Sources: Ligonier.org, desiringgod.org, logos bible Software

Why blog about love?

Love. The Epitome of the Christian life and the first fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5.

It the greatest commandment stated in the New Testament to Love God and to Love

your neighbor. (Mark 12:30-31) It is the Shema quoted in Deuteronomy 6. Love is

important. God is love (1 John 4:8) And we are to emulate God and his attributes out

of the desire of our new hearts. I want to love God and love others well. I want to

spur others toward love and good deeds.

Christ loved us First..and we should want to emulate it

1 John 4:10 New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Because Christ loved us first, we can be thankful and live out the love he showed us to begin with.

Romans 5:8 New International Version (NIV)

⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Love as a Mark of a Christian

“the one who loves has been born of God and knows God”

(1 John 4:7)

“We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren” (1 John 3:14)

Faith

Piper said it well….

“Thus, we conclude that faith, when understood as deep contentment in the promises of God, always works through love. Therefore, the way to become a loving person s to set our hope more fully on God and delight more fully in the confidence that whatever is encountered  the path of obedience is for our good.”

Love starts with being a new creation in Christ. It is emulated because Christ first loved us. And love is a mark of a true Christian, made possible by the fruit of the Spirit. These are the foundations of true love. What makes love possible. Why we should love. And is the essence of the Christian walk. Loving God, Loving People. Loving the Word. Loving the hope set before us and living in light of that reality. Love. God is love. Christians love. Sometimes the final apologetic to a world that needs the only message that saves. Love well.