Love Through Forgiveness

As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. [Mark 1.10]

I don't know what is going on today, but God is showing me His love like I have never seen before. Before I even read today's reading, and was reading through some select scriptures that I read every day, God's love began to be revealed to me...

How does Mark 1.10 have anything to do with the love of God? It has everything to do with the love of God! How? The Holy Spirit!

One of my "daily readers" (the select scriptures I read every day) is from the Gospel of John:

Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” [John 20.21-23]

Look at what Jesus said here in John's Gospel! Look at what He said in conjunction with telling them to receive the Holy Spirit! If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

The Holy Spirit is evident in our lives through forgiveness! In no event is God's love more evident than in His forgiveness! In no event is God's love more evident in us than when we forgive!

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. [John 3.16]

Jesus further defined forgiveness (love) like this: 

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. [John 15.13]

And this selfless love through forgiveness is also defined beautifully by the Apostle Paul:

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. [1 Cor. 13.4-7]

This selfless love through forgiveness is no resource of man. It is found only in God and manifests only through the indwelling and work of the Holy Spirit. No man can generate the kind of love Jesus and Paul described above. But, as Christ dwells in man by the Holy Spirit, the love of God finds full expression: selfless love through forgiveness (even to death).

Contrary to all popular opinion, genuine love (God's kind of love) operating in me is not about what's good for "me" but only about what's good for others.

Father, forgive me for my pathetic attempts at love on my own. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that Your Love Through Forgiveness might abundantly pour forth from my life to all.