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Because of His Great Love for Us
“No one has greater love than this: to lay down
his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
What is it that defines, more than anything, the person and ministry of Jesus? After all, He did all the things Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians. Was it His miracles? The faith? The martyrdom?
You know the answer. It’s the love. His love for us. He went to the cross not as a martyr but as a savior. He went to lay down His life for His friends. He went to rescue us. He went because of His great love for all who would die to self and follow Him.
And in order for you to be a dispenser of the kind of love described in 1 Corinthians 13, you have to first be a receiver of God’s love for you. You have to recognize that you have lived a life in rebellion against God. A life focused first and foremost on yourself. Your life has been committed to you.
And the Bible says that while you and I were still in a state of being committed to our own self interests, God demonstrated His great love for us in this—Christ died for us.
The character qualities that define agape love listed in 1 Corinthians 13 are not some kind of self-improvement checklist. They are descriptors of the kind of love that God has for us, and that is produced by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of those whose lives are being transformed.
The more we realize the depth of God’s love for us, and the more we meditate on how we are recipients of God’s grace and love for us, the more we will begin to grow in grace and love for others.
Your marriage will only be built on a foundation of agape love if both of you are growing in your understanding of God’s love and grace for you.
God’s goal for us in marriage goes far beyond comfort and mutual satisfaction. God’s goal for marriage is that we would taste something deeper, something sweeter and something more glorious in our marriages. He wants us to experience the kind of joy that the Father, Son, and Spirit have always known from long before
the world began. He wants us to experience the profound joy that comes from a kind of oneness that is only found in Him. And the only path that leads to that kind of soul satisfying oneness and joy is the path where the kind of love described here is being cultivated and is flourishing.
– Used with permission from the LOVE LIKE YOU MEAN IT 30-Day Devotional by Bob Lepine. Copyright © 2020 by B&H Publishing All rights reserved.
Bob's New Book - Love Like You Mean It
Every year, millions of men and women stand before friends and family to pledge their lifelong love to each other. Do they know what they’re getting into?
Unfortunately, many people have a shallow, superficial idea of what marriage is. As a result, many marriages don’t last, and many more married couples are trudging along looking for something more.
Love Like You Mean It gives husbands and wives a biblical understanding of what real love looks like in marriage by unpacking the ten attributes of genuine love listed in 1 Corinthians 13. Bob Lepine, marriage and family expert and host of the nationally syndicated radio program FamilyLife Today, helps husbands and wives discover that it’s not primarily emotions that define marital love, but actions and decisions that fuel emotions and cause marital love to grow.very person who is married, would like to be married one day, or wants to understand more about the biblical vision of marriage will find what they’re looking for as they dive deep into Love Like You Mean It.
