God is Love (Part 4)

By Clifton Angel   If you have followed along with our “God is LOVE” article series, you know that we skipped the letter “O” in our acronym. Truly, “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). With the word “love” as an acronym, we have noted that God, Who is Love, is long-suffering, vicarious, and everlasting. We purposely saved the “O” for the end because of its application to us. God, Who is Love, is obliging.    In the classic sitcom “Wanted: Dead or Alive,” Steve McQueen plays the character Josh Randall, who is a horse-back-riding, sawed-off-rifle-carrying, bounty hunter. In the show, he would often say to someone who helped him: “Much obliged to ya!” Randall implied that he was grateful and indebted to his helpers. God’s nature of love obliges us to have the same love. “The love of Christ constraineth us” (2 Cor 5:14).    We are obligated to love God. “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3). Jesus said, “If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments” (John 14:15, ASV).    We are obligated to love our Christian brethren. “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. … Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. … If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother  whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:7–8, 11, 20).    And perhaps the most difficult, yet the most illustrative nature of this love, is that we are obligated to love our enemies. “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Rom 5:10). Jesus said, “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil” (Luke 6:35). Similarly, Matthew recorded Jesus’ words in this manner: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on  the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matt 5:43–45).    God, Who is LOVE, is long-suffering, obliging, vicarious, and everlasting. Do you know Him? Do you love like Him?

- Clifton Angel preaches for the Coldwater Church of Christ in Coldwater, MS. He may be contacted through that congregation's website: http://www.coldwatercofc.com/