God's Love Letters To Mankind

The Bible begins with Genesis, the story of how God created us so He can have someone to love. The New Testament begins with God loving the world so much that He gave His unique Son, so that whoever obeys Him will not perish, but have eternal life. The Bible ends with the book of Revelation, where God rewards his people with eternal life in Heaven, where God Himself lights up the celestial city. Indeed, the person who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1st John 4:8).

But the preachers say, a love letter rules out obedience. Not so! Jesus said in John 14:15 that if we LOVE him, we will keep his commandments. Does this mean we obey him checklist-style? No, we obey Him out of the same love we obey our spouses with. In Ephesians, the church is called the Bride of Christ, and Revelation speaks of the marriage of the Bride and the Lamb. During our wedding vows, we pledge to love and obey our spouse. Same applies to us and God. We love because God first loved us (1st John 4:19). Jesus said the Law and the Prophets hang on the premise that we love the Lord our God with all our strength, soul, and might, and that we love our neighbor as ourselves. Is there a more noble obedience than that coming from love? Jesus proved that statement true by dying on the cross as our atoning sacrifice out of love (1st John 4:10). We have nothing to fear from God when we love (1st John 4:17-18).

Indeed even though we have never seen God, when we love one another, God resides in us, and his love is perfected in us (1st John 4:12).

When we read the Bible, we are reading God�s message of love.

�Love�,

David

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