Shaped by the Love of God

AS the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you… This is my commandment, That ye love one another, AS I have loved you. —John 15:9, 12

We cannot truly learn to love until we have been loved ourselves.  The love of God for us enables us to love others.

Jesus’ love for us was shaped by God’s love for Him.  Jesus said, “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.”   Jesus knew He was loved by the Father.  As God’s love shaped and defined Jesus’ life, so should Jesus’ love for us shape our lives.

The kind of love that causes someone to be willing to lay down their life for others springs from a confident awareness of being loved that way by Christ Jesus Himself.

We must love others sacrificially, too, being willing to lay down our own lives as Jesus did for us.