God Doesn't Love You?
truth about true love
By Daniel Rendelman ~ emetministries@gmail.com
From the classic tale of Romeo and Juliet to today's blockbuster movies, the world is in love with love. People sing about it, dream about it, and write books about this most natural of all feelings. Everyone has two basic emotional needs: the desire to feel loved and the desire to show love. A major malfunction in humanity occurs when these desires are mixed up, and when love is not properly received or given.
People say that they "love the New Orleans Saints." Girls fall in and out of love all through high school. Mankind is searching for true love, but as one classic Country music song puts it, the world is "looking for love in all the wrong places." The fact is that true love is not found in receiving love from others. Being the center of your mate's attention isn't all you need. Love isn't about getting some feeling or fix, it is about giving devotion and time. It is better to give than receive.
In modern thought love is often confused with lust and is usually considered an emotion that can be turned on and off like a light switch. The concept of love in the Bible is very different. Love or "ahava" in the Hebrew means "to give." The word "ahava" is usually used in the Scriptures as a verb. This means that love is something you do and not just what you feel or believe.
Biblical love is more concerned about giving than receiving. Giving is the vehicle of love. "For YHWH so loved the world that He gave His only Son," John 3:16. (YHWH is the Hebrew name of the Creator as given to Moses at the burning bush. To learn more about this name visit www.emetministries.com) True love is not even based on feelings, as feelings can actually stop someone from giving love to others. We treat people the way we feel. Therefore, if we feel loved of the Almighty then we will treat other people with that same love. When you treat others rudely, it's simply because you are not feeling loved. Feelings are symptoms of thought. The problem is that most of people think that they are unlovely. Masses think that God doesn't love them. When we have these thoughts we then are inclined to act unloving to others. Understand that if you are not feeling the love of the Almighty, then it is your emotions that are stopping His ahava from filling your life. But, if you meditate, think, sing, or pray about YHWH's ahava then your emotions and actions will reflect His love. Your actions go along with what you think about. "Beloved, if YHWH so loved us; we also should love one another," 1 John 4:11.
Don't allow bad problems or emotions to convince you that YHWH doesn't feel compassion towards you. Regardless of what you have done in the past, YHWH loves you and you are special to Him. His love is unconditional because it is His nature to love. "But anyone who does not love does not know YHWH, for YHWH is love," 1 John 4:8.
A person of faith should overflow with the love of Christ; a love that constantly gives to others. "He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me," John 14:21. Notice the pattern in this verse - first you do love and then you feel it and receive it. For faith to be effective, each religious action, each prayer, and each good deed must be from the motivation of showing love. Biblical love is an unconditional gift that is freely offered from the heavens. The Savior said, "My command is this: love each other as I have loved you," John 15:12.
Here are a few Bible verses to consider about YHWH's love:
For YHWH so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of YHWH, who loved me and gave himself for me. - Galatians 2:20 Know therefore that YHWH your Elohim is Elohim; he is the faithful Elohim, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. - Deuteronomy 7:9 For YHWH loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. - Psalm 37:28 I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. - Proverbs 8:17 This is how YHWH showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since YHWH so loved us, we also ought to love one another. - 1 John 4:9-11 And so we know and rely on the love YHWH has for us. YHWH is love. Whoever lives in love lives in YHWH, and Elohim in him. - 1 John 4:16 We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love YHWH," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love YHWH, whom he has not seen. - 1 John 4:19-20 This is how we know who the children of YHWH are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of YHWH; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. - 1 John 3:10 So be very careful to love YHWH your Elohim. - Joshua 23:11 The Savior replied: "'Love the YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' - Matthew 22:37-39
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