"I Love You"-- a.k.a.-- "I Give You"

"And we have known and believed the love that God has for us.  God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him." (1 John 4:16)

Do not mistake the "love" spoken of here for the "works" love, a love which is entirely motivated by some perverted sense of guilt and self serving.  There are those who make "love" their god so that they can appear to be compassionate, caring people.  They do "caring" things, but, as our Lord Jesus said, "their heart is far from Me."  The reason the text can say, "he who abides in love abides in God," is that the "love" spoken of here is, "agape," the love of God, which is found nowhere in the universe but in Jesus Christ. Every other expression is counterfeit.  "God is love," is not the love man describes, writes about, or sings about.  It is the Love demonstrated in the Life and Person of Jesus Christ. 

The correct translation of John 3:16 is, "For God loved the world this way-- He gave His Only Son."  He gave us Himself in Jesus.  The Love which is spoken of in our text, "God is love," is the giving love, which is only in Our Giving God.  The love of the world is, "If you are my children, I love you.  If you are pleasing to me, I love you.  If you make me happy, I love you."  Then there is a humanist "love" which is motivated by guilt.  It says, "I feel guilty with how good things are for me, so I will do certain things for you."  The political manifestation is, "And I will take money from other people to give to you in the attempt to further alleviate my guilt."  In contrast, the love of God is simply, yet profoundly, "For God loved the world this way-- He gave [Himself in] His one and only Son."

Biblical Theology reveals that God's way of saying, "I love you," is, "I give you Myself."  I wonder what might happened if we did that.

Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to be to others Your Love.  Amen.
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"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2