In our lives, love is an internal motivator that can begin in a moment, develop, grow, mature, even fade and die. As humans we can run from love, fall in love, and be captivated by love. Our sense and feelings of love can even cause us to overlook the faults in others. Love is a very powerful force.
When we consider such fluctuations in human love, we can find ourselves wondering about God’s love. What assurance do we have that our Eternal Father’s love for us is more stable and dependable than our wavering sense of love? Can it be gained or lost? So we ask, how is God-Love experienced?
God’s Expressions
Scripture describes the stabilized assurance of God’s love in many ways. One of the first is “I Am Who I Am!” (a) [see end notes for Scriptures] He does not change. This is enlarged by phrases like without beginning or end, (b) always present, (c) all-powerful, (d) all-knowing, (e) and invisible to the eye. (f) The Eternal One’s love for us is not inhibited by the inconsistencies of this natural life.
Consider this scriptural passage: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?…For…neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor…any…created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God.” (g)
Did you notice how comprehensive this is? Not even death (our earthly end) can remove us from God’s love. Can we even comprehend such love? As we observe God’s expressions and interact with His abiding presence, we can partake of elements of His unchanging love.
The Apostle John identifies love as one of the two core essences of the Eternal Spirit of God: “Love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God…God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.“ (h) God not only expresses love, He is Love!
Our Creator is the originating source of all love. His love is what brings each of us into this life, as His offspring. (i) When we consider our beginnings, we can see why God cares for us. When God infused a deposit of His spirit into the first man, breath came into the formed body. The deposit of God’s Spirit gave him life. (j) Our breath is evidence that each person has a deposit of God’s Spirit.
God-Love is what sustains us through our birth and developing processes; “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.” (k) The life-giving deposit of breathe connects each person to our heavenly Father and enables us to sense and experience the reality of His loving essence.
The spirit of life in each person is a deposit of God that sustains natural life. (l) We are all small and immature images and likenesses of God, intended to reflect and resemble our heavenly parent. (m)
God not only expresses love, He is Love!
God-In-Christ
To help us better understand God’s desire to lead and guide us through this natural life, His spoken expression (word – Greek logos) came into the earth and lived as the man Jesus Christ. (n) The life and sacrificial death of Jesus was to reveal the forgiving love that God has for all of us. (o)
God-Love is not like our love which 
can come and go. God even illustrated the depth of His love in that; “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten (unique) Son.” (p) How much does God love us? His loving-forgiveness is so complete that He intends to not leave anyone in our error. Yes, “God is the savior of all men, especially of believers.“ (q) Believers are the more obvious recipients.
Jesus also illustrated how we are intended to live this life as God’s expressions, as children of God. Jesus listened to God, agreed with what God revealed, and followed his Father’s guidance. (r) He was the most exact human example of God’s character, attitude and personality (CAP).
At the end of the physical demonstration of God’s image and likeness, the spoken word that lived as a son of God ascended out of human sight to function outside of a physical body, once again as the unencumbered expression of God. (s)
A few days later the “Spirit of the Father and the Son” (t) returned to dwell with us as an anointing presence. The image of Jesus became the real mediator between us and God. (u) The Holy Spirit of the Father and Jesus now abides with us to guide us into a more abundant life.
Notice how Jesus described God-Love as our guide: “Love your enemies…bless those who curse you…and you will be (responsive) sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (v)
The beneficial qualities and actions of God-Love are clearly amplified in this passage: “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous…does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered…rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things…never fails.“ (w) God-Love truly is amazing!
While there are times when we don’t hear clearly, ignore, or refuse God’s loving guidance, His love for us remains “steadfast,” (x) “unfailing.” (y) God’s love is so full and complete, it appears to be “unsearchable.” (z) God-in-Christ reveals God-Love as a factor that we can count on.
The image of Jesus became the real mediator between us and God.
A Spiritual Force
How do we experience God-Love? The spiritual side of our five senses is what enables us to see, taste, touch and feel spiritual realities. (aa) God-Love and our human sense of love are integrated features. It is the spirit of life that creates our need to be loved and motivates us to love. The fruit of Spirit “is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (bb)
While the effects of love in our life are observed and can be measured, its motivation and feelings are spiritual features that are beyond natural sight or scientific analysis. God-Love is a force that is beyond the ability of science to explain because science is the study of nature and natural elements.
As offspring of God, everyone is loved by God. He desires that we know and relate to Him as our Father. (cc) When we approach and respond to God as loving children, we allow Him to transform us into better images and likenesses of His nature. (dd) Jesus said… “I am the truthful way to live. No one knows God as Father unless they approach Him as a child.” (ee) [Relational Gospel version]
When we approach God as our Father and view Jesus as our example son, (ff) we are able to live more truthfully. We really can discern what God is saying and doing, like Jesus did. This is how we are “conformed to the image of His Son,“ (gg) and experience a more “abundant life.“ (hh)
Calvary illustrated God’s all-encompassing love, declaring He forgives the whole world, everyone. (ii) God forgives our erroneous past and wants us to be reconciled to Him. (jj) He has never been angry with us, just saddened that we ignore His fatherly guidance. Forgiveness has always been in God’s heart, as a restoring characteristic of His love. Our repentant attitude allows God to save us from our misconceptions and destructive lifestyles and even be a restoring factor for one another.
We can ignore God’s love and even run from it. His love however, is so vast that it even appears to be unsearchable. Luckily, our sinful ways and refusal to accept His guidance is not able to over-ride the constancy of God-Love. (kk) God’s all-inclusive and never-ending love is ours to receive and to share!
Forgiveness has always been in God’s heart, as a restoring characteristic of His love.
a) Exodus 3:14; b) 1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16; c) Psalm 139:7; d) Job 11:7; Jeremiah 32:17; e) Psalm 139:1-4; f) 2 Corinthians 4:18; g) Romans 8:35, 38-39; h) 1 John 4:7-8, 16; i) Job 31:15; Jeremiah 1:5; j) Genesis 2:7; k) Romans 11:32-36; Psalm 139:13; l) 1 Corinthians 2:10-11; m) Genesis 1:26; Colossians 1:15; Acts 17:22-29; n) John 1:1, 14; o) 1 Peter 1:18-20; p) 1 John 4:7-10; John 3:16; q) 1 Timothy 4:10; r) John 5:19; John 8:26, 40; 12:49 John 5:19; John 8:26, 40; 12:49; s) John 17:5; t) John 14: 23; 1 John 1:3; u) 1 Timothy 2:5; v) Luke 6:27-28, 35-36; w) 1 Corinthians 13:4-8; x) 2 Thessalonians 3:5; y) Romans 8:38-39; z) Romans 11:32-34; aa) Hebrews 5:14; Psalm 32:8; bb) Genesis 5:22-23; cc) John 1:12; 14:6; dd) Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:20-24; ee) John 14:6; ff) John 8:19; gg) Romans 8:29; hh) John 13:15; 1 Thessalonians 3:12; ii) 1 John 2:2; Titus 3:4-6; jj) Romans 3:25-26; 5:8, 10; kk) Romans 3:3; 9:15-16
Keith Carroll, “The Relationship Guy”
Relational Gospel Founder
Created To Relate author