A Fuller Picture of God’s Love

My focus in this 5-part series on love has been to point out that God’s special love is what we’re called to, specifically by letting God express His Spirit through us. This is how we become lights on a hill and salt for others (Matt 5:13-16). While this is certainly not wrong, I’ve realized that this understanding is incomplete.

God’s love for us is not just expressed in His choices and actions, such as sending Christ for us. It also reflects who He is in His very being.

What are the different aspects of God’s love?  I believe the Father God statements in The Steps to Freedom in Christ and other FICM materials give us a broader picture of God's love. His love is emotional, relational, caring, and supportive.  Here are some examples: 

God is kind and compassionate toward me. 

God is joyfully supportive of me. 

God is warm and affectionate toward me. 

God leads me into love, joy, and peace when I am filled with the Holy Spirit.

Building on that final sentence, note that the fruit of the Spirit contains emotionally and intimately charged traits such as love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and faithfulness (Galatians 5:22). 

My proposal, then, is that our ability to have healthy and godly relationships is one of the many ways we reflect God’s image. Loving others in a healthy way is a result of His image is us. 

In a devotional I was reading recently, I was struck by what the authors pointed out about David in Psalm 18: “When he (David) says, ‘I love you, Lord,’ he uses an unusual Hebrew word that conveys deep emotion and passion...” (Timothy and Kathy Keller, The Songs of Jesus, p. 26). 

How can David express such deep emotion and passion toward God?  Perhaps it was because he was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). And God’s own heart is full of passionate love. 

As I learn more about God, there are always new surprises.  But this one is particularly special to me as it helps me more fully love God and others.