Bible – When we ask for the love of God, the creator of the heavens and the earth; Find an obvious sign, what can we say?
Isn’t the existence of this world, which we can explore and benefit from with the help of our human knowledge, enough to show God’s love?
Isn’t the existence of this body and the abilities placed in it by him enough to bring us face to face with God who truly loves us and His love for us is revealed in this very creation of the body?
In fact, all that we can use in creation, directly or indirectly, show God’s love for us.
When we read about the creation of man in the book of Genesis (1:26):
“… He ruled over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth, and over all the creeping things that creep on the earth”;
Is it just that God is showing us His true love by giving us humans the sovereignty that He truly deserves?
It’s like the boss of your workplace making you a full-time employee there, while you don’t deserve it.
Or even more, it is like a powerful king who rules a large country, entrusts his authority to you, even though you do not deserve it here (like the boss of your workplace).
In fact, the work of that boss or king will show his affection towards you.
But let’s change our way from the book of Genesis and the Old Testament to the New Testament and the Gospel of John in the journey that we talked about in the beginning of this article and during which we were supposed to travel the verses.
It is like the boat that we mentioned in the first part of this article falls from the waterfall and puts us at a great distance from our original place.
So we go to the third chapter and the sixteenth verse in the Gospel of John:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
In this verse, we are faced with another sign of God’s love for us. In this sign, the reason of God’s love for us humans is that he gives his “only son” so that we can find eternal life.
In fact, this verse does not say that God will not show us His love through other ways, but rather wants to emphasize a special way.
“Only Son” in biblical terms means Jesus Christ.
This verse refers to a very basic teaching in Christianity.
The doctrine based on which Jesus Christ goes to the cross for our sins so that we can find eternal life by accepting his work on the cross.
Beloved, God’s love for us is revealed from the fact that God (“only begotten son”, representing God’s becoming human), sacrifices himself for our sins.
Like a king who not only gives you his entire kingdom, but even bigger than that, he gives his life to save you.
From Christ’s work on the cross, we discover God’s love for us. In the continuation of this journey, we will discuss the topic of “our love for God”.
Have you ever thought that God loves us? So join us to check this issue.
That we humans can love God includes two basic questions:
First: Can we basically love God?
Second: If the answer to the first question is yes; How can we love God?
The answer to the first question is yes. Let’s not forget that in this series of writings, we are supposed to examine love in the mirror of the Bible. In the book of Deuteronomy 5:6, we clearly read: “Love Jehovah your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” But regarding the second question, it may seem that the same verse defines how to love God in the phrase “to love with all one’s heart, soul and strength”. But with a little care, we find out that here we are talking about the extent and intensity of this love, and not about its type. It is necessary that we love God with all our being. As the saying goes, “with every cell of ours” and to love him intensely. Only such love can enable us to do what Christ said in John 21:14.
But what did Christ say in the Gospel of John?
On the journey that we promised in the first part of these writings, here we are in that part of the river where watching a scene fascinates us. This is the scene that makes our boat linger limply on the bank, and we contemplate such a fascinating scene during this river trip. Like the Gospel of John, which focuses on keeping the commandments. Now we turn all our eyes to John 14:14; Jesus wants us to keep his commandments and follow them, and he sees this as a sign of his love. In order to love God, we must keep His commandments, that is, we must both keep them and follow them. We see that memorizing and keeping the commandments alone is not enough. This work is only an introduction that should lead to following and acting on those commandments.
But what are these rules?
It is necessary for us to keep the ten commandments and follow them (Exodus chapter 20). Following the ten commandments is like loving God or the first commandment that Jesus clearly declares in John 10:15. It is also necessary to love our neighbor as ourselves. The unlimited God, who is the creator of the universe and its absolute ruler, gives permission for us limited humans to love him. Loving in the form of the ten commandments, loving our neighbor and other commandments that are found in the letters of Christ’s apostles in the New Testament. Commandments that cause our spiritual building and growth. Continuing the journey that we have started in the Bible verses to find the practical meanings of love, in the next part, we will deal with the topic of “loving one’s neighbor”. But in this regard, we would like you to share your views on the concept of “loving your neighbor” with us.
Today in the article : Love in the mirror of the Bible (Part II) We reviewed useful information about the Bible and the way of Jesus. If you wish, you can view other articles of Ali Vahidi about Christianity
