Love
People/Christians focus so much on being good and, as a result, start believing they are better than others. They go about judging people that appear to be lukewarm in the things of God or those that indulge in obvious sins (for example, people of the gay community or even people with tattoos)
The truth is our good works don't earn us God's love. God’s love doesn’t require work experience. So, just because you are heterosexual, work in church, listen to only Hillsong and Bethel music, don’t have tattoos (and so on) does not mean God loves you more than others. Cue the prodigal son story (
)
In fact, He loves Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin the same way He loves your pastor. I know how controversial that sounds but it's true. He loves everyone! Please note that I am not condoning the actions of these men (or any form of sin), I am only describing the magnitude of God's love.
Source: www.patriotledger.com
He likened our self-righteous nature to filthy rags in
He sees beyond that. He sees us as we truly are. Despite knowing how nasty we can be, he still let his son die for us.
Think about the woman, in
, who was caught committing adultery.
Jesus saw the Pharisees trying to stone her and he told them “how about we do it this way: if you have never done something wrong in the eyes of God, you can go ahead and stone her”
Hearing this, her accusers started slipping away one by one. What is fascinating about that story is that: the one person who has never sinned – Jesus – was right there and by his suggestion, he could have actually stoned her. However, he did not. He simply told her she was free. That’s love.
Source: www.mormonchannel.org
So I ask: who are you to judge others?
Before we were born, God already loved us and still loves us no matter the mistakes we make. He loves us all equally - all 7 billion of us - regardless of your faith, belief, sin, failures, mistakes etc. He does not need you to be perfect; he'll still love you anyways.
If people can focus on God's love, gain a true appreciation for it and in the process build a genuine relationship with God, they would become Christlike without even knowing it. Think about it: if you really like your girlfriend, you'll get to know her well enough to know and understand the things she does not like and would try to avoid those things.
Because God loved us first, we can have a true understanding of what love is. Then we can love God (and in the process, live right and be holy) and love others. (
)
Source: truthpressure.wordpress.com
The bottom-line is Love is the real answer to every existential question. It supersedes faith and Hope (
) and gives a true meaning to Christianity.
Read about Hosea and Gomer's love story in Hosea chapters
&
. That story is similar to God's love for us.