How How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 John 3:1
The love of God is a benevolent love that is well known yet a love that is not foreign to mankind. To those who are familiar to the king James understand the word charity is rendered for the love of God we know as Agape. When you consider the word charity and the meaning of Agape you can find some similar qualities.
To some charity is a means to serve the needs of the less fortunate and those whose lives are affected by the sin of mankind. To others we think of charity as an organization that raises funds to meet the shortcomings of human society. Either way, charity is a good word to describe the meaning of agape. Agape love is the character and disposition that God Chooses to govern his life. Choosing to adopt a disposition based on Agape love is an acceptable outlook on life that falls within God’s plan for mankind. Furthermore loving one another will please God and make you acceptable in his sight.
Having compassion is another way to explain Agape love. Compassion is the awareness of another person suffering associated with the desire to relieve the pain it caused. Normally affliction is that which confines a person to an environment of feelings and emotions causing the suffering anguish and anxiety that we think of as tribulation. Compassion and agape love seeks a way to improve present conditions and preserve life the way God designed life to function.
The Lord is gracious and compassionate; slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. Psalms 145:8-9
God is love and a way of life that is governed by holiness, not by emotion or how one feels. In other words the love of God expresses his concern for the wellbeing of others in a fair and just manner by choice. Agape love says that I will purposely love you the way I want to be loved. This love does not want you to perish in ignorance but seeks out what’s best for you in the long run.
Consider that eternity is a very long time to exist and in the duration of eternity demands a quality of life needed to sustain eternal beings. Even in a temporal life setting life can be boring without a motivation to continue. Agape Love exposes the value of life to God and to those God loves. Let's understand one important thing Agape love is never avenged or pursued for unjust gain.
To revere life is to love God and his creation and in loving God we need a robust and eternal commitment for doing good for our God and fellow man. God recognized that Adam being alone was not good, he needed companionship; someone to express his thoughts and needs to over his entire lifetime. What would life be like without someone to share it with? God designed life every person could understand the experience of others to make life worthwhile within relationships.
God commanded Adam and Eve to replenish the earth and in the course of time mankind has increased to more than eight billion. Most of the eight billion have chosen to live as they see fit and do not see a need for God even though God revealed himself to mankind. Consider this; God has made his divine nature and power known to mankind through his creation so that man is without excuse. Still to instill his divine power he embedded the thought of heaven and hell as a destination in the hereafter. All in all God has given us a choice to know that he exists and rewards his creation according to what he has done.
Eternal torment awaits those who choose to ignore God even though God does not want anyone to perish. For this purpose God devised a plan so man would not remain estranged from him. Within this plan man had a choice between life and death between seeking the righteousness of God and rejection of his plan of Salvation.
The plan of Salvation is a choice to believe that Jesus Christ is our Messiah and submit to his authority by agreeing to take Jesus Christ as Lord of your life. The plan of Salvation is based on belief, trust and faith in the name of Jesus Christ. To all who choose to believe on Jesus God gave them the right to become children of God not children of human descent but children born of God.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. John 1:12-14
In the book of John Jesus explains the born again experience and how one enters the kingdom of God. Jesus said;
I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. John 3:3
Jesus explained that being born of water meant we were born of human descent and born of flesh. Instead it is the rebirth or regeneration of the human spirit that God is concerned with. God chose to honor his promise of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord as explained in Romans 6:23. Jesus went on to further explain that the flesh gives birth to flesh but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. In other words it being born of the flesh is of a human decision but being born of the Spirit is a decision of God where our spirit is begotten of God.
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit John 3:5-6
The Pharisees accused Jesus of Blaspheme because he claimed to be the Son of God. Jesus responded with scripture coming from the psalms that confirmed his claim (John 10:34).
"I said, 'You are "gods"; you are all sons of the Most High.' Psalms 82:6
Paul explains that being a member of God’s household was determined before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
In love he (God) predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, Ephesians 1:4-5
The bible tells us that we are children of God through Jesus Christ. I personally see my true father as God the father and I have divine descent (possibly a birth certificate) recorded in the book of life. The scriptures state that we are children of God.
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 John 3:1
The passage concludes that we are called children of God and that is what we are. Whether we are born of God or adopted, we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ with an eternal promise of inheritance guaranteed by oath. As children of God we have citizenship in Heaven leaving no doubt we will spend eternity with our father in Heaven.
He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. Revelation 21:7
Let us give glory to our heavenly father for all he has done.
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