Working in Perfected Love
When a Christian doesn’t understand what loving God entails, one can easily fall into temptation and cheapen oneself.
Satan’s main task is to challenge your claim of God’s love for you.
From the 1st verse of our text (Deut. 7:6) there are a few truths to point out:
- You are holy. Holiness has two dimensions:
- God declaring you as holy.
- You separating yourself from things that God doesn’t like. Once you realise whom God has made you to be, living a holy life isn’t difficult.
- You are God’s own
- You’re a special treasure
In v.8 we see God’s reason for having chosen us as His own – because of His covenant.
(v.8) The word love is the Hebrew word “Ahabah”. It is an expression of passion. It is basically translated as to cling to, something you delight in and long for.
When God says I love you, what He’s actually saying is:
- I have unselfishly given myself to you for your good. All that I am is now at your disposal.
- I have chosen to steadfastly will your highest good. All I can do for your highest good I will do.
- I have a passionate affection for you. I am so passionately in love with you that I will guard you jealously.
(1John 4:9-19)
When man sinned and took Satan’s side against God, the consequence of the sin was that man died. But God didn’t give up on man, because His love for us is unending.
Until you catch the revelation of God’s love, you won’t be able to love someone else.
The word love in this text is the Greek word “Agape”. This is the word that most closely describes God’s love for us.
Agape means divine benevolence and undefeatable goodwill that always seeks the highest good of the other person no matter what he does. It’s unconditional & never ending love.
You as a man can walk away from God’s love through sin, but God’s love will never walk away from and leave you.