The love of God for humanity is the beating heart of the Gospel. It was His love for mankind that moved God to sacrifice His son on our behalf, according to John 3:16, the theme of this five-day plan. Spend some time exploring this and other beloved passages to learn how understanding the love of God can revolutionize your life and relationships. Kurt Dillinger, Founder and President of LIFE International
Day 1
Scriptures: Genesis 1:27, Psalms 136:26, Romans 5:2-5, Galatians 2:20
For most Christians, John 3:16 is a familiar verse, because it sums up the Gospel in a mere 25 words, give or take.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)
Appropriately, we celebrate what this verse says about God: His love, His mercy, His grace, His sacrifice. But what does this verse say about us? What must be true of you and of me for God to have freely chosen this road to ensure our own path toward redemption, salvation, and eternal life?
We can look to the Bible’s very first chapter to discover the answer: You are made in the image of God. The world is full of God’s magnificent creations—the wondrous, the beautiful, the breathtaking—but you, as a member of the human race, are the only being created in God’s image, and it is His image that establishes your value.
Out of all the words in John 3:16, the shortest is arguably the strongest: “so.” God didn’t just think the world was “okay.” In His own words it was “very good,” and He “so” loved the world, loved humanity, that He sacrificed His Son to bridge the gulf between Himself and mankind.
“Well,” you may think, “He may have loved some people enough to send His son to die on the cross, but He doesn’t love me that way.” John 3:16 doesn’t say that God loved Billy Graham and Mother Teresa so much that He decided to save everyone else. The passage says that He loved all “the world,” so that “whoever” believes in Him can be saved. That “whoever” is you. It’s me.
The implications of this truth are revolutionary. They establish a firm foundation for positive self-regard and diminish the impulse toward self-contempt. There is nothing about you that God doesn’t know; He loves you as you are, as He created you to be. There is no secret place of your life that upon discovery would void God’s promise to you. This liberating truth must drive us to constant gratefulness and unhindered testimony of God’s vast love for all the world.
Today, ask God to reveal His love not just for “the world,” but for you.
Day 2
Scriptures: Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:4-5, 1 John 4:9-12, 1 John 4:19-21
It’s easy to love the lovable: girlfriends, grandmas, well-behaved children. Others are not so easily loved. You probably don’t need to be prompted to immediately think of examples of both, but consider it for a moment: whom in your life is easy to love? Whom in your life do you struggle to love?
It’s not hard to identify why some people are easier to love than others. Personal compatibility often creates harmony, while differences can create conflict. And certain traits—hospitality, generosity, patience, kindness—are more conducive to “loving” relationships than others, such as negativity, laziness, and a lack of charity.
A difficult reality to accept about ourselves is that—from God’s perspective—we are the latter. Yes, we are worthy to be loved, but our value is based on our status as image-bearers of God, not on our natural charm and charisma! God loved us not when we were righteous and mighty saints, but when we were “powerless” and “ungodly” sinners (Romans 5:6-8)!
This feels like a hard truth at first, but it should comfort us. If God’s love for us were contingent upon who we are, how we act, and what we do for others, we all would be without hope. But because His love for us is founded on an unshakeable reality—that we are made in His image—we can rest in the confidence that our hope is assured.
The implications of this fact—that God loved us while we were living in offense against Him—also provide us with a model to emulate in our disposition toward others. Instead of waiting on others for an apology, a behavioral change, or an epiphany that may never come, we should lead with love. We must be like Jesus and offer grace where no favor is merited, extend forgiveness in the face of obstinance, and show love where none has been earned.
Today, thank God for those in your life who are “easy” to love. Ask Him to help you to show love to those in your life whom you struggle to love.
Day 3
Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 16:14, John 13:34-35, Romans 12:9-10, 1 John 4:12, 1 John 3:1
What’s in it for me? Though usually unspoken, this question often drives human behavior. While it’s natural to view relationships as an exchange, and to look for the most desirable or favorable outcome, our relationships often suffer when we elevate our own needs above the needs of others.
Fortunately, Jesus came not to satisfy his own needs but to meet our need (it’s terminal, by the way), even when we didn’t know we were needy. And He wasn’t seeking the satisfaction or approval of those He was serving; He sought the satisfaction of the only person whose opinion mattered: His Father, our Heavenly Father.
When we seek to satisfy God instead of others, two things happen: God is satisfied with our efforts, and we find relief from our futile attempts to be satisfied by the approval of others. It’s a win-win situation that calibrates our needs to the one person capable of meeting them. It also accomplishes what the hymnist captured so well: “And the things of Earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
Although miraculous transformation is possible, growth in this direction is not usually an overnight change. It’s a gradual conversion from being self-focused (What’s in it for me?) to being others-focused (How can I best serve my neighbor?). But even then, our others focus is ultimately rendered as service to God, who modeled best what it looks like to be truly selfless, even unto death on a cross.
Every human being possesses a longing to be loved. This isn’t a weakness; it’s how we were created. The weakness, however, is revealed in what we choose as the object of our longing. While there is nothing inappropriate about being enriched by the love found in friendship or marriage or parenthood, we are diminished when we don’t look deeper into our need for love to hear the voice of God calling to us from that inner place.
Only God can meet your need to be loved. Speak your need and allow Him to fill it!
Day 4
Scriptures: Mark 10:45, Colossians 3:12-14, 1 Corinthians 1:27-31, 1 John 4:7, Micah 6:8, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
“God has not called me to be successful,” said Mother Teresa. “He has called me to be faithful.” What a relief! Accepting the love of God is a difficult enough challenge for most believers but being “successful” in showing His love to others can feel downright impossible. When we change our objective from success to faithfulness, we can start to see how a more loving lifestyle could be possible.
The outcome of any relational interaction is not our responsibility; only our words and our actions are our responsibility. Our duty is to walk in step with the truth of the Gospel that says that every human being is valuable, and that God so loved the world that He gave His Only Son to redeem it.
As we are transformed into the likeness of Jesus, we will more naturally treat people as He treated people: with dignity, compassion, and love. And we will also begin to care less about how we may be treated in return (although we can see in the crowds of people that flocked to Jesus just how much people appreciate being treated the way He treated them).
Since we are not perfect beings, our motivations will likewise never be perfect. We can act as if we are serving others, while still paying the most attention to how we are feeling, or how the person is responding to our service. This is the success/faithfulness tension. We should strive to be like Jesus, but we will never be Jesus. Your most selfless and altruistic act will still be tainted by sin (sorry!) but that doesn’t make your act any less appropriate.
The discipline of serving others for their good, to gain the satisfaction of God, is both a response to the work of Christ in your life, and a further development of the Christlike spirit. It will become easier and more fulfilling as you establish the pattern and habits of “faithful” love.
Today, ask God to reorient your gaze toward Him, away from yourself and even away from others. As you model His love in actions toward other people, rest in the comfort of His satisfaction.
Day 5
Scriptures: John 13:34-35, Matthew 22:37-40, Matthew 5:14-16, Romans 8:37-39, Revelation 21:4
For God so loved the world…
For God so loved women…For God so loved preborn children…For God so loved refugees…For God so loved men…For God so loved teenagers…For God so loved the elderly…For God so loved immigrants…
…that he gave his only Son.
If God loves all people, of any mental capacity, at every stage of life, of every nationality, from every country, then so must we love them. When Jesus Himself commanded us to “love your neighbor as yourself,” He wasn’t speaking only of those living in the home adjacent to yours: those who look like you, talk like you, and act like you. He was speaking of a love without boundaries and without conditions. He called the object of His love “the world,” offering the gift of eternal life to “whoever” would believe.
Jesus offers two different angles on love: He commands us to love others as much as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:39) and to love others as He has loved us (John 13:34). And in the very next verse, He answers “So what?” in no uncertain terms: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). Love as I have loved, says Jesus, so that people will see me in you.
We don’t love to make other people feel good about themselves.We don’t love to make other people feel good about us.We don’t love to make ourselves feel good about ourselves.We don’t love to feel anything about anyone.
We love to point others to God.
When we love people as God loves people, we reflect Christ and point others to Him. In our selfless love we look more like Christ, and others will see in us a reflection of Him and they will know Him more, or maybe even see Him for the first time.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16