A Life Poured Out

When you consider the statement, “God is love,” what do you think it means? Verses like 1 John 4:16 don’t just say that “God is loving,” they define God as “love.” The problem for us is our misuse and often cheapening of this powerful word. When I say, “I love popcorn,” I’m not saying very much (except that I rarely turn down an opportunity to enjoy that particular snack). When God tells us he loves us, God means something profoundly important. For God to define himself as “love,” when God says that the essence of his life and character is summarized as “love,” it lifts our understanding up to a whole new level.

First of all, let’s take time to reflect on biblical definitions of God’s love. Jesus commanded his apprentices to “love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44). Human love is usually a response to someone else’s loving, encouraging, giving. To love an enemy who is only working to harm you is divine. God set the standard when he demonstrated his love for us “while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8). Even when it comes to our neighbors Jesus instructed us to love them “as yourself” (Matthew 22:39), to put others alongside of our self rather than seeing everyone with our self at the center. “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves” (Romans 12:10). The “Law of Love” teaches us that, if God’s love is ruling in our hearts and lives, we would never do anything that might injure the faith of a brother or sister. “If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died” (Romans 14:15). Even when we know we are “right,” when we have more knowledge about some area of truth, we can never forget that “knowledge puffs up while love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). Paul went so far as to say that in the end only three qualities will abide, and that “the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). Christ-followers must “do everything in love” (1 Corinthians 16:14), for, “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6).

When celebrating the Passover meal with his disciples Jesus began by washing their feet. Before telling them he was about to give his life, Jesus gave them this command: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35). Loving one another was not, in fact, a new command; loving one another “as I have loved you” was new. Jesus was not just asking for a high degree of normal, human love, he was looking for a divine quality of love, a self-giving, self-sacrificing kind of love. In fact, Jesus went on to say, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). God’s love is a life poured out. God’s love can also be seen in a “perfect unity.” “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:22-23). When God’s love is ruling, human hearts and minds are united together around God’s throne, without division and diversion.

God’s love is so powerful nothing will ever be able to separate us from God’s love. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

This divine quality of love is the ultimate mark of a Christians. The same love Jesus demonstrated in his life and death is now to be demonstrated in our lives. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16). And this love is actually very practical. “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” (1 John 3:17).

Frankly, this kind of love is not humanly possible. But with God, all things are possible. In fact, Paul taught that when God sent his Holy Spirit to abide in our human hearts, with the Spirit God sent his love as well. “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). Our challenge is to allow God’s love to rule in our hearts more and more.

God’s love is infinite, voluntary, and unconditional. God’s love is expressed as a continuous, sacrificial self-giving. While we can try to define the nature and quality of God’s love, it’s best to contemplate pictures of divine love. Put simply, the love of God is best seen in Jesus – in every aspect of the life and ministry of Jesus – from the cradle to the cross. When we celebrate the birth of Christ on Christmas day we see God’s love being shouted from the hills surrounding Bethlehem. At the same time, we remember that Jesus came to die for all humankind. Jesus was God’s life poured out, the final word about God and God’s love for humanity. This is what we are celebrating and proclaiming. “God so loved the world that he gave!”