A Whole Lot of Love

Although there are many ways to express love, basically, there are only two kinds of love and one or the other will dominate every person. One kind of love is a natural or human kind of love in which every person has to some extent. Natural love though can speak highly of someone one moment and than the next moment completely turn around a spew words of hatred towards the same person. However, when Jesus came to earth He brought with Him a new type of love, a love that emanates from the Spirit which is the God kind of love. The very essence and most potent characteristic of God is love. The apostle John tells us, "...for love is of God..." and "...for God is love..." (1 John 4:7-8) 

One of the most exciting events that takes place when a person confesses with their mouth the Lordship of Jesus Christ and receives Him as Savior, is their dead spirit is reborn from above and they become completely new, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) To expand what this means, the Holy Spirit through the apostle John says, "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace." (John 1:16) The Holy Spirit speaking through the apostle Paul tells us, "For in Christ there is all of God in a human body; so you have everything when you have Christ, and you are filled with God through your union with Christ. He is the highest Ruler, with authority over every other power." (Colossians 2:9-10 TLB) The apostle John also states, "...as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17) 

The moment that a person experienced New Birth they immediately receive the fullness of Christ. They are immediately filled with God. They immediately have the character of Christ. Now we may not know this or we may not take advantage of what this means, but it is fact! Another characteristic of this transformation into a New Creation is that our recreated spirit is also immediately filled with the God kind of Love, "Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (Romans 5:5) Every born again person has within them the ability to love as God loves because His love dwells within us. This new kind of love becomes our nature because we are "partakers of the divine nature." (2 Peter 1:4) We also see that our recreated spirit has been infused with nine wonderful attributes that are called "The fruit of the spirit" (Galatians 5:22-23) in which the first one is love, the God kind of love.  

When believers let go of natural love and let the God kind of love dominate their life, it makes them the master of life in the same way Jesus was as He walked the earth as the Son of man. For instance, Jesus never lost His temper which led to sin. His great love made Him master over every situation. When a believer losses his/her temper, the natural man (old man) takes over. The person, situation or circumstance that caused the believer to lose their temper now becomes the master. However, if we let the God kind of love flow from us, then we become impervious to these things and stand in victory over them as master in the same manner that Jesus stood as Master over them. 

How powerful is the God kind of love? Look at the last day of Jesus ministry as the Son of man. He was beaten, mocked, spit upon and nail to the cross and yet those who did this did not realize that the moment they took Him captive, He actually became Master which eventually led Him to become the conquering King of kings and Lord of lords. "For God so LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten Son..." (John 3:16) "But God demonstrates His own LOVE toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) 

It takes faith to rest in and depend on the God kind of love to dominate our life. Remember, we have the fullness of Christ in us. God is not limiting us to operate in this manner. The only limits that are upon the believer, are the ones that the believer chooses to imposes upon himself. To operate in the God kind of love is a choice that each believer must make daily. In doing so we fulfill the commandment that Jesus has given to all believers, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."  (John 13:34-35) So let us rise above selfish natural love, exercise the God kind of love so that the world will see the Father's tremendous surrounding, abounding love for them operating through us.