When God Pursues You
The Transformative Power of God's Love: Understanding the Connection Between Knowing and Loving
When we truly know someone, love naturally follows. This principle applies not only to human relationships but also to our relationship with God. As we cultivate a deeper relationship with God, we experience a transformation that leads to both obedience and love.
God as the Source of All Love
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God." (1 John 4:7)
It's crucial to understand that God is the source of all love. Real love comes only from Him. As humans, we don't naturally have the capacity to truly love—our ability comes from God
The kind of love that:
Extends beyond family and romance
Forgives those who cause grave trauma
Turns the other cheek during persecution
Causes someone to lay down their life for others
This kind of love—real love—can only come from the Holy Spirit. It's exactly the kind of love Jesus displayed at the cross.
What Does It Mean When Someone Doesn't Love?
"Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." (1 John 4:8)
A person who has never truly loved doesn't know God because love is who God is. The Greek word for "know" in this verse indicates there wasn't actually a relationship with God to begin with.
This implies something profound: an encounter with the living God and His supernatural love through Jesus is so transformative that you cannot remain unchanged. When you truly encounter God's love, it permeates every part of your being.
Important Distinction: God is Love, But Love is Not God
We don't worship love or even God's love—we worship God. However, love is God's defining attribute, along with holiness. It's His essence. The ethos of true love comes from God.
How Did God Demonstrate His Love?
"In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him." (1 John 4:9)
God wouldn't call us to love others without first doing it Himself. This verse echoes John 3:16, giving us the entire Gospel in one sentence. It reveals something incredible: the infinite Creator and Lord of the entire cosmos loves and adores you, me, and every human in history—even to the point of death.
Consider these profound questions:
Why does God create? Because He loves.
Why does God care? Because He loves people.
Why are people given free will? God wants an autonomously loving response.
Why did Christ die? His love for people caused Him to seek a solution to sin.
Why do people receive eternal life? God's love expresses itself forever.
Who Initiated the Relationship?
The most amazing part? God initiated the pursuit of you. God, who is infinitely out of our league, wanted to know you and love you and have a relationship with you. He is the great pursuer.
"In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10)
Heaven's definition of love doesn't start with your ability to love—it starts with Him, His initiation, His perfect definition of love.
Understanding Different Types of Love
The Greek language has four distinct words for love:
Eros: Romantic love, sexual passion
Storge: Familial devotion
Phileos: Brotherly love, friendly love
Agape: The truest, most pure form of kindness, compassion, and unselfishness
John uses "agape" in this context to help us understand the source of this kind of love—the infinite, God-sized compassion, kindness, and unselfishness.
How Should We Respond to God's Love?
"Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." (1 John 4:11)
There's an example to be followed: if God loves, we also need to love. If God pursues the dead, the unlovable, those in a league below Him, we are supposed to do the same.
Your motive for loving others should be the very experience and example of God's infinite divine love for you. As you grow in your relationship with God and understand His love for you, you naturally grow in your love for others.
Can We See God's Love in Action?
"No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us." (1 John 4:12)
John answers a crucial question: if we can't see God, how can we have a relationship with Him? How can we know Him?
The answer: You can know God and God can abide in you through His Holy Spirit, even if you can't physically see Him. The fruit of the Spirit that shows you are experiencing God is love.
The Transformative Power of Understanding God's Love
When you truly understand God's self-sacrificial love for you and what He did to display that, you can:
Reciprocate authentic love back to Him
Display a Spirit-empowered, self-sacrificial love for others
When you understand that God values you, your value for Him increases while you can also value others. When you understand that God views you with adoration, you can turn to Him in love and worship, then display pure compassion to others.
When you understand that God pursued you, you can pursue Him back while also pursuing others—both those in your community and those considered enemies.
Life Application
Take time this week to have what could be called a "Holy Spirit-empowered aha moment" where you truly grasp God's love for you. Consider these questions:
Have I truly experienced God's love in a transformative way, or has it remained a surface-level concept?
How does understanding God's pursuit of me change how I view myself and others?
In what specific ways can I demonstrate God's agape love to someone this week—especially someone difficult to love?
How might my relationships change if I approached them with the understanding that God values and adores both me and the other person?
Challenge yourself to identify one person in your life who seems "unlovable" and intentionally show them God's love this week. Remember, this isn't about your own ability to love, but about allowing God's love to flow through you to others. The more you understand how God pursued you, the more naturally you'll pursue others with that same transformative love.
