Musings on God’s Love in Us

God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.  –Romans 5:5

1.  The Character of this love.

• It is God’s love, and so seeks out the helpless and the needy, and to pour into the lap of poverty all the wealth of its possession.  God’s love in not inactive.
• It manifests itself, Romans 5:8.  Love does not hide; it cannot help but reveal itself.

2.  The sphere of its operation.  It is not enough to see the evidence of God’s love in our lives and all around us; His love is not satisfied with that.  It is to be—

• In our hearts—the citadel of the soul, nourishing our whole being and purifying our lives.
• “Shed abroad.”  The love of God is to fill and flood our being, as the light of the sun is shed abroad on the Earth, scattering the darkness and turning barrenness into fruitfulness.  If the love of God possesses us we shall take pleasure, like Him, in loving sinners and making sacrifice for their salvation.  Love is the most practical thing on Earth (1 Corinthians 13).

3.  God is the operator.  This great work is done by— 

• The Holy Spirit.  It is the Spirit’s work to reveal the love of God to us in Christ, and to create that love within us.  He pours it into our hearts by taking the things of Christ and showing them to us.
• The Holy Spirit given unto us.  If our hearts are to be filled with the love of God, the Holy Spirit must dwell within us.  The fruit of the Spirit is love.  If God so loved us that He gave His Son for our souls, then, in the power and after the manner of that love we must love one another (1 John 4:11).