Why don’t all “Christians” seem to walk in the love of God? I am sitting at McDonald’s right now enjoying a cup of coffee. It is nice and quiet, and peaceful. I am sitting here pondering life, and people, and why life cannot be peaceful. I think it is because of people.

Yes, I love to talk about grace and the love of God. In fact, it is my favorite subject. Often though I am saddened by the lives I actually witness and interact with. I wonder how people can be so miserable, and attack others making their lives miserable too. It’s like a disease that will continue to spread until someone takes action to slow down its infectious attack.

I wish I knew how to give the grace I experience so that the people I know and care about didn’t have to be so miserable, and stop the spread of the disease.

Since I discovered it, I am always aware of God’s presence in me. When I face difficult circumstances or challenges in my life His love rises up in me like it is doing right now. Whenever I feel sad or have a heavy heart, He is alway there. And I take a deep breath and breathe in His comfort. Jesus refers to His Spirit as the comforter.

He has been with me a long time. However, I have only been keenly aware of the consistency with which God loves me for just a short time, though I have been a Christian for nearly 27 years.

When I was in trouble, and being crushed in spirit, emotionally, and mercilessly, He was there with me assuring me of His love and giving me His strength. He proved beyond any doubt that he loved me and would always be there. That was nearly 13 years ago.

The way I see it, it’s a lack of love. I don’t think people would do to, or act out against, or say horrible things, or try to embarrass others if they knew the love of God for themselves.

Once you know that love, learn to live out of it. It’s easy once you learn to sense His love in you. However, if you don’t know, and I mean experientially, the love of God, there is no way you can love anyone. Yea the bible says that God loves us. However, knowing that with your head and experiencing it are worlds apart.

If you don’t know his love and have begun to be changed by it, you have missed something. All you have is religion, and religion won’t help you in this life nor the next one.

I don’t even pretend to know what will happen in the next life but I suspect that if you are a hateful and abusive person here in this life, you won’t suddenly be different in the next life. You may call yourself a “Christian” in this life, and live without showing love to others, but, you won’t suddenly be the kind of person you should be in the next life. This life is temporary. I don’t know if it is a testing ground, classroom or whatever, but, I really get the impression that we are here to learn. We are here to learn how to be compassionate and loving to all our brothers and sisters, and that’s exactly what we are.

The first lesson is that God loves you, and sent His Son to prove it. He died to remove sin so there is no longer any reason to live without love. He has given us everything we need. He has transferred us out of darkness into light; out of sin into the light of love. His love is life.

John says in his first epistle:

If we say,”We have fellowship with Him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. (1John 1:6)

He says the same thing about sin in verse 8. You should read the entire letter. John also says later in this letter:

We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. (1John 3:14)

One last couple of verses from the same letter:

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1John 4:7-8)

This isn’t something you can “just do” on your own. You have to seek Him. He does love you and He wants you to experience it. Jesus once said,

“Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”(Matt 7:7-8)

That’s all I’ve got. I wish I could make it plainer. John said God is love. He is. For love to flow in your life, you’re gonna have to realize that He loves you.