Asheritah Ciuciu

God is Love

"So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." ~ 1 John 4:16

God is love and He loves us. We know that in our minds, but often we don’t live that way.

But the reality of God’s love surrounds us day by day, as revealed in these inspiring Bible verses about God’s love below. We learn that…

• God’s love is steadfast and unchanging
• God’s love comforts us
• God’s love is revealed to us through Jesus Christ
• God’s love is poured into us through the Holy Spirit
• God’s love compels us to love one another

Many of us grow up doubting the love of God because of the relationships we have with others. Broken relationships, hurt from others, or even our own bad choices and cause us to doubt why God would choose to love us. Sometimes well-meaning churches even misguide us into thinking that we need to earn God's love by behaving or acting "good enough". God demonstrated the greatest act of love when Jesus Christ died on the cross for us. We no longer have to work toward being loved, it is given freely for all. 

This week, take a few minutes to meditate on these Scriptures about God’s love and ask the Lord to show how you can reflect His love to others in your life.

17 Bible Verses about the Love of God

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations. - Deuteronomy 7:9

How precious is your unfailing love, O God! - Psalm 36:7

You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you. - Psalm 86:5

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. - Psalm 86:15

Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever. - Psalm 136:26

The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. - Zephaniah 3:17

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. - John 15:9-17

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud...it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:8

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. - Romans 5:2-5

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:37-39

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. - Galatians 2:20

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved. - Ephesians 2:4-5

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. - 1 John 3:1

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. - 1 John 4:7-8

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. - 1 John 4:9-11

What Bible verses about God's love have given you hope and encouragement? Share your favorite Scripture below to help others seeking to know God more!

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This post originally appeared on OneThingAlone.com. Get all One Thing Alone blog posts by email and a free e-course called "Quiet Time for Busy Women" - click here.

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Do you ever wonder what Jesus would do if He were given a triple chocolate cream-filled cupcake?

 

Would He eat it?

 

Or would He politely pass?

 

Maybe it's just me and my WWJD-bracelet memories from junior high years, but sometimes I look at the food in front of me and wonder: What would Jesus do? 

 

Would Would Jesus Eat?

 

If Jesus were living in the 21st-century western world, would He be on the Atkins Diet? Or Paleo? Or vegetarian? Or gluten-free?

 

• Would He grab a Diet Coke with a fast-food meal?
• Would He indulge in decadent dessert?
• Would He linger over a farm-to-table meal with friends?
• Would He go to an all-you-can-eat restaurant?
• Would He look up ingredients on the packaging of His breakfast?

 

You might chuckle and dismiss this article as irrelevant, but actually, I believe we should study how Jesus treated food in Scripture to correct the way we use food in our own lives. Recent statistics reveal that over 50% of American women are obese, with many more overweight. And those numbers inside the church are worse, not better. Young adults who regularly attend church are 50% more likely to be obese by the time they reach middle age (read the news story here).

 

Ouch.

 

That should make us pause for a moment.

 

There's something very wrong with that statistic.

 

Not Just a "Worldly Problem"

 

Obviously, we have a food problem. And it's just as bad inside the church as it is outside the church (in fact, it's slightly worse). The Western world is facing an obesity epidemic, and the orthorexic whiplash that we're beginning to see (an obsession with healthy eating) can be just as destructive.

 

I know.

 

Because this is personal.

 

This "food thing" isn't just some interesting news story that I read one day while browsing Facebook. I didn't just waste an afternoon on Wikipedia following rabbit trails from the entry on orthorexia nervosa (although there was that too). I battled food fixation in my own life, and it was hard. Isolating. Embarrassing. It's just not something that a missionary kid can easily fess up to: "Hi. I'm Asheritah. And I think about food. A lot."

 

This obsession with food is inside our church walls, and it's affecting our testimony to an onlooking world.

 

Because the truth is that whether we're obsessed with eating healthy food or comfort food, carrots or carrot cake, food fixation steals our attention from the only One who should capture our affection: the Bread of Life.

 

Whether carrots or carrot cake, food fixation steals our attention from our souls' proper affection.

 

And He is the only One who satisfies. Only Jesus.

 

Jesus and Food in the Bible

 

Let's take a moment to see how Jesus related to food in the Bible, and perhaps we will begin to understand where our thinking should change:

 

• Jesus fasted forty days in the wilderness in preparation for His public ministry (Matthew 4:1–4).
• Jesus taught His disciples to not worry about food and drink because God will take care of them (Matthew 6:25–26).
• Jesus dined with tax collectors and sinners, while the Pharisees called Him a “glutton and a drunkard” (Matthew 11:19).
• Jesus gave instructions regarding who to invite to dinner parties (Luke 14:12–14).
• Jesus had compassion on the crowds who were following Him without enough food for dinner, so He miraculously provided food for all (Matthew 14:15–21).
• Jesus defended His disciples’ lack of fasting during His lifetime, explaining that they will fast when He’s gone (Mark 2:20).
• Jesus made careful preparations to eat the Passover meal with His disciples before the crucifixion (Luke 22:7–13).
• Jesus chose bread and wine as symbols His followers would use to remember His sacrifice (Luke 22:14–20).
• Jesus blessed God for meals and broke bread before and after His resurrection (Luke 24:28–31).
• Jesus asked the disciples if they had food to eat after His resurrection (Luke 24:41–43).
• Jesus made breakfast for His disciples after His resurrection (John 21:9–13).
• Jesus used dinner parties and wedding banquets as pictures of the future kingdom of God (Matthew 22:2; Luke 14:16–24).

 

What do these vignettes tell us about the way Jesus related to food?

 

Jesus didn’t ignore His appetite, but He wasn’t controlled by it either.

 

He was able to both fast and feast, and He often gathered people around the table to fellowship at a deeper level.

 

We could spend an entire book unpacking each of these passages and learning so much more just from Jesus’ example in His relationship with food. But the overarching theme here is that Jesus enjoyed food while He lived on this earth; He knew both how to feast and to fast.

 

One of the clear takeaways is that food is NOT bad, but food fixation can easily become a stronghold in our lives if we’re not careful.

 

So would Jesus eat a cupcake? There's no clear Scriptural evidence to make an airtight argument, but based on the passages above, yeah, I think He would. I think if He were sitting at my kitchen table and I offered Him a cupcake, He would receive it with thankfulness and then invite me to sit with Him, to savor the sweetness of His presence that far surpasses anything I can whip up in the kitchen.

 

Jesus invites us to discover that His presence is sweeter than a chocolate cupcake. 

 

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This post is an excerpt from my book Full: Food, Jesus, and the Battle for Satisfaction. Discover the joy of living free from food fixation so you can experience deeper satisfaction in Christ, gain a renewed sense of purpose, and yes, even enjoy good food (without regret).

A healthier relationship with food through a stronger relationship with Christ—that’s the goal of Full. Read more or Take the 7-Day Truth & Dare Challenge.

 

I hit the ground running.

No sooner does the fogginess leave my brain than it’s already filled with jumbled thoughts.

“I’ve got to finish writing this post today, and call the insurance company, and hopefully get my periscope in before Carissa wakes up. What am I making for dinner tonight? Do I need to pull anything out of the freezer? Oh yeah, it’s laundry day too. I wonder if I can get that done and put away before lunch. Goodness, there’s another zit on my chin. Where did that come from? And then there’s the prep for Bible study this week. When am I going to fit that in?”

Before I know it, my mind is filled with chaotic ramblings as one thought after another lunges my way.

Enough. 

That is no way to start my day.

Instead, I want to give my day to the Lord before my feet even hit the floor. So I wrote this prayer for me, and I offer it to you as well, that we may learn to start our day the right way.

A Prayer for First Thing in the Morning

Good morning, Lord!
Thank You for a new day. Thank You that Your compassion is renewed every morning. Great is Your faithfulness and Your steadfast love, O Lord!
I don’t know what all is going to happen today, and how much I’ll get done, but You do.
So I give this day to You.

Fill me with Your Holy Spirit, Father. Energize me for Your work, because You know how tired these bones are. Awaken me to the wonder of Your salvation, and quicken my spirit to the reality of Your work in my life.
Lord, my mind is filled with creative ideas, but they’re all jumbled. Holy Spirit, come and hover over my mindlike You hovered over the waters at creation and speak order out of the chaos! Help me to cease striving and to trust that You will give me all I need today to do the work You’ve given me to do.

You will be faithful to complete the good work You’ve started, and as I step out into my day, I declare Your sovereignty over every area of my life. I entrust myself to You and ask that You use me however You see fit.
This day is Yours. My body is Yours. My mind is Yours. Everything I am is Yours.

May You be pleased with me today.
Amen.