All-Weather Love
“Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love – Isaac – and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” Genesis 22:2
When God told Abraham to offer up his son, Issac, the word “love” is spoken for the very first time in the Bible. The Hebrew word for love is “ahavah”. This first mention of “ahavah”, which is the very nature of God [1 John 4:8] occurs in direct connection with sacrifice, the sacrifice of a most precious and beloved son.
Abraham could not have known at that time that his obedient offering would exemplify the love of our Heavenly Father who offered up Jesus, His only begotten Son for us. John 3:16.
Notice that in both cases love is directly connected to sacrifice – and that the greatest love comes from God’s sacrifice for our sin. The greatest love involves sacrifice; perfect love is costly!
There are times when loving someone is hard – almost impossible even. Yet we have this precedent, Abraham, the Father of faith, and we have Jesus Christ who consummated and perfected Love in the loving sacrifice of His own life.
So while it’s easy to love when it feels good, loving when it doesn’t, express the love of God and His faithful servants.
The Holy Spirit, our companion and comforter empowers us to love even when it carries a heavy cost.
Love, even at the most difficult times – realizing that sacrificial love is the very nature of God!
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” John 3:16
“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8