The Love of Christ: The Root of Our Love for One Another
The way this truth fits into the overall series on "The Greatest of These Is Love" is that again and again in the Bible the love of God for us is the root of our love for each other. The reality is that if we do not rest in the love of God for us, we will not be able to love each other. For example, Jesus said in John 13:34,
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
His love for us is first, and ours is an echo of it. John 15:12–13,
This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
His love for us is before and under our love for each other. And it is a deep, deep, unshakable Calvary love.
Ephesians 4:32–5:1,
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
All true love begins with this: God in Christ loved us and forgave us. Then he adopted us so that we are called his children. Then he lavished his ongoing love on us in the family. And now—and only now, on the basis of all that—he says, "Imitate me." Be imitators of God "as loved children." And mark this! Be an imitator of God—not as a peon admirer in the audience. Not as an insecure little kid ogling at a ball player's baggy shorts. Not as a beginning musician listening to the CD of her favorite, but unknown, maestro. But, "as loved children." "Be imitators of God as loved children." It's the love of God in Christ for us that draws out and empowers our imitating love for each other. It's because we love the way our Father is that makes us want to be that way.
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