Chapter 4: Power Through Love

Love Empowers

As singles, it’s important for us to live with purpose but also to live with power. The Gospel (i.e. God’s love) gives us power to overcome difficulty, betrayal, sickness, disease, and bad habits. We have power to have life and give life to others.  

The reason the Gospel is so powerful is because it is presented by fearless people, people fully convinced of a God that loves them and longs for a relationship with them. The opposite of fear is not faith. The opposite of fear is love because perfect love casts out fear. When you are fully convinced you are truly loved by God, there is no room for fear. People who aren’t afraid live with power and are able to do the impossible. And we can be those people!

1 John 4:17-19

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.19 We love Him[b] because He first loved us.

If you have trouble sharing the Gospel with someone, you're not a coward. You just have yet to be fully convinced of His love for you. When you’re in love with someone (I’m talking can't-eat-can't-sleep-head-over-heels-earth-shattering love), you’re no longer afraid. Love is power. And it makes you powerful.

 Love vs. Hate

True love doesn’t only love unto death. It loves unto change. If you really love someone, you’re going to take time to discover their preferences and alter your behavior accordingly. Take time to learn what God loves and what He hates. Why does He like that? Why does He dislike that? What wins His heart?

The interesting thing about hate is that it can’t stand on its own two feet. Hate simply reveals the passion to protect what is loved. It’s a reaction, not an action. Think about something you hate. Do you hate it for its own sake? Or do you hate it because it goes against something you love? For example, I hate sexual abuse with a burning passion. If I ever saw anyone getting abused in front of me, I would do everything in my power to rescue them – even to the point of death. But the fact that my hatred for abuse burns so strongly is not me feeling hatred for its own sake. It is my love (for people, for acceptance, for freedom from shame and torment) that drives me to hate anything that impedes what I love. I hate because I love. Not the other way around.

So, God doesn’t hate sin for its own sake. He hates sin because it keeps him from what he loves most -- us. That’s why Jesus came, to break down the barrier between us and God. The Scripture says that God is love. It does not say He is hate. His hate is merely proof of His love.

As a single, take the time to discover God. Enjoy discovering, through His Word, what He loves and what He hates, and why. You will find that your love for the Lord will drive you to live in a way that honors His preferences because you value your relationship with Him and want to keep it. Knowing God is not about rules, it’s about relationship. But this relationship must be built on love and trust.  

Love Always Wins

Sometimes it’s hard to love people. People wrong you. Friends betray you. Co-workers use you. Family members hate you. But God’s love is bigger than any and all of that. Loving God doesn’t mean you don’t feel, but it does mean that you find a place to let God’s love into your life. Then the truth of His Word will shine brightly on your situation. It won’t change the situation, but it will remind you of who you are.

If you think you have a hard time loving someone because of what they did to you, try being Jesus. He died for the very people who spit on him, wrenched hair from his beard, shoved thorns into his head, and left him to suffocate, slowly and excruciatingly, to death. But, for Jesus, the reward of restoring love was greater than any physical pain. The reward of healing hearts was greater than the pain of biting words. The reward of orphans being restored into an eternal, heavenly family was greater even than the betrayal of his own disciples.

Have you ever encountered love that kept on loving even when you pushed away? Love that kept loving no matter how many times you bit, clawed, and spit? Love that kept loving even when you hated it? Love whose pursuit was aggressive and relentless? Sounds insane, doesn’t it? But that’s how God loves. His love requires neither payment nor payback. His love keeps no record of wrongs and aggressively, relentlessly pursues the lost until they are found. And He commands us to love others with this kind of love.

When you get all of your acceptance, comfort, love, satisfaction, fulfillment, identity, and worth, from your Father God, you remove all expectations from other people and you free them from owing you anything. This also frees them from hurting you because you’re not expecting something from them that only God can give you. You free them from disappointing you because you’ve put all of your reliance upon God. In this freedom, it is not only possible to love people who’ve wronged you -- it’s easy.

Romans 13:8 (NASB)

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves[a]his neighbor has fulfilled the law.  

Once you free yourself from people, they no longer have the power to keep you from winning in any situation. Love never fails. Love always wins!