Motivated by Love

Love. People so desperately try to understand it, but unless they include God in their description of it, they will never know what real love is.

In the ESV, Psalm 36:5 says,

Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,your faithfulness to the clouds.

Paul prayed for the believers at Ephesus, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God" (Ephesians 3:17-19).

Why was it so important to Paul that they understood the greatness of this love? Because the love of Christ was his motivation in all of life and he wanted it to be theirs. To the Corinthian believers, he wrote...

For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

 To his fellow believers at Ephesus, Paul said...

Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour (Ephesians 5:1-2).

Again, the love of Christ is the motivation to live a life of love.  Jesus Himself is the ultimate expression and example of love. His love was and is complete, with nothing lacking. His love for the Father was evident in the way He lived while here on earth, obedient in all things. His love for us was also expressed in how He gave His life for us.

Jesus' love for you and me is so huge, it cannot be measured. His love never fails. He is faithful to those He loves. And, nothing can separate us from His love.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).

His great, endless and steadfast love for us should cause us to love Him in return and to live the life He died to give us - a life lived in love for Him and those around us - a life of service to Him and to others - a life motivated by love.