Created for Hearts of Love – Part 4
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
John 10:18
Love Motivates Us
Jesus willingly went to the cross to take the punishment for our sins and he was motivated by the love in His heart for the Father and for us. Just as God’s love motivates us to protect our family, love motivates us to live for Christ. We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19) No one loves and cares for us more than the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:30-31) Love for God and others is the greatest command because God’s love in our hearts is what changes us to be like Jesus. We bring God’s love to people and love increases in our hearts. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1 John 4:12) Love is complete in our hearts. It motivates us serve the Lord because we love the Lord and all people, and love makes us hate sin.
If you love me, keep my commands. (John 14:15) The Lord fills our hearts with love as we live as a Light in this world because the Father is molding us to conform to the image of His Son. Hearts complete with God’s love is what makes us like Jesus because it motivates us to live as Jesus lived. Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. (1 John 2:6)
We have sadness and anguish for lost souls because of the power of God’s love in our hearts. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. (Ephesians 3:20) The power that the Lord works in us is the Love He puts in our hearts. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13) God’s unconditional, sacrificial love in our hearts is the foundation of our faith and hope.
Love is the foundation of our Christian life and it changes our life to life for Christ. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20) This verse by the apostle Paul describes the motivation that comes to us with our hearts filled with God’s love. The greatest thing in life is to have a heart filled with God’s love!
Today, live for Christ guided by the Spirit. Let love motivate you to minister to others so the love in your heart will continue to grow.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the gift of love and guide me to reflect your love to the world. Thank you for your love in my heart which draws me closer to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.