God’s Love Is Active for You

... God is love.

This is how God showed his love among us:

He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

(1Jo 4:8c-9)

 

“Does God love you?”

“The Bible says he does, so I believe it.”

“Given what you have done and how you see yourself, do you really believe that he loves you?”

“Yeah, I think so. But to be honest, I wonder sometimes.”

Would you like to move beyond wondering to experiencing? 

 

1. An Exercise

In his excellent little book, Surrender to Love, David Benner opens with this interesting exercise:

Imagine God thinking about you. What do you assume God feels when you come to mind?

Benner discovered that a surprising number of people assume God feels disappointment or anger.

He continues:

Regardless of what you have come to believe about God based on your life experience, the truth is that when God thinks of you, love swells in his heart and a smile comes to his face. God bursts with love for humans. He is far from being emotionally uninvolved with his creation. God’s bias toward us is strong, persistent and positive. The Christian God chooses to be known as Love, and that love pervades every aspect of God’s relationship with us.[1]

I had trouble taking this in, yet the more I thought about it, the more it rang true to what I have learned—and continue to learn—about the God revealed as Jesus Christ.

So, what is this love that God has for us?

 

2. An Understanding

How should we understand this love that God has for us—this agapē?

We could examine many biblical texts. In the previous post, we identified the following three components of agapē from Romans 5:8: 

• Other-focused – God’s love is directed outward, not inward. It is not self-centered; it is other-centered. Agapē-love seeks the good of others.
• Unconditional – This love does not wait for us to clean up our act. It does not even expect a favorable response. It is given freely: “God demonstrates his own love for us … while we were still sinners.”
• Self-sacrificial – Agapē is sacrificial and costly; it is not cheap or easy. God gave His Son: “Christ died” to bring life to others.

Now, let’s add one more component of God’s love drawn from the text at the beginning of this post (1 John 4:8, 16):

• God is love – Agapē is woven into the very fabric of God’s nature and character.

So, if agapē is genuine, it cannot be separated from God and must be consistent with His nature and character. That means it is relational, pure, and holy.

When you see a poster that reads, “love is love,” can you spot the lie?

We cannot manipulate or redefine love (agapē) to affirm or endorse attitudes or behaviors that are inconsistent with, even contrary to, God’s nature and character, unless we also manipulate or redefine the God who is agapē.

God’s nature and character define agapē!

Given those four components, how would you define agapē?

Here is my tentative definition:

Agapē is God’s sacrificial self-giving love, steadfastly directed to and for others without regard to their merit, seeking their complete good that enables human flourishing.

We will revisit and enlarge this definition later.

For now, how does this agapē not only enable healing but also flourishing?

 

3. An Invitation

Many biblical texts could be explored. I have settled on Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21, focusing on 3:16-19:

¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ [that you] may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Here are a few observations and comments:

• Strengthened: Paul prays that believers be strengthened by the Spirit (16) toward a growing intimacy with Jesus Christ at the very core of their being.
• Grasping: Then, based on their “being rooted” (like a tree) and “established” (like a foundation) in love (17), God purposes that they may grasp (in their mind) something of the immeasurable dimensions of “the love of Christ” (18).
• Knowing: Then, God desires that they may “know this love that surpasses knowledge” (in their heart).
• Filled: That they “may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (19).

Here is an illustration that might help you better grasp the love of Christ.

 

4. An illustration

When we look at an object, we see three dimensions: width, length, and height. Yet, this prayer mentions four dimensions. How can that be?

Years ago, during scuba-diving training, we learned about buoyancy control. This involved going into a deep pool to practice regulating our weight and breathing to maintain a given depth.

When we approached the pool, from the outside we could see something of its width, length, and depth—three dimensions. When we entered the pool, from the inside we became aware of its width, length, height, and depth—four dimensions.

Becoming more aware of the four dimensions of the love of Christ

is to begin knowing 

you are already immersed in his love.

Let your mind go to work trying to grasp something more of these dimensions of Christ’s love. It is mind-boggling, like gazing at the innumerable stars in the night sky. This should lead you to worship and praise the God who is love.

To “know this love” moves beyond the mind to the heart, where you experience a deeper and richer connection or union with God, with the purpose that “you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (19).

God (the Father, Son, and Spirit) wants us, in his active love, to be filled with all His fullness. No limit—as much as you can have. Wow!

This is so much more than therapy; it is entering into the life of God Himself. His love is actively for you, not only in ‘healing’ but in seeking your complete good that enables you to flourish in every way God desires.

 

Some Reflections

Here are a few reflections to take you deeper.

1. How did you respond to the exercise in section #1? Why?

 

What do you think of Benner’s statement about how God feels toward you?

 

2. Do you agree with the tentative definition of love (agapē) in section #2? How does this affect your understanding of agapē? What would you change or add?

 

3. Take time to read, meditate upon, and pray Ephesians 3:16-19. How does this prayer inform and guide you in your experience, or desire to experience, the love of Christ? How can this affect your life, particularly your need for ‘healing’ the betrayal, humiliation, and pain of broken relationships?

           

I welcome hearing your reflections and any other comments or questions you may have about this post. You can contact me using this link. 

The next post will explore how you can begin entering more deeply into God’s agapē.

 

BACK TO The Therapy of God’s Love

Note:

[1] David G. Benner, Surrender to Love: Discovering the Heart of Christian Spirituality, expanded ed. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2015), 19-20.

Image credit: John B. MacDonald © 2025, assisted by Microsoft Copilot, inspired by the themes of 1 John 4:9 (love, incarnation, sacrifice).