WHAT A PRIVILEGE TO BE LOVED BY GOD
By W. G. Guy
What is a privilege? By definition it means to have been granted a special right to a person or group. Thus its the special right provided to God’s children who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. What is love? From the Greek word used in the New Testament, agapeo means intimate care for another; sharing and giving what is needed. God is love, and His love is eternal because He is eternal. God is LOVE:
1 John 4:16 – And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
God gave of His love for our benefit:
John 3:16-17 – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
And Jesus, the Son of God, also gave of Himself, His life, for our benefit:
John 15:12-13 – This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Thus we see that love GIVES. This is why the word charity is used for love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13, the “love” chapter. God’s mercy and grace is freely given to mankind to receive. (Note: God’s grace is the provision that He offers to all of mankind.) His grace and mercy are components of His love; because love cares:
1 Peter 5:7 – Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Not only does God care for you. but He also freely gives what He knows that you need if you trust Him to care for you:
Romans 8:32 – He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Yes, God’s love also provides so that you are never lacking, or in want, if you consider yourself as one His:
Psalm 23:1 – The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Philippians 4:19 – But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
God’s love for us is such that He does not want you to be anxious, fearful or worried about anything. He wants you to be at piece.
Philippians 4:6-7 – Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
God’s love also protects as you place yourself in His shepherding hands:
Psalms 23:4 – Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Psalms 91:2-4 – I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Romans 8:31 – What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Gods’ love also guides us on the pathways of life through this world:
Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Psalms 119:5 – Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
God’s love provides healing for our physical bodies:
Psalm 107:19-20 – Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
God’s love also provides deliverance from the oppression of the devil:
Acts 10:38 – How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
God’s love also promises to be with us at all times, especially when going through difficulties, trials and tribulation.
Matthew 28:20b – lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Hebrews 13:5 – Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
God’s love is the power that sustains you to carry you through this life and is continually with you:
Ephesians 3:16-20 – That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 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. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
As stated in the above verses, LOVE is the power of God that is at work within us as we yield to Him. On top of all of these privileges is the fact that God’s love forgives all sins and transgression when we acknowledged them and repent.
Hebrews 8:12 – For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Thinking about, and recalling what God’s love has done for you is cause for great rejoicing and praise!
Psalm 34:1 – I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Consider that even God’s Laws as given to Moses, (The Ten Commandments), are all about LOVE. The first four commandments are about loving God, the next six are about loving your neighbors.
Matthew 22:36-40 – Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
This is verified in the New Testament as satisfying the Law and the message of the prophets:
Romans 13:8-10 – Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Galatians 5:14 – For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
James 2:8 – If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
Therefore, loving God, and loving others is keeping His covenant showing that you are a child of God, and that you are a part of His family. Love is the foundation of the Kingdom of God; and walking in His love, (which is placed in your heart by the Holy Spirit - Romans 5:5), shows that you are of His Kingdom, and that His Kingdom is within you.
Luke 17:20-21 – And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
God’s love, and knowing it intimately, equips us to endure difficulties and the oppression of the enemy (Satan), as well as the affliction of persecutions.
Romans 8:35-39 – Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 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.
The privilege of God’s love is to be one of His loving children; blessed above all possible blessings!
