Love is... (part 2... sorta)

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about what I learned in Sunday School - what love is... actually what love does. Tonight at HFG, one of the points that I picked up from the message also talks about what love is. "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love."(John 15:10) "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."(John 14:15) "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome."(1 John 5:3) Love is obedience. Love is keeping God's commandments - obeying His Word.

Even when we are disobedient, God loves us nevertheless. He loves His children despite their faults. We don't need to clean ourselves up before we come to God. He calls us to come as we are, and He is the one who cleans and sanctifies us. When we don't come to God and when we remain in our sin, sure He still loves us, but God's presence is less felt.

A picture comes to mind of the sun in the sky. When it's sunny and clear, you can feel the full warmth of the sun hitting your face. But if it's overcast or cloudy, you may not feel the full effect of the sun. The sun is still there even if the clouds block it out and puts you in the shadows. In the same way, when the clouds of sin block out God's presence, it may feel like God is not there, but He still is. You just wouldn't feel His presence there in the same way as if the clouds of sin weren't there.

God desires us to be obedient, and this displays our love for Him. We don't obey in order to earn His love. We obey as a response to His love for us. "We love, because He first loved us."(1 John 4:19)