Biblical Answer

Experiencing God's Love: Understanding and Embracing the Divine Affection

Experiencing God's love is a profound and transformative experience that can revolutionize one's life. The Bible teaches us that God's love is not just a feeling, but a reality that can be known and experienced through faith. As 1 John 4:9-11 reminds us, "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." This passage highlights the pivotal relationship between God's love and ours, emphasizing that our love for God is a response to His prior love for us. Therefore, experiencing God's love begins with acknowledging and embracing the reality of His love for us.

To experience God's love, we must first understand what Scripture means when it says that God is love. While our human experience of love can provide a starting point, we must not equate God's love with our own. Rather, we must seek to comprehend the greatness of God's love through contemplation and meditation on His character. As the Bible teaches, we become more loving by experiencing love, not by hearing about it in a lecture or reading about it in a book. This means that we must ask ourselves, "If I were sure that I loved God, what would I do?" and then take action to demonstrate that love. By doing so, we can begin to experience God's love in a deeper and more meaningful way.

Ultimately, experiencing God's love requires a willingness to surrender to His presence and power. As the Bible reminds us, "The fact that God sees every aspect of our lives may, at first, leave us afraid and eager to hide from God rather than in awe" (Psalm 139:1-6). However, as we come to understand and experience God's love, we will be drawn into a deeper relationship with Him, characterized by a sense of awe, reverence, and obedience. In this way, we can come to know and experience God's love in a way that transforms our lives and enables us to love others with the same love that God has shown us. By embracing God's love, we can become people of love, reflecting the very character of God Himself.