Last time, we discussed the love (agape) of God which was only given to those who have received the Holy Spirit. But somehow, love can grow cold when a person who has it ignores the will of God and continue to sin against God.
God commands us to love Him with all our heart, body, mind and soul. He wants us to love Him a hundred percent. “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31)
It is also commanded that we love one another as we love ourselves. By doing this, people will know that we are His sons and daughters.
Sadly, not all showed perfect and whole love. In one way or another, we were not able to show complete love.
The apostle John declares that sin is the transgression of God’s commandments (I John 3:4, KJV), including the two great commandments Jesus spoke. The word translated as “sin” literally means “to miss the mark.” Combining these principles gives us a very broad definition of sin: Sin is imperfectly loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and imperfectly loving our neighbor as ourselves.
Romans 3:23 declares that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In other words, all have sinned in the past, and in the present all fall short in reflecting God’s love, which is a major part of His glory. Godly love does not have to grow cold for it to be shown imperfectly. It is going to be shown imperfectly when it is demonstrated by God’s still-imperfect children. We all are in this state.
Not that we should give up trying to perfect God’s love. On the contrary, we have every responsibility to do our utmost to perfect it (I John 2:5; 4:12, 17-18). At the same time, it should not shock us when our spiritual brothers and sisters show God’s love to us imperfectly, for we are guilty of the same toward them—and toward God.
