Loving God, Loving Yourself, and Loving Others   by Joyce Meyer

We live in a love-starved world where every day we encounter people who are crying out for somebody to love them. As Christians, you and I are called to share the love of God with these hurting people. 

When I first got into a serious relationship with God, I knew that I was supposed to love other people. I wanted to love them and be nice and sweet and kind.  I wondered what was wrong with me because I was having so much trouble doing it. But I learned that love is not just a word—it is something very real that can be seen and experienced. The many facets of love almost always involve how we treat people. There is a complete cycle of love that we must discover in learning how to bring love to perfection and completion in our lives. Loving others is much easier when we have learned and experienced three important things.
 1. Get a Revelation about God’s Unconditional Love for You

A lot of folks today who can sing “Jesus loves me, this I know” don’t really have a revelation about the love of God. They may feel that God loves them when things are going well, but they are not convinced that He loves them when things get rough.  And we know (understand, recognize, are conscious of, by observation and by experience) and believe (adhere to and put faith in and rely on) the love God cherishes for us. God is love, and he who dwells and continues in love dwells and continues in God, and God dwells and continues in him (1 John 4:16). This was a life-changing scripture for me. God is love. It’s not something He does—it’s something He is.

Why does God love us? Because He is love and He cannot keep from loving us. He will love us no matter what we do. So you don’t have to try to get Him to love you. You are not a surprise to God. Jeremiah 1:5 says, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew and approved of you.  John 13:1 says Jesus ….loved those who were His own in the world, He loved them to the last and to the highest degree. Jesus’ love for us required of Him the ultimate sacrifice—His death on the cross. Because of His great love, He humbled himself and took the punishment we deserved.

We need to be consciously aware of God’s love for us. Many people unconsciously know that God loves them, yet a lot of times they may not recognize His love in day-to-day situations. God’s love sees you through all kinds of life’s problems. Sometimes people give luck or fate the credit for things that happen to them, but the truth is—the love of God is responsible for our well-being. Because He loves us and wants the best for us, He sometimes shows us what we’re doing wrong. Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude] (Revelation 3:19).

Recently God corrected me about something, and I really felt His love. I thought, Thank You, God. You must love me a lot to care about my behavior enough to take time out from running the world to talk to me about it. It is easier to take correction when you know it is being done out of love. 1 John 4:18 (KJV) tells us that …perfect love casteth out fear…. I have been blessed with a major revelation on fear, and yet there are still times when I experience fear. So what does that tell me? I still need more revelation on the love of God. When we are convinced of God’s love for us because He has revealed it to us, then we can rest in His love, regardless of what happens to us in this world.

2. Learn to Love Yourself in a Balanced Way

Matthew 22:39 tells us: …love your neighbor as [you do] yourself. It is very difficult to love other people if you don’t love yourself, because you cannot give away what you don’t have. Now, we don’t want to become self-centered—always thinking only about ourselves. But on the other hand, we shouldn’t put others first to the point that we never do anything good for ourselves. We need to be balanced in the area of love. When we walk in God’s love, we are not always top priority—we recognize the needs of other people and look for ways to help them. We can’t make people feel good about themselves unless we feel good about ourselves. But when we are confident that God loves us and we feel good about ourselves, then we have something substantial to give to others. I finally realized that I had difficulty loving others because I didn’t really love myself. But when I was able to understand God’s love for me, then I was better able to let His love flow through me to other people. As 1 John 4:12 indicates, when we love others, the love God has invested in us has run its full course and is finally doing what God intended for it to do. He is the author of love, and love is not complete until it is flowing through us to others.

3. Learn to Love God—Which Means to Obey Him

A lot of people try to do what’s right simply because they’re trying to get God to love them—but how can you earn something you already have? It’s like trying to sit down in a chair that you’re already sitting in! How can you buy a free gift? It’s impossible! So just receive God’s love and learn to love Him back. Recognizing that the Creator of the world loves us with an everlasting love (see Jeremiah 31:3) should cause us to love and worship Him. We worship God by recognizing who He is, how wonderful He is, and what He’s done for us, then having a heart that fills up with the awe of God. Out of that comes adoration and praise. Truly loving God causes us to acknowledge Him in all our ways. This means we will spend time with Him every day and show our love and dependence on God by talking to Him and paying attention to what He says to us.

You will never live a holy life until you know that God loves you. If you don’t know that God loves you, you can’t love Him. And if you don’t love Him, you’re not going to obey Him—which He requires of us. In John 14:15, He says, If you [really] love Me, you will keep [obey] My commands. If we really love God, we will read His Word and do our best to do what He tells us to do. We will be obedient to Him by eliminating procrastination and laziness and by being submissive not only to Him but to those He places in positions of authority over us. To whatever degree you are obeying God, you are loving Him. Loving and obeying require a certain amount of suffering in the flesh. This is why so many today are growing cold, as mentioned in Matthew 24:12. Cold love includes words without action. Words are easy, but action requires sacrifice. Talk is cheap, but love is expensive. Real love always costs you something. So be willing to show God that you love Him by always being obedient to Him.

Complete the Cycle of Love by Loving Others

In John 13:34, Jesus says, I give you a new commandment: that you should love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you, too, should love one another. And in 1 John 4:11,12, He says,  Beloved, if God loved us so [very much], we also ought to love one another…if we love one another, God abides (lives and remains) in us and His love (that love which is essentially His) is brought to completion (to its full maturity, runs its full course, is perfected) in us!

Until we understand and believe what the Word says about love, it is difficult for us to love others. Only when we really get a revelation about God’s unconditional love, learn to love ourselves, and love God can we truly love others with the agape love of God, which is unconditional love. This kind of love is actually the love of God rising up in us and going out toward other people. It is not my kind of love…but God’s. Love is not just a word or a gooey feeling you have in your heart—it’s something real. You show your love—God’s love in you—by doing things for others. It is acts of kindness and the manifestation of the fruit of goodness. Love finds ways to compliment people and build them up. Love edifies and encourages people instead of tearing them down.

1 Corinthians 13, often called the love chapter of the Bible, speaks about …love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God’s love for and in us) (1Cor 13:1). The word inspired used here means motivated or energized by God’s love. We’ll never get around to loving others if we don’t have God’s love in us.

1 Corinthians 13:2 goes on to tell us that even if we have prophetic powers, possess all knowledge, and have enough faith to move mountains, we are nothing unless we have the God-kind of love.  Your relationship with God, with yourself, and with other people are all interconnected. When I love you and you love me, then God’s love in us has run its full course and is doing what He intended for it to do.

Be Aggressive in Your Love Walk

Satan’s end-time attack is cold love. He doesn’t want us to love anybody. Cold love is exhibited by a lack of compassion for hurting people. There seems to be inherent selfishness today, and the only way to overcome that is to come against it with a strong, militant love walk. We must be aggressive about being good to people.

Lester Sumrall said we should love militantly—that means we have to do it on purpose. Go out and look for someone with a need—someone who needs your love. Don’t do it only when it’s forced on you—do it on purpose!

If we truly love others, we will find ways to be a blessing to them. Psalm 37:3 (KJV) tell us to Trust in the Lord, and do good.  While we’re trusting God, we need to be sowing seeds of being good to other people. It is sometimes difficult to be good to somebody else when you are hurting and having trouble in your own life, but you must do it if you want to reap a good harvest. Being good to others is seed you are sowing for your own harvest.

God’s love is everlasting, and He wants to bless you abundantly. So move up higher in the love walk God wants for you by recognizing His love, receiving His love, and walking in His love. Allow God to make you a blessing to others. As you let His love work through you, radical blessings will begin to overtake you in the form of greater faith, victory over sin, healing, prosperity, and joy. So step out and make a start—let God love you!

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