Vulnerability and Sacrifice in the Pursuit of Biblical Love

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Have you ever felt that the divine concept of love is an elusive force, just beyond your grasp? This episode ventures deep into the heart of 1st John, chapter 4, to unearth the transformative power of God's love. As your host, I open up about the complexities of reconciling the biblical definition of love with our worldly views, sharing my personal wrestling with the fear of vulnerability that comes with sacrificial affection. Together, we confront the stark contrast between the self-focused love we often encounter and the giving, selfless nature of the love exhibited by Jesus Christ. It's a candid reflection on the courage required to love without holding back, and a reminder that accepting God's love for us is a prerequisite to sharing that same love with others.

This conversation is not just theoretical; it's an actionable guide to loving as Jesus did, marked by sacrifice and boundless generosity. If you've ever questioned your capacity to love selflessly or wondered how to authentically represent God's love in an all-too-often selfish world, this dialogue will speak to your heart. We recognize that without embracing the depth of God's love fully, our efforts to love others can fall short. By examining the life and teachings of Christ, we discover that knowing God is inseparable from demonstrating love to those around us, and it is within this divine relationship that we find the blueprint for a love that is truly life-giving. Join us for a profound exploration of how to embody the love that defines our faith and how to let it reshape our interactions with every soul we meet.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today I want to share with you guys something from my
heart and I want to be honestwith you guys I don't think
including myself and you canrelate to this most of us as
believers, I mean, I know we sayto ourselves that God loves me.

(00:27):
God is love.
I mean we know that at ashallow level.
You know.
We know that at a basic level,not because God just wants us to
know that he loves us at abasic or a shallow level.
God, I believe, wants us toknow the depth, the width, the

(00:52):
height, the length of the lovethat he has for us.
When you read the scripturecarefully, you will see the

(01:20):
emphasis of God declaring andexpressing to understand his
love in a deeper way, intimately, and today I came across during
my Bible study.
Let's go to the book of 1stJohn, chapter 4.

(01:46):
1st John, chapter 4.
We're gonna start reading fromverse 7.
It says beloved, let us loveone another, for love is of God
and everyone who loves is bornof God and knows God.
He who does not love does notknow God, for God is love.

(02:11):
In this the love of God wasmanifested toward us that God
has sent his only begotten Soninto the world and that we might
live through him.
And this is love.
Not that we loved God, but thathe loved us and sent his son to

(02:31):
be the propitiation for oursins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, wealso ought to love one another.
Powerful, plain and profoundverses.
We have read, verses we haveread.

(02:52):
I personally, to be honest withyou guys, I've asked the Lord
that I don't know how to love inHis way of loving.
I don't know how to love, howhe defines or describes what
love is.
You and I, our view of love isbased on culture, it's based on
society, it's based on ourupbringing, it's based on our

(03:15):
experiences, and sometimes allof these things culture,
background, upbringing,experiences differ to how God
views how God describes love, tohow God views how God describes
love.
And I've come to the point inmy life where I'm trying to be
honest with myself, be honestwith God, be honest with people.

(03:36):
I don't have that kind of lovethat is described in the Bible
and only God has that love.
And I know the Bible requiresus, as believers, to walk in
that type of love and to liveout that type of love that is
described in the Bible.
I cannot do it without God.
You know I cannot truly youknow love people without God

(04:01):
helping me out to love people.
According to the Bible, I canonly love people.
Based on what I know about love, and what I know about love is
I can say it's wrong.
We don't have the rightconception of what love is
according to the Bible andthere's so much misconception.
Sometimes we can easily lovepeople that love us back.

(04:24):
I think that's where thechallenge is In my case.
The reason why I'm afraid tolove the way God wants us to
love each other is because I'mafraid to be used.
I'm afraid to be abused.
I'm afraid to be misusedbecause of my experience in
loving somebody in a deeper wayand I felt like I was used,

(04:46):
abused and misused, and I'mafraid to try to love the way.
God describes what love is Lovethat is sacrificial, love that
is given, love that does notexpect anything in return.
But do you know that, child ofGod, in order for us to really
know this type of love andexpress it to others, we have to

(05:09):
know that true love is of God.
You know God is the origin oflove and God is love.
That is his attribute.
You and I, we have read that wedon't just see a declaration of
God's love for us, but we seethe manifestation of God's love
for us, and that manifestationof his love for us is through

(05:31):
Jesus Christ.
The Bible says that hemanifested his love for us by
sending his only begotten sonyou know, his only begotten son
into the world that we mightlive through him.
So God expresses love by sayingit to us.
God expresses love by acting onit giving, sending his son, his

(05:56):
only begotten son, his son thathe loves so much, and into the
world for him to die for us sothat you and I, we might live.
So the takeaway from this isthat love is sacrificial.
Love is life.
You know and we see that in thelife of Jesus Christ he will
sacrifice for us because Godloves us.

(06:17):
Jesus states that he has cometo give you and I life and life
in abundance, and Jesusdescribes himself as the bread
of life, the fountain of life,which means that God expresses
his love for us through hisson's sacrifice.
God expresses his love for usthrough his son giving us life.

(06:40):
He died so that you and I, wecan leave, and Jesus himself
states in the gospel thatthere's no greater love than
this for one, for a friend tolay down his life for another,
and he perfectly met therequirement of true love.
He's the perfect example ofwhat true godly love is, and I

(07:03):
believe this is the love thatgod wants you and I to possess
to to express with one another.
And to be honest with you, Imean, I cannot do it humanly
speaking.
I cannot love like that and itreally takes the grace of god
for me to really to love peoplethe way Christ sacrificially.
But I know that with God allthings are possible.

(07:24):
But with my own humanlimitations, my lack of love, I
won't be able to give what Idon't have.
That is why my goal is what Iwant to share with you guys is
really for you to understand thedepth, the height, width and
the breadth of God's love foryou.
And I believe when youunderstand that, expressing

(07:44):
Jesus Christ being thepersonification of God's love
for you, and then you will alsohave compassion, you will also
be able to express that love forone another, because Jesus
Christ is the basis of God'slove for you in a deeper level,
and that will radicalize andchange your view of love.

(08:04):
And that's for me that.
That's where I am right now.
It's a journey for God to reallytake away that selfish love in
my heart, that selfish socialview of love in my heart, to a
scriptural, his expression oflove through his son,
sacrificial love, and I believethat's what God wants us to to

(08:27):
to have.
And because God is love, hewill give that to us, and the
test of us knowing that we knowGod is true love.
And you cannot say you know Godif you don't love your brother
you know.
So for us to claim that we knowGod, we have to express love
for one another.
And by expressing love for oneanother, not just any type of
love, not just a socialdefinition of love, not just

(08:49):
your own self-seeking, selfishlove, but that sacrificial love
that he's talking about throughhis son Jesus Christ, that love
that gives life.
That's the type of love that hewants us about through his son
Jesus Christ.
That love that gives life.
That's the type of love that hewants us to love one another,
especially our brothers in thefaith, so that the world will
know that we are of God.