Welcome

Welcome to “A deeper love”. This blog aims to be an expression of the Christian faith. Love is essential to the life God has called his people to embrace. This love starts with God himself. Although human beings often sin against God, he continues to extend love toward them. This is expressed in the Old Testament book of Nehemiah.

They refused to obey,
And they were not mindful of your wonders
That You did among them.
But they hardened their necks,
And in their rebellion
They appointed a leader
To return to their bondage.
But You are God,
Ready to pardon,
Gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger,
Abundant in kindness,
And did not forsake them.
Nehemiah 9:17.

God’s love is ultimately expressed in the sending of his son Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, to take the punishment for the sins of all who will trust in him. The sin of every human being is so serious that no one can make up for it through trying to live a good life. God’s standard is perfection, and no one can attain this. The penalty for this is bondage to sin, spiritual death, and ultimately eternal punishment. This meant that the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, was necessary in our place. Through Christ, human beings can be forgiven and have a restored relationship with God.

In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:9 – 10.

God’s love causes us to respond in love toward him.

We love him because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19.

This love is our greatest duty toward God.

Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. Matthew 22:37 – 38.

God’s love expressed in Christ teaches people how to love one another.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:11.

This truth is also expressed in the second part of the Great Commandment.

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down his life for his friends. John 15:12 – 13.

The scripture “Above all, love one another deeply” (1 Peter 4:8) was the original inspiration for this blog. The command to love is so integral to Christian life that it should be placed above all else. The cry of our hearts – and the cry of this blog – ought to be for a deeper love for both God and one another.

The command to love encompasses God’s prior mandates to humanity, foremost amongst them the command to humankind at the beginning of creation. This original Creation Mandate, which still applies to humanity today, is to be lived out through the overarching principle of love.

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:28.

The Great Commission is another important part of God’s plan of love and dominion. As God’s love transforms his people, they are to seek to spread that love to other peoples and nations. Christians can expect that whole nations will be transformed through the gospel.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. Matthew 28:19 – 20a.

This blog aims to provide commentary on various aspects of life, from history to homemaking, from the perspective of the Great Commandment, the Creation Mandate, and the Great Commission. May you find that “A deeper love” helps you to fulfil God’s command to “Above all, love”.