STEEMCHURCH: What meaning does God's love have?

• Why do you love Jehovah?

DO YOU LOVE God? If you have already dedicated your life, you will undoubtedly answer with a resounding yes, and with all reason. For us, loving Jehovah is the most natural thing in the world. Actually, we only correspond to his love. As the Bible says, "we love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

Jehovah is always looking for ways to show that he loves us. It has given us a beautiful home, the Earth, and day by day it provides us with everything we need to keep us alive (Matthew 5: 43-48). It also takes care of something much more important: our spiritual needs. For example, he gave us his Word, the Bible. And he invites us to pray to him, to address him with the confidence that he will listen to us and that he will help us with his holy spirit (Psalm 65: 2, Luke 11:13). But his greatest sign of affection was to send his most beloved Son to rescue us from sin and death. What a great love Jehovah has for us! (John 3:16; Romans 5: 8.)

• What do we have to do to keep ourselves in God's love? b) What important question should we ask ourselves, and where do we find the answer?

Jehovah wants us to enjoy his love for all eternity. But will we achieve it? That will depend on us. The Bible exhorts Christians: "Keep yourselves in the love of God [...] with eternal life in view" (Jude 21). The use of the verb "keep on" implies that, in order not to lose Jehovah's love, we have to act. In effect, we have to correspond to his love with works. So, it is essential that each of us ask ourselves: "What should I do to show God that I love him?" To see the answer, let us read the inspired words of the apostle John: "This is what the love of God means: that we observe his commandments; and yet his commandments are not burdensome "(1 John 5: 3). Since we are interested in showing God that we love him very much, let's examine what exactly John's words mean.

• "THIS IS WHAT THE LOVE OF GOD MEANS":

• What did Juan mean by the expression "the love of God"? b) Explain how your love for Jehovah has grown in your heart.

When speaking in this verse of the "love of God," what did the apostle John mean? Not the love that God feels for us, but the love that we feel for him. Surely, you remember the time when that love began to grow in your heart.

Stop for a moment to think about those days. As he learned the truth about Jehovah and his purposes, his faith in him grew. He also came to understand that you - like everyone - had been born a sinner and that, for that reason, he was estranged from God; Even so, he offered her through Christ a wonderful opportunity: to live forever enjoying the perfection that Adam had lost (Matthew 20:28, Romans 5:12, 18). In addition, he understood the great sacrifice that Jehovah had made in sending his dearest Son to die for you. He was so touched by this demonstration of love that he could not help but feel love for Jehovah (1 John 4: 9, 10).

• How is true love demonstrated, and what have you done for the love of God?

But those feelings were not yet true love. Why do we say this? Because love goes beyond feelings and words. Loving God is much more than saying: "I love Jehovah." Like faith, true love is demonstrated by works (James 2:26). Without a doubt, when we love someone, we want to do the things that please them. And that was what happened in your case. When love for his heavenly Father took root in his heart, he wanted to live the way he likes. Perhaps he was even baptized as a Jehovah's Witness. If he did so, it is clear that he felt deep love and devotion for God, and that is why he made the most important decision of all: to promise God that he would dedicate the rest of his life to doing his will, and then symbolize that dedication by baptizing (Romans 14: 7, 8) But, as we will see below, in order to fulfill that important promise, we must do what the Apostle John points out.

• The Love of God - Because God so loved the World
  God is love! "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not be lost, may have eternal life, because God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but for the world to be saved by Him (John 3: 16-17) Jesus Christ loved the world so much that He gave Himself for him, from His rights and privileges as the only and eternal Son of God, even His own life If you wish to see the love of God, look at the cross. "In this the love of God was shown to us: In that God sent His only begotten Son, that we might live by Him. This is love: Not in that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son in propitiation for our sins "(1 John 4: 9-10)" For the wages of sin is death, plus the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord "(Romans 6:23).

• The Love of God - It's for You!
  The love of God has been revealed to us and now He is at the door and knocks.13 It is up to each individual to seek a personal relationship with God, or to reject it outright. The only barrier between us and the love of God is our free will and Jesus Christ is the door.14 "Jesus answered: 'I am the way and the truth and the life, No one comes to the Father except through Me'" (John 14). : 6). Salvation is a free gift bought and paid for with the blood of Christ. There is no other way. "I do not discard the grace of God, for if justice were the law, then Christ died for nothing!" (Galatians 2:21) You can not earn God's forgiveness through good works. How could doing the good deeds, which you should have done all your life, compensate for the countless times you have failed? God is not stupid. Even though you "pile up soap on you, the stain of your sin will remain before Me" (Jeremiah 2:22).

Once a man fell on his knees before Christ and begged him, "If you want, you can cleanse me." Christ, "having mercy" answered: "I want, be clean" (Mark 1: 40-41). We can also fall on our knees and recognize God's only provision for our sins. We can also hear: "I want, be clean." Christ voluntarily suffered the righteous indignation of God upon himself so that you did not have to; whoever accepts His death on the cross as payment for their sins will be reconciled with God whom they have offended. "And all this comes from God, who reconciled us to himself by Christ God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not taking men into account of his sins. To him who knew no sin, he made us sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him "(2 Corinthians 5: 18-19, 21). Would you accept the love of God today?