God’s love is absolute. The word “absolute” means total, complete, unconditional, unlimited, definite, unchangeable, truth. God’s love is absolute. Jesus said for us to love one another with the same love. Jesus prayed to the Father, “And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:26). Jesus declared (to make known) that the absolute love of God can be in us. Complete, unconditional and unchangeable love is available to us. Not only can we love one another as Jesus loved us, but we can love as the Father loved Jesus; which is the exact same absolute love. Unconditional means with out any conditions; they do not love us – love them; they do not act right – love them; they are sinners (aren’t we all) – love them. Unlimited means you will not run out of love! Unchangeable means you can not redefine love to suit you – God is love. Love is truth and anything less than love is a lie. God’s love is absolute.
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren (1 John 3:16). To “lay down” your life does not mean only to die for another; it means to live your life for another. The death of Jesus was so overwhelming because of the life He lived before His death on the cross. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him (1 John 4:9). The fact that Jesus is alive is very important in understanding the cross. The death on the cross has such power because of His life both before and after the cross. By this we know love, because He laid down the life He had with the Father and came and lived among us. By this we know love, because He loved us before, during, and after the cross. By this we know love, because the Father returned Jesus to life and we have our life in Christ Jesus. God’s absolute love is manifested in us by our life in Him. We lay down our life by living a life of absolute love towards one another.
If you can quote the scriptures front-wards and backwards but have not love, who cares? If you know every word written in red in a “Red Lettered” Bible, but have not love, who cares? God cares, and so should everyone who claims to be a Christian. God’s love is absolute – love doesn’t exclude anyone. Are you involved in something you know you shouldn’t be doing; God still loves you. You may have turned your back on God’s absolute love, but God’s love towards you did not change! That is how we are to love one another. We can use the word forgive to talk about absolute love. Give (the “give” in forgive) love (the understood “what” in forgive) before (the “for” in forgive) the need arises. If you have not love, God still gives you love before you are able to return the love to Him. That is the love we are to have for one another.
God loves the overbearing pastor and the dictators in the body of elders who have denied the liberty of Christ from the membership, as much as He loves the members of the membership; and desires them all to be set free. God loves the abusive apostles and lying prophets and wants them set free. God loves the politicians who allow greed to ruin their lands, and desires to set them free. God loves all of us right where we are, and desires better things for us than we can imagine. God desires us to be set free by the absolute love He has for us, manifested in Jesus so we might have the same love. God’s love is absolute.
© 2010, Tim D. Coulter Sr.