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My Pastor has a phrase that I really like. He talks about being loved into loveliness. This is such a beautiful description of what God does for us, and it also describes how we, who have been loved into loveliness by Jesus Christ, can share his love with others, so that they are loved into loveliness. I want to talk about the power of God’s love for you and me and how his love flows from us to others.
Love has the power to transform us, doesn’t it? For example, getting to know Jesus and accepting his gift of salvation certainly transforms our nature. The Bible says that we become new creations in Christ; the new has come, the old has gone. The love of God transforms us like no other love ever could.
No wonder John 3:16 is the favorite verse in the Bible for many people. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” It’s because of that incredible love that we can have eternal life. I love the old hymn that begins “Loved with everlasting love, led by grace that love to know.” And then ends by declaring, “In a love that will not cease, I am his and he is mine.”
Knowing I am the one Jesus loves has transformed me, how about you? If there is anything lovely about us, it is a result of the love of God which has changed us from the inside out. We have been loved into loveliness.
Secular studies have repeatedly shown how love transforms people. They tell us that knowing we are loved actually transforms our brains. But we don’t need a scientific study to tell us that. The Bible makes it clear. Note this verse from Colossians 3:12:
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
How do we become clothed in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience—the fruit of the Sprit? It happens because as God’s chosen people, we are so dearly loved that his love transforms us into these lovely evidences of God’s Spirit.
Loved into loveliness—think about that today and join me again tomorrow as I continue to explore the unfathomable depths of the love of God.