If we do not know who God is we cannot be imitators of God. I’d even go as far to say that if we do not know God we do not know love. We only know something that falls very short of true love like some grand emotion our culture calls love that isn’t love at all. Some are even addicted to this rush of emotions when they meet someone new. They are mistaken. This is not love. Love is commitment. Love is sacrifice. These are not fun rushes of emotions.
Others mistake sex for love. Sex is not love. Those seeking sex before marriage seek to satisfy themselves. This is not love. This is selfishness, the opposite of love.
Jesus Christ shows us what true love is. This love cannot be understood by someone who hasn’t surrendered their life to God. All other things we call love in our culture fall short of this true love, sacrificial love, the kind that cannot even be explained. To the one who doesn’t know God this probably sounds like you’re setting yourself up to be taken advantage of: “giving yourself up as a sacrifice.” As a follower of God, as one who seeks to walk in God’s ways sacrifice actually brings joy.
To know God is to know love. Without this relationship we cannot walk in love or be an imitator of God. All other attempts at love will fail and fall short of this great love God has intended for us.
Jeni Martin Johnson 
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