by Peter F. Whyte, 14 Feb 2007
The Bible has a lot to say about love, including a whole book about enduring human love (The Song of Songs). But its most amazing passages are about God’s love for sinful human beings. Here’s a little to get you thinking about God’s love.
Love is
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,
but have not love, I am only a resounding gong
or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy
and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have a faith that can move mountains,
but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor
and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love,
I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
...
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love.
(1 Corinthians 13:1-13 NIV)
Such love
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned,
but whoever does not believe stands condemned already
because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
(Gospel of John 3:16-18 NIV)
God’s love and ours
This is love: not that we loved God,
but that he loved us and sent his Son
as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Dear friends, since God so loved us,
we also ought to love one another.
No-one has ever seen God; but if we love one another,
God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
(1 John 4:10-12 NIV)
The Greatest Commandment
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating.
Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer,
he asked him, Of all the commandments,
which is the most important? The most important one,
answered Jesus, is this:
'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind
and with all your strength.' The second is this:
'Love your neighbour as yourself.'
There is no commandment greater than these.
Well said, teacher, the man replied.
You are right in saying that God is one
and there is no other but him.
To love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding and with all your strength,
and to love your neighbour as yourself is more important
than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.
When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely,
he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God.
And from then on no-one dared ask him any more questions.
(Gospel of Mark 12:28-34 NIV)
