Loveth Not? Knoweth Not!

He is the God of love and peace. (2 Corinthians 13:11)

The word tells us that if we do not love, we do not know God. (1 John 4:8)  This always reminds me of that old song that kids are taught in aid to learning memory verses.  "Beloved, let us love one another.  For love is of God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.  He who loveth not, knoweth not God for God is love.  Beloved, let us love one another. 1 John 4:7-8".  I find myself singing this quite often.  But, singing it and breaking it down into understanding are two separate things. 

I want to share with you a couple of aspects of the love of God.  There are too many to count and if I tried to encase all of them here, this would turn into an epic-sized novel.  But, in my personal experience, two areas of God's love that mean the world to me are "dependability" and "everlasting".

Psalm 59:10 tells us that his love is dependable.  I don't know about you, but being able to depend on God is HUGE for me.  I have not had many in my life that I could depend on in any capacity.  It has always been me, myself and I.  I learned at a very young age what dependability wasn't.  It took me years before I knew the love of God and realized the dependability I have in him.  And I have to say, it feels great.  I know that I will NEVER again have to go it alone.  God is my companion, my confidante, my guide, my shelter, my strong tower and my very present help in my time of need.  I can't imagine a life without him!

Another kind of love that I've never known until God is an "everlasting" love.  In my life, love had always meant someone who was in and out of my life most often faster than I could even learn their name.  I learned to live with this growing up.  I "took it in stride" thinking that all love was this way.  But that is not what true love is.  God is the perfect example of true love.  His love is immeasurable and everlasting.  He will not leave you.  I have learned this kind of love - this "perfect" love.  And it can only come from God.

So, if you don't know what God means to you, get a Bible.  Read the Word.  It is alive.  I have a close friend who says God's Word is "In Living Color" and I totally agree with her.  My prayer for you is Paul's prayer for all of us "...to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:18-19)

©   2011 Stephanie Kepler