Jesus explains in His parable of the talents that your Heavenly Father God has endowed you with at least one special gift. Often He has blessed you with many more. His gift of love to you, however, is the most precious of them all. If godly love is your one talent, it is yours to continually refine throughout your life. In order to continually grow in godly love, God's Word must be your road map. God Loves You: Notes of His Love unearths truths about your Heavenly Father's love from Paul's description of godly love in his first letter to the Corinthians. In his letter he reveals its seven qualities. You will find in God Loves You: Notes of His Love that each chapter is dedicated to studying a quality of love. As you study each chapter you become a student of God's love. You investigate for yourself how to live an entire life of continual growth in ever-abounding love for your Heavenly Father God, your dear ones, and all humanity. After you devote your entire life to successfully studying and living godly love, you will appear before your Heavenly Father God. When He sees your soul beaming the seven qualities of godly love, He will tell you "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your Master's happiness"

God Loves You

Notes of His LoveBy Thomas Franckowiak

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 Thomas Franckowiak
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4685-5539-4

Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction—The Need to Live Godly Love Is Clear...............................................3Chapter 2 God Is Love—No One Loves You the Way Your Heavenly Father Does..................................15Chapter 3 Love Is Patient—Patience Is God's Commitment to Take You into His Care..........................33Chapter 4 Love Rejoices in the Truth—Rejoice with Your Heavenly Father God Yahweh.........................63Chapter 5 Love Always Protects—God Will Always Be Your Savior Part I......................................97Chapter 6 Love Always Protects—God Will Always Be Your Savior Part II.....................................123Chapter 7 Love Always Hopes—God Is Your Everlasting Hope Part I...........................................155Chapter 8 Love Always Hopes—God Is Your Everlasting Hope Part II..........................................187Chapter 9 Love Always Trusts—Trust God to Always Love You Part I..........................................215Chapter 10 Love Always Trusts—Trust God to Always Love You Part II........................................233Chapter 11 Love Always Perseveres—God Will Complete Your Victory Part I...................................265Chapter 12 Love Always Perseveres—God Will Complete Your Victory Part II..................................299Chapter 13 Love Is Gracious—You Are Reconciled to Your Heavenly Father's Love Part I......................331Chapter 14 Love Is Gracious—You Are Reconciled to Your Heavenly Father's Love Part II.....................355Chapter 15 You Mature When You Love—Grow with God in Love.................................................375

Chapter One

The Need to Live Godly Love is Clear

The need for you and I to live godly love is clear when we look at the world. No matter how optimistic you and I are, we must both acknowledge that the world is fallen and polluted. To discover this, all we have to do is watch CNN or Fox News to conclude that much of the world is in a state of turmoil caused by strife and hatred.

You hear that President Ahmadinejad is leading Iran to build a hostile nuclear weapons program that would threaten Israel and the entire western world. He said that Israel must be "wiped off the map."

Then you hear about Palestinians boarding buses as human bombs to blow up Israeli women and children or you hear about Palestinians firing mortars at Israeli homes. Once you hear about these unconscionable acts that the Palestinians never tire of committing against the Israelis, you hear a report how Israel is sending in tanks into the Gaza Strip or the West Bank. You see the damage that an Israeli F-16 has done to a Palestinian community. You see a crater and the charred remains of homes where families used to live.

These are post-911 events! Ten years later, the U.S. still has troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Taliban fighters still have not been convinced that they need to stop pointing guns and exploding things. Even after Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden's deaths, violence is exploding all over the world. We would hope that all the hatred and the strife would go away, that it finally would stop, but it never does. A news report brings to your attention that the Chinese are now building supercarriers to challenge U.S. naval power in the Pacific.

Recently, you might have seen the news coverage in Libya. Not too long ago, Muammar Gaddafi was hiring mercenaries to shoot dead anyone that happened to be walking on the street. It could have been a mother walking with her children to the grocery store. Or it could have been an elderly man returning from his neighbor's home. He did this to crush the Arab Spring that exploded in his country. He had ruled with an iron-fist for over 40 years but now his people wanted change. Now, he is finally dead, after he was beaten and shot in the streets. He died the same way in which he ordered those who opposed him to be executed.

You learn that strife and violence is much closer to home than you would like it to be. The violence along the U.S.-Mexico seems to be spiraling frighteningly out of control. You hear about mass graves linked to a Mexican drug cartel. You hear about decapitated heads and car bombs blowing up innocent people in Acapulco, once famed to be a vacation paradise.

Then you hear that the drug cartels actually control large swaths of the Arizona desert. Officially, our federal government is in control but it cannot stop the endless streams of drug deliveries into the U.S. You watch documentaries showing live-video coverage of Mexicans carrying huge packages of marijuana on their backs. You see AT-V tracks where drug traffickers would drop their loads. You learn that Mexican cartels are in such control of the Arizona desert that they have scouts atop mountains to observe federal border patrols. The marijuana eventually might find its way to the school locker of a high school student or it might find its way to a mansion of a Hollywood celebrity.

One thing is to know that you are protected from all of the acts of discord and hatred that are common everyday occurrences in our society: divorce, infidelity, domestic violence, gang violence, homicides, abortions, sexual violence, cyber-bullying, and etc., forever. It is another to know that discord, lack of harmony, and deprivation of love have affected you personally.

You just want all of the turmoil to be far away but sadly it often makes its way home. For me, this has meant feeling the acute pain of my parents' divorce throughout my high school and college years at Abilene Christian University. My parents divorced when I was sixteen. I did not see my grandmother until a month before she passed away. After my parents divorced, over nine years passed before I saw Dad again. We were both at her funeral when we finally did. Additionally, the disunity has meant not seeing many of my aunts and cousins for many years.

What I did learn from my circumstances is that most of the time, when people decide not to love and they decide not to be friendly, they believe that not loving and not being friendly is the best decision. Yet, the world is not a better place when people just go their own separate ways because of lack of goodwill.

Study Godly Love

Thus, I am not alone when I think that more love is needed in this world. John Lennon wrote the song Imagine. Heat tempted to imagine what the world would be without wars, without genocide, without terrorism, without domestic violence, without all of the arguments and the harsh words, and without the open wounds of heartache. But John Lennon failed to understand that only the love that is of God—godly love—holds people and everything that exists together, from dawn's encouraging dew on blades of grass to the fetus that develops within its mother's womb (NIV Colossians 1.15-18).

We cannot put an end to all of the worldly strife and hatred but Jesus tells us that we "are the salt of the earth." He tells us that we "are the light of the world" and that the world will know us by our love. Maybe if you and I could go back in time we would not have been able to persuade Hitler to "pick up his cross" and to follow Jesus. But if each of us, one by one, picks up our cross to add a savory flavor to a bitter world, when God looks down on the earth and sees all of its wickedness and then sees you and I living lives of godly love, He will be pleased and we will feel the warmth of His love and be happy.

Long ago this happened when God saw a world of wickedness. He saw that all of the thoughts and actions of men were evil but when He saw Noah He was pleased. Jesus says that only few will choose the narrow road that leads to salvation but if we light this road as we walk it, others at least will see that they can join us; and we will light the road with our love.

You see, unlike John Lennon, what I write must have meaning based upon not how I would like our world to be but how God would like it to be. God wishes that our world were a world of love.

The reason God wishes that our world would be a world of love is because "God is love" (NIV 1 John 4.16). Since He is Creator and Sovereign of the Universe, love is the most important topic about which anyone could write. Because of Who and What He is, love is "the most excellent way" (1 Corinthians 13.1). Therefore, we need to love if we want our lives to count:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. (NIV 1 Corinthians 13.1-3)

Since this is so, what better truth, what better reality to study than God's love? This is what the apostle Paul wants us to know about His love:

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in heaven an on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in you hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him Who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen. (NIV Ephesians 3.14-17)

Do you see what Paul is saying here when he describes God's love for you and me? Paul wants you to comprehend that His love for you and me is infinite.

When you think about love you might think of it as a good feeling for people, but God's love has qualities. These are qualities of His love:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always perseveres. Love never fails. (NIV 1 Corinthians 13.4-7)

Thus the qualities of godly love are patience, kindness (graciousness), joy in the truth, protectiveness, trust, hope, and perseverance.

How We Will study Godly Love

Have you ever studied Jesus' parable of the talents? He told of a master who had three servants. This master entrusted each with different amounts of gold. A mina in Jesus' time was worth 1.25 pounds of gold. He entrusted his first servant to invest ten minas, 12.5 pounds of gold. He entrusted his second to invest five minas, 6.25 pounds of gold. Finally, he entrusted his third with one mina, 1.25 pounds of gold.

If you have read this parable you notice that Jesus' parable is concerned with the third servant. This servant did not know what to do with his one mina. He allowed his confusion to paralyze him with fear. So, he did nothing with it.

You know that both you and the President are both human but he has political talents that you do not have. You know that Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, is human just like you but he is a billionaire, and most likely you are not. You know that while Steve Jobs led Apple to invent the I-Pod, you most probably have not led anyone to invent something as advanced as that. You know that while you are organized at work and at home, you have never organized a mammoth retail empire such as Wal-Mart, as Sam Walton did. Thus, you understand that while everyone has a brain, two hands, and two feet, we all will live very different lives doing very different things.

Often, when someone asks you to explain your talents, other than describing your career, you might scratch your head before you can think of something to tell him because you might not have much time to spend to do much else. During the spare time that you do have, there is a good chance that your time is spent with your spouse, your children, your relatives, your friends, or with anyone else you might know or meet. If you are single and return home from work you might turn on your television or you just might crash from exhaustion. You might frequently be too tired to do anything else.

Therefore, whenever your minister delivers a sermon about the parable of the talents, because you might not know of too many things that you spend time doing outside of work, you might interpret his lesson to mean "Keep your head up and keep on living life the best you can." This interpretation, though, would be devoid of vitality.

What you must understand is that even if you do not think that you have very many talents, God will always be happy when you love Him. He will always be overjoyed to see you loving other people. He will never tell you that you have loved enough or to stop loving Him. I am sure you never ask Him if you have loved Him enough because you already know the answer to your question. You know that you can always love Him more.

Because you know that God will never stop loving you, you know to never stop loving Him. When you consider those you love, your parents, your spouse, your children, and your friends, you know that you can always continually grow and develop in your relationships with them. You know that you can always love them more.

Therefore, when you consider the parable of the talents, begin to think of love as the one talent that God has entrusted to you. You continually invest and reinvest your love into people. When you see God in heaven, He will see not only you but also the people whom you have touched with your love.

Because you know when you are before God in heaven that you will want Him to see that you have loved people, you also know that you must excel at love. To begin to excel at love and to continue to refine it, both you and I must study His Word to discover what godly love is—what its qualities are. Based upon years and years of studying His Word, I have found that Paul provides the most thorough description of love's qualities in the thirteenth chapter of his letter to the Corinthians.

Paul writes that love is the most excellent way (NIV 1 Corinthians 13.1). Therefore, in order to make your life count for God you must be patient. You must be gracious. You must rejoice with the truth. You must always protect your relationship with Him. You must always trust Him. You must always hope in Him. When you love, you persevere in your relationships. Finally, you grow in love because only love lasts (NIV 1 Corinthians 13.9-13).

Each chapter is a study of a quality of love and is divided into sections with headings. Each section explains a truth about the quality of love described in the chapter. Below is an executive summary of each chapter.

Chapter 2 God Is Love—No One Loves You the Way Your Heavenly Father Does

Often when people consider God's power they recognize His omnipotence and omnipresence. Yet His infinite and eternal love for you and all humanity is His Holiness. No one can ever match His love for you.

Chapter 3 Love Is Patient—Patience Is God's Commitment to Love You

You will learn that godly patience is quite different than worldly patience. Worldly patience is to tolerate or to endure people. When you exercise godly patience, you assign value to them as your Heavenly Father does. Once you assign value to people as He does, your thoughts, words, and actions are motivated by your desire to care for them, as one would care for a precious treasure.

Chapter 4 Love Rejoices in the Truth—Rejoice with Your Heavenly Father Yahweh

Your Heavenly Father God rejoices when He sees goodness in your soul. God Christ Jesus delivered a sermon called the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes is a list of qualities that He yearns to see in your soul. When He sees those qualities there, He is so overjoyed that He blesses you.

Chapters 5 and 6 Love Always Protects—God Will Always Be Your Savior

God has historically protected His people the Israelites and He protects them still today. Because you are now a child of the Lord God Almighty through God Christ Jesus, He will protect you, too, even as society unravels and the world becomes more violent.

Chapters 7 and 8 Love Always Hopes—God Is Your Everlasting Hope

Your hopes reveal your nature. They reveal whether you are pure or corrupt. Therefore, align your hope with God's Will. When you do, you will have every reason to hope, no matter the odds, because your Heavenly Father God will always work for your good. When people tell you to give up hope, you know that God will bless you at the right time.

Chapter 9 and 10 Love Always Trusts—Trust God to Always Love You

You trust your Heavenly Father God because you know that He always keeps His promises. He has been faithful throughout history up to now to His people. Because He is faithful you know that your salvation is secure and you can look forward to a new life in heaven with Him.

Chapter 11 and 12 Love Always Perseveres—God Will Complete Your Victory

Your Heavenly Father God gives everyone, including you, a special commission to complete. So, do not throw away your confidence. Find opportunities to use your spiritual gifts and continue in your faith. Fulfill His Will for your life no matter how much people attempt to dissuade you. His purpose for you is real.

Chapter 13 and 14 Love Is Gracious—You Are Reconciled to Your Heavenly Father's Love

God Christ Jesus reconciled you to your Heavenly Father's love. When you remember His grace, likewise, you gain a desire to forgive those who offend and hurt you. You then, overflowing with the grace of your Lord Christ Jesus, have a new spirit of love to where you begin to consider what forgiveness is rather than what it is not.

Chapter 15 You Mature when You Love: Grow with God in Love

Love is not a destination but a journey with God Christ Jesus. Therefore, each day, you strive to love people more. Over time, as people see you develop godly love, they will associate you with your God Christ Jesus, because you now love as He loves.

To Study Godly Love Is Your Most Noble Endeavor

I used to play the violin and the clarinet. I do not play these musical instruments anymore because I did not understand the importance of perfecting my use of them through practice. Reflecting, I think that because I did not enjoy the songs that my instructors asked me to practice, I did not want to practice. I thought of all the other activities I could be doing such as playing video games, watching television, reading a book, going outside, or walking across town.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from God Loves Youby Thomas Franckowiak Copyright © 2012 by Thomas Franckowiak. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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