only Son! If you were able to see yourself as such a person, see also others in the same way. The Gospel presents a true human being to us and many consider this sight so ugly that they want to cover up it with something. They hide their hostility to God. All people, who have become God lovers, are His former enemies.
Only those who have received God's testimony of their own evilness can take up a loving view of all people. He, who knows his own evilness and has been released from it in Jesus, is able to see the badness of all people. Knowing the truth about man sets us free from demanding or waiting for too much from human love.
Love and freedom
Think how kind and gentle God is. Angels and men dared to rebel against Him, because near Him there is freedom. In His nearness there is not an authoritative menace of judgment, which we so often experience in the company of some people. You have freedom to make wrong choices.
Although we have freedom to make choices, we have not got freedom from consequences of our deeds. You have freedom to desire and do evil but you are also liable for the results of your freedom. God will sentence for all deeds with justice. He has installed His judgments inside His creation so that we partly suffer the consequences of our deeds already now, though their final consequences we will not face until in eternity.
Freedom from consequences of bad deeds is the dream of every evil doer. You see, how much people love this thought: You can do freely whatever you want without any fear of judgment! In fact this kind of freedom doesn't exist, even though you would very much like to have it.
Does it exist, love that forgives endlessly? If it did, by it you would reach the same result as by denying the existence of judgment. You could do evil as much as wanted without any fear of judgment, because you could only ask forgiveness and the matter would be resolved in that way. In fact this doesn't exist either, because only those who repent are forgiven and they who have experienced God's mercy don't want to continue doing the deeds for which they just got forgiveness.
You can try to get the forgiveness of God and at the same time refuse to experience His love. In this way you get strength to wrong again, because you are free from fear of judgment but also free from His love. This kind of attitude hardens your heart. Finally you are not able to receive forgiveness, no matter how much you confess your sins.
It is not God's fault, if you are not able to get forgiveness for your sins. When you don't get forgiveness the reason is not in God, as if He was not ready to forgive you again. This is the reason: You are not any more able to receive His mercy. It is extremely dangerous to try to separate God's forgiveness from His love. If your heart is badly hardened, don't ask forgiveness for your sins, but only look at the sight of God's love when Jesus suffered on the cross just for the very deeds you feel remorse for.
If only your love of doing evil died while watching God who suffered for you! Confess your badness to Jesus over and over again and accept the judgment you deserve. Ask for nothing, just do by the truth. Finally you will hear the merciful words of Jesus: "Take heart, your sins are forgiven."
Think how kind and gentle God is. Angels and men dared to rebel against Him, because near Him there is freedom. In His nearness there is not an authoritative menace of judgment, which we so often experience in the company of some people. You have freedom to make wrong choices.
Although we have freedom to make choices, we have not got freedom from consequences of our deeds. You have freedom to desire and do evil but you are also liable for the results of your freedom. God will sentence for all deeds with justice. He has installed His judgments inside His creation so that we partly suffer the consequences of our deeds already now, though their final consequences we will not face until in eternity.
Freedom from consequences of bad deeds is the dream of every evil doer. You see, how much people love this thought: You can do freely whatever you want without any fear of judgment! In fact this kind of freedom doesn't exist, even though you would very much like to have it.
Does it exist, love that forgives endlessly? If it did, by it you would reach the same result as by denying the existence of judgment. You could do evil as much as wanted without any fear of judgment, because you could only ask forgiveness and the matter would be resolved in that way. In fact this doesn't exist either, because only those who repent are forgiven and they who have experienced God's mercy don't want to continue doing the deeds for which they just got forgiveness.
You can try to get the forgiveness of God and at the same time refuse to experience His love. In this way you get strength to wrong again, because you are free from fear of judgment but also free from His love. This kind of attitude hardens your heart. Finally you are not able to receive forgiveness, no matter how much you confess your sins.
It is not God's fault, if you are not able to get forgiveness for your sins. When you don't get forgiveness the reason is not in God, as if He was not ready to forgive you again. This is the reason: You are not any more able to receive His mercy. It is extremely dangerous to try to separate God's forgiveness from His love. If your heart is badly hardened, don't ask forgiveness for your sins, but only look at the sight of God's love when Jesus suffered on the cross just for the very deeds you feel remorse for.
If only your love of doing evil died while watching God who suffered for you! Confess your badness to Jesus over and over again and accept the judgment you deserve. Ask for nothing, just do by the truth. Finally you will hear the merciful words of Jesus: "Take heart, your sins are forgiven."
Receiving love
We are not able to love and we are not able to receive love. Thus is it no wonder if we are without love. Love comes from God. He is the only one who is able to love. If He doesn't love first, nobody can love.
Nobody has got God's love as an inborn ability. Everybody must receive it by hearing the Gospel of God. You can love only if you have first experienced that God loves you.
Our inability to receive God's love is our basic problem. This difficulty is like a dam which prevents the stream of heavenly blessings from coming into our life. If you don't get your share of God's love during your life, you will be left without it forever. Look at everything what you see around you in this world. It is created only for that purpose that you could among it receive God's love and live by its power.
Every day the Spirit of God proves to all people of the world that they are evil. The Spirit of truth has been sent out into all the world convicting people of their guilt, testifying to God's innocence and proving the justice of His judgments.
Everyone who resists the testimony of God's Spirit makes himself incapable of receiving God's love. Only those who submit to truth are able to receive love.
Jesus appeared to a believer and asked: "Why don't you want to receive my love?" This man had believed the Gospel some years ago and had rejoiced that he had gotten forgiveness for his former, current and even future sins for the sake of what Jesus did on the cross. Therefore this question surprised him. What did Jesus mean?
This man was dissatisfied with the circumstances of his life and was complaining to God about his sufferings. His sins had caused his pains. God gave those pains to the man so that he could understand that the sufferings of Jesus are consequences of our evilness. This discipline was love which aroused the will to be shuddered at evilness and gave strength to turn away from it. If you don't understand that the discipline is love offered to you, but complain to God about the judgment you experienced, it is as if you didn't want to receive His love.
If the one who has been sentenced for a crime complains about the judgment, he cannot at the same time ask for pardoning. So are you still disputing with the Spirit of God about your judgment? How such a complainer could receive God's love!
He, who is ready to identify himself with the crucified Son of God, is able to receive God's love. He took my part as the target of the wrath and judgment of God, so that my heart that is craving for evil would be broken. Don't be afraid of your breaking in the hands of God - from those pieces He will create a new heart for you in the power of the resurrection of Jesus.
We are not able to love and we are not able to receive love. Thus is it no wonder if we are without love. Love comes from God. He is the only one who is able to love. If He doesn't love first, nobody can love.
Nobody has got God's love as an inborn ability. Everybody must receive it by hearing the Gospel of God. You can love only if you have first experienced that God loves you.
Our inability to receive God's love is our basic problem. This difficulty is like a dam which prevents the stream of heavenly blessings from coming into our life. If you don't get your share of God's love during your life, you will be left without it forever. Look at everything what you see around you in this world. It is created only for that purpose that you could among it receive God's love and live by its power.
Every day the Spirit of God proves to all people of the world that they are evil. The Spirit of truth has been sent out into all the world convicting people of their guilt, testifying to God's innocence and proving the justice of His judgments.
Everyone who resists the testimony of God's Spirit makes himself incapable of receiving God's love. Only those who submit to truth are able to receive love.
Jesus appeared to a believer and asked: "Why don't you want to receive my love?" This man had believed the Gospel some years ago and had rejoiced that he had gotten forgiveness for his former, current and even future sins for the sake of what Jesus did on the cross. Therefore this question surprised him. What did Jesus mean?
This man was dissatisfied with the circumstances of his life and was complaining to God about his sufferings. His sins had caused his pains. God gave those pains to the man so that he could understand that the sufferings of Jesus are consequences of our evilness. This discipline was love which aroused the will to be shuddered at evilness and gave strength to turn away from it. If you don't understand that the discipline is love offered to you, but complain to God about the judgment you experienced, it is as if you didn't want to receive His love.
If the one who has been sentenced for a crime complains about the judgment, he cannot at the same time ask for pardoning. So are you still disputing with the Spirit of God about your judgment? How such a complainer could receive God's love!
He, who is ready to identify himself with the crucified Son of God, is able to receive God's love. He took my part as the target of the wrath and judgment of God, so that my heart that is craving for evil would be broken. Don't be afraid of your breaking in the hands of God - from those pieces He will create a new heart for you in the power of the resurrection of Jesus.