Accepting & Abiding in God’s Love

As Rick Warren wrote in The Purpose Driven Life, “Your character is essentially the sum of your habits”. Therefore if we want to develop a character like Jesus, we have to look carefully at his habits. In the book, Lead Like Jesus, the author, Ken Blanchard, outlines five key habits that Jesus exhibited during his earthly ministry. The habits include experiencing solitude, practicing prayer, knowing & applying Scripture, maintaining supportive relationships and accepting & abiding in God’s love. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus maintained supportive relationships through his disciples, and taught them the Scriptures and how Jesus was fulfilling the Old testament prophecies. He prayed with & for his disciples and the world, and would retreat from the crowds to a quiet place to be alone with God. However the fifth habit of “accepting & abiding in God’s love” is actually the central habit that is foundationally for the other four behaviors. Oftentimes, we can unknowingly focus on quantifiable behaviors, like how many times we went to church in a month, how often we pray each day, or how much money we give to missions. However knowing God’s love for you means recognizing that every gift you have is a gift from God, and his love for us is not measured by our performance. Accepting and abiding in God’s love is not a one time decision, but a habit to be practiced, day by day, hour by hour, even minute by minute. By practicing this essential habit, the other four habits/spiritual disciplines are not sustained by one’s will power or motivated by pride, but are a loving response to the unconditional love & grace of God. Jesus relished the Father’s love daily, and may we draw closer to the Lord in the same manner.

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” (1 John 4:16)