The Story of God’s Love

The Bible tells lots of stories, and it does so to actually tell one very important overarching story. The story that weaves and threads its way through the Bible is God’s story and it is our story, and they are forever intertwined. And although we have sought to untangle our stories in so many different ways, God has given much to ensure that they remain together.

This story begins by describing God’s intention and interaction with two of the first human beings, but fans out to encompass our stories, everyone’s story in fact, yours and mine. We see this cosmic drama play out every day in our own individual lives, if we are honest. And it is in this continuing story that God longs for us to join in and play the roles we were originally created to play, not to be merely spectators, but participants in the story of God’s Love.

Love Given

In the beginning there was God. And God was good, glorious, and full of love. In fact, He gave love its meaning. And God proceeded to create out of the love that was contained within Him. It was through His self-giving love that the world, and people, came into being. And He created the world, and us in it, not simply as spectators of His goodness, glory and love, but as participants in it. God created a world in which we would experience His love and reflect it to the world around us, as if we were to be living mirrors, reflecting God Himself. We were beings that were designed to love and be loved.

Love Rejected

However as the story goes we were not content with being mirrors of God’s goodness, glory and love, but instead wanted to reflect our own selves. We rejected God’s love and became focused in on ourselves, enamored with our own image, concerned with our own well being, and working for our own independence apart from the God who created us to love and be loved. This decision to turn away from the God of love had ripple effects out into our relationships and the very world we live in. These ripple effects culminated in Death, both spiritual and physical, and a world that was and is broken in so many ways.

Love Invades

If this were the end of the story, it would be a sad story indeed. But the God who defined love would not allow this to be the end of the story. Instead, He initiated a radical rescue plan: God was to invade His own world as one of the created, Love in the flesh, Jesus Christ.

Jesus did everything you would expect God to do: He loved the outcast, healed broken bodies, restored damaged relationships, and taught people how to love one another. Ultimately, in the greatest act of love the world has ever seen, Jesus laid down His life by dying on the cross so that we, who had become turned in on ourselves and away from our Creator, would once again experience His love. And what is more, the grave was no match for Love in the flesh as Jesus conquered Death by His resurrection from the dead. In this greatest of all demonstrations of love, Jesus restored our relationship with the God who created us so that we could once again love and be loved, as living mirrors, reflecting God’s goodness, glory, and love to the world around us.

Love Rules

Now this is good news, really good news if you are a person who recognizes their need for God’s love. If this is you, read on because it gets even better.

Now the world we live in today is a broken and painful place for many, possibly even for you, and is in desperate need of God’s love. And as we were told at the beginning of the story, we were designed to love and be loved by God, reflecting Him out to the world around us as living mirrors.

But Love was meant to not only be reflected, but to rule. You see the end of the story is really the culmination of the beginning. Jesus Christ, Love in the Flesh, is ultimately going to return to put all things right, to restore this broken world. And in doing so will bring His loving order to a world hungry for love. Because Love rules.

What about in the meantime? Well if you remember the beginning, that we were created to be living mirrors of God’s goodness, glory and love, then those who have placed their trust in Jesus are learning more and more every day, with Jesus’ help, what it means to reflect God’s self-giving love into a world that needs to experience it. And as we do, we anticipate the day when Love rules.

Now What?

The story you just read is God’s story, and it is our story. Our self-focusedness is called sin, and is basically mistrust of the God who created us for love. This mistrust has created a break in our relationship with God, basically cutting us off from the source of life (sort of like unplugging a lamp, it won’t light up anymore the way it was designed to). So God sent Jesus to deal with our sin, to be the perfect God-Man, the only one who fully trusted God and loved Him with everything he had. Jesus, by dying on the cross took the consequence of our mistrust of God, death, so that we would not have to. And by rising from the dead and conquering death Jesus gave new life to all those who would place their trust in Him.

Placing your trust, your confidence, in the person of Jesus is what, in effect, plugs you back into the life source that is God. It’s all about relationship, it’s all about trust. If you want to have a life-giving relationship with the God of the universe, then you must trust in Jesus and what He accomplished for you on the cross. You must trust him for your life here and now (that he knows how life is to be lived), and for your life after you die (that you will live with him forever because he conquered death).

If you want to trust Jesus, here are a few things you should talk to Him about in prayer (Prayer being just talking with God):

• Tell Jesus you want to know Him.
• Confess that you have not trusted God and that you are in need of His forgiveness.
• Place your trust in Him by surrendering control of your life to Him and asking Him to come into your life and make you the kind of person that He created you to be.

If this is your heart’s desire and you asked Jesus to come into your life, He will do just that!

Please email us if you have any questions about this or have made this decision and would like to know more about how to walk with Jesus for a lifetime.

For more verses on how to have a personal relationship with God go to: http://www.godlovestheworld.com/

If you’d like to start a relationship with God and want to know what to do next go to: http://startingwithgod.com

For articles that might answer some of your questions about God go to: http://www.everystudent.com/