Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

We are continuing our ‘D-Love’ of God appreciation, by understanding His ‘Divine-Love’.

Today’s scripture, 2 Thessalonians 3:5 (NLT) says…
[5] May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.

Consider…
The world tries to define love in a myriad of ways. But according to 1 John 4:8, God is love! Thus today’s title is ‘Divine-Love’.

I guess you could say that love is defined as Love Divine.

Let’s look at some of the attributes of ‘Divine-Love’. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a (NIV) shares…
[4] Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. [5] It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. [6] Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. [7] It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. [8] Love never fails.

Most of us have been taught to read these verses as a definition or standard of love. However, I submit these verses are merely a description of God!

For example, 2 Peter 3:9 (NLT) highlights how God is patient. It says…
[9] The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

And Psalms 103:8 (NIV) testifies…
[8] The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

…God is not easily angered

Or how about Psalms 103:12 (NLT) which acknowledges…
[12] He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.

..God keeps no record of wrongs

I will not attempt to find supporting scriptures for each attribute listed, but I truly believe I could.

Yet, there’s one attribute that seemed contradictory. The NLT version of verse 4 says Love is not jealous. However, Deuteronomy 4:24 (NIV) clearly states…
[24] For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Here’s where words matter. Chuck Swindoll differentiates envy and jealousy this way…

• Envy is empty hands mourning over what it doesn’t have
• Jealousy begins with full hands but is threatened by the loss of it

When the Bible says God is jealous, it’s not saying that He’s envying what He doesn’t have. Instead He’s acknowledging the threat of losing what He does have, our hearts.

Thus Exodus 34:14 (NLT) expresses better God being jealous, not envious…
[14] You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you.

The last attribute of ‘Divine-Love’ that I must emphasize is it is not self-seeking. Many scriptures come to mind, but I will limit my references to three…

• John 3:16 (NLT)…[16] “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
• 1 John 4:10 (NLT)…[10] This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
• Ephesians 2:4-5 (NLT)…[4] But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, [5] that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)

…’Divine-Love’ is not self-seeking because He gives by grace. That’s significant because, grace (God’s Righteousness At Christ Expense) means ‘Divine-Love’ undesrevedly gave His life to save the lives of the undeserving.

Galatians 1:4 (NLT) says it this way…
[4] Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live.

…God is not self-seeking

So the next time you find yourself trying to define love, think of ‘Divine-Love’ and simply declare God is Love!

Today’s song is…
Love

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)