The Journey of Understanding God's love 2

Welcome back, guys! Just want us to take a small moment to thank God that we’re alive today here and breathing. This is definitely, something I take for granted but it’s such a big blessing for real! THANK YOU JESUS❤️

Let’s get started!

We left the last devotional on the note of “we can’t know love if we don’t know God”. You see the thing with God is whilst he is love personified, he understood that because of original sin ( i.e. Adam and Eve’s initial disobedience to God in the Garden of Eden) there was always going to be a distance between us and him. This distance disheartened him, to the extent he had mercy and he redeemed us. Hence the grand redemption plan, something I coined as the “Greatest Love Story Ever told”. Here’s why:

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) 

This is a LOT to take in, so let’s dissect and simplify this together. For better understanding, let’s use the word “God” and “love” interchangeably ( this is under the assumption that you’ve accepted the premise that God is love). 

1. God is patient, patient enough to spend years and years theorising a divine masterplan despite immense ignorance from humanity. His reaction was patience whilst humanity turned its face from God, day in day out. It would’ve been so easy for God to neglect this plan and simply do it the easier way and give up on us, after all, we neglected him anyway but that would be out of his character!

2. God is kind, kind enough to extend his grace and mercy to us. Kind enough to give us his only son (John 3:16). Kind enough to make this sacrifice. Kind enough to care more about others than himself. This is love. This is his character.

3. God is not prideful, if he was he would’ve left us the moment we left him. The moment we decided to separate from him in the garden, he too could’ve separated himself. A boastful God would have had the attitude of “I am the almighty God, I even spared you and gave you life. I made you in MY image. MY image and what did you do??? Neglected me, you didn’t even deserve me. I spared you enough to make you something and this is how you treat me!!!”. Instead, his attitude is NOTHING like this it’s the complete OPPOSITE of this. He welcomes us with WIDE arms open, his word even says he would choose YOU over the 99. He’d pick you. Despite your past, your mistakes he still chooses you. ( Luke 15:7). 

4. God doesn’t demand his own way, he loves us enough to give us free will. He wants us to freely choose him, to pick him. The easy option would have been for him to force us to come to him but that’s out of his character!

5. God doesn’t keep any record of wrong. I love this attribute the most because it just reiterates that there is never too far with God. He doesn’t look at you worse, he even looks at you with more love and more joy when we run to him. He’s just happy for us to know the truth. This is his character.

6. God rejoices when truth wins out, there is just so much JOY and rejoicing in heaven when we come back to the truth. When we come back to God. Read the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), he just celebrates because we were lost but now we’re found. This is his character. This is love.

7. God never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. His is there through it all, he’s rooting for you. He still adores you. He’ll never leave. It’s not in his character! He doesn’t look back on us. We neglect he accepts. We run he stays. This is his character. This is who he is! His love doesn’t run out, his love never fails. 

Just from reading 1 Corinthians 13, it just fills me with so much JOY, that even when I don’t realise it he’s working. He’s working in love and nothing I can ever do will stop this. It’s who he is, it’s his character and that to me makes me so so pleased to know that the WHOLE of heaven rejoicing at a lost soul has come back into the kingdom. He’s rooting for me!! He’s rooting for you!! This to me is love personified, and it's honestly the greatest story ever told because genuinely there were plenty of opportunities for God to give up, he could’ve given up with Adam and Eve, he could’ve given up with David neglected him for all those years. Jesus could’ve given up when he was betrayed 3 times.

I know if it was me, the moment that Eve snaked it I would have 10000% said this isn’t worth it, but that’s the point I’m not God. We aren’t God. We are the children of God. Not to undermine us, but there is beauty in us being the children of God. We’re learning from him, we see him as the greatest example of how we should lead our life. The thing about God is, his greatest desire is for us to follow his example, the best thing we can do is obedience to his commandments. And he genuinely loved us enough to make it easier for us by giving us, Jesus Christ. His own son as a practical example of how this love thing works. 

Today's Encouragement:

God is so madly in love with you, he is so very pleased to know you. His heart is full that you want to develop your relationship with him. That you want to get to know him. The heavens are smiling at you! You're doing amazing honestly! He thinks you're amazing. He died for this moment (honestly he did). 

Today's Prayer:

Heavenly Father, I just want to commit us - your children into your hands. Thank you for your first love, thank you for taking a chance on us. thank you for dying for us. Holy Spirit, I pray that you just continue to remind us of your love in all that we do. That we would see your guiding hand in everything we do. I commit our way into your hands and say Father Lord take God control. Use us as an example of your love. In Jesus' name, we pray.. and the church says "AMENNN" !!!!!

Anyway, honestly friends I thoroughly enjoyed writing this! I know I said we'd go into the cycle of love but honestly the spirt was just directing me to focus on his love for just a bit more! Hope you're blessed! Don't forget to check out our Instagram for today's worship morning (or evening). VERY timely cover of "Reckless Love". Let me leave you guys! But for now, remember Jesus is so so in love with you xxx