Joh 14:21  "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." 

The very Word of God, the life and the life giver, He is our sacrifice and our savior. He is Jesus Christ, Yeshua Messiah, Isa Al Masih. He is Yahweh. He is Absolute Love. Love and justice, mercy and judgement find complete harmony in Him. Grace and command are one when given by Him. They are issued as a call to receive grace to those whom He loves. 

This is the distinction between those who find forgiveness in God's loving response to them in their rebellion and those who are left with a rebellious hatred. You see they only receive what there heart desires, they love to rebel against God. Their love for others is because they share in the rebellion as companions. Yet they do not have any true love for others as to hold their companions back from the destruction they seek together. It is the love of their heart that keeps them from satisfaction which that they eternally seek and are never satisfied. 


2Co 4:3, 4  "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." 

We are like them with this one exception, God's love shining into our hearts. It is nothing from us, we are acted upon by the only initiator of activity. He is the only sovereign, creator God. 


2Co 4:5, 6  "For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.  For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."


There has been a change, yet it is a fragile change that is continually nurtured by love. It is God's work in us. 

2Co 4:7  "But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." 

It is not the change in us that matters. It is the love that is given and reflected in our hearts.


Gal 5:5, 6  "For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love." 

 Nothing that we do outside of the loving response of the obedience of faith will be acceptable. 

Rom 14:23  But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Loving God then is uttermost but it causes a real love for others around us whether they bring companionship  or not. This true love is a compulsion a controlling desire to bring them to love, to face the love of Christ in death on their behalf. To have His love shine into their hearts also and to love that they be forgiven and changed.


2Co 5:14-21  "For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.  From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."