“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us!” – 1 John 3:1
The water flowing over the falls can represent God’s love pouring into our life! God loves us!
“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” – 1 John 4:16
As God’s love pours into our life, it then flows through our life and on downstream to others. Our life will be characterized by love!
“We love because he first loved us.” – 1 John 4:19
Sometimes loving others feels like this photo. It feels like we are pouring out love into a dry, barren canyon. God pours his love into our heart, and we in turn pour love out to others. But … they don’t respond. They don’t acknowledge at all.
It can be discouraging. It can be discouraging to pour love out into a barren canyon.
Pour love out anyway! God loved us even when we were in our sin and completely unlovable!
God loves us (present tense, in the here and now) and He pours out his love and goodness on us, even when we don’t acknowledge his goodness to us. God loves us and pours out his goodness on us, even when we are ungrateful. God loves us and pours goodness out on us even when we don’t respond.
God is our example. We pour love out … because God pours his love out to us!
We pour love out … because it isn’t our own love, it’s God’s love. So, in obedience, we pour love out … into the barren canyon.
“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” – 1 John 4:19-20
Our current world is tense with strife, quarrelling, division and conflict. Our brother/sister (who has a differing opinion than ours) is not our enemy. We are to love our brother/sister.
If we harbor anger and bitterness in our heart towards someone else … and yet, put on pretenses of “love” … we are a liar! Satan is a liar, and the father of lies! If we claim to love, while harboring unforgiveness … we are of our father, the Devil. We are not of our Father, the God of love.
Let us each examine our heart:
Are we harboring anger against someone?
Are we harboring bitterness against someone?
Are we harboring jealousy against someone?
Are we harboring unforgiveness against someone?
To harbor hatred in our heart is sin. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” – 1 John 1:8
“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, slander, along with every form of malice.” – Ephesians 4:31
It is significant that each of these photos is an aerial view. Heaven sees! Heaven sees what is really going on in our heart and in our mind!
We might put on good pretenses. We might put on a really good show of acting “like a loving person.” We might be fooling everyone. But Heaven sees our heart!
“Let us love one another, for love comes from God.” – 1 John 4:7
“Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” – 1 John 3:18
If our love were to be “put on trial” in a courtroom, would there be any “evidence” to “convict” us of actually pouring out love?
If we claim with words to love someone, and as such pray for them … do we let them know we are praying for them?? Do we encourage them in the Lord? Do we reach out to let them know we care?? Are we available for them to share needs with us?? Do we respond when they do share needs with us??
Is there any “evidence” to “convict” us of love??
If we claim with words to love someone, and say, ‘If you need anything just let me know’ … do we follow-up with them?? Are we preceptive and sensitive to what they “are not saying”?? Do we reach out?? Do we respond when they do share with us??
Is there any “evidence” to “convict” us of love??
Are we willing to be inconvenienced?? Are we willing to sacrifice our time, which we had planned to do something else?? Are we willing to sacrifice our money, which we don’t really have much of?? Are we willing to sacrifice ourselves??
The litmus test of what someone truly loves is what they are willing to make sacrifices for.
If we were to “stand on trial” in a courtroom and have “evidence” presented to a jury as to whether or not we loved, would there be any “evidence”??
Would there be anything tangible to show the jury … to “convict” us of love??
“Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” – 1 John 4:7-8
The valley downstream of the waterfall is lush and green! This is what a life of love poured out looks like! If God’s love is pouring into our life … and through our life … then our life also will be lush and green downstream!
However, if we “block the flow” of God’s love pouring into our life … if we “quench” the Spirit with unresolved bitterness, hatred, unforgiveness … then downstream our life will not look like this. But rather our life will look more like a dry, barren canyon, as in the earlier photos.
If we have never accepted Jesus’s free gift of salvation for our sin … then God’s love is not being poured out into our life at all. God’s love can only pour out into our life when we repent of our sin, turn from our sin, and accept Jesus’s payment for our sin on our behalf.
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” – 1 John 3:16
“God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” – 1 John 5:11-12
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” – 1 John 3:1
