"Shed Abroad"

The presence and potential of love is an eternal reality in the hearts of born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.


"The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5).


The great commands of Scripture that call us to love God and others are only possible when the great Commander dwells within us. His presence becomes actual when we trust in the Lord Jesus. "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father" (Galatians 4:6). It becomes manifested by us as we believe in Christ's dynamic presence, and as we submit ourselves and our bodies to God for His glory.


The believer does not need any special outpouring of grace or enabling to love. He rather needs to know that the love of God is present in the person of the Holy Spirit with a lavish abundance. We may not feel it, and it is actually impossible for our emotions to fully experience and manifest the love that indwells our spirits. In the past we may not always have acted like we are vessels of the unselfish nature of God. Since our new birth, however, it has always been true that His love is "shed abroad" in our hearts. We must therefore act on the fact of God's presence within us, loving Him and others by confidence in the truth of love's presence, and submission to how God purposes to reveal it by us.


The love of God gave to us the love of God. Indeed, it is one thing, a most blessed thing, to be loved by our Lord. It another thing, and an even more blessed thing, to know that we are loving Him and others by the living and dynamic presence of His love as it moves in and through us. "It is more blessed to give than to receive" declared the Lord Jesus, and in this day and forevermore, the born again believer is the temple of God's self-giving (Acts 20:35). Knowing, believing, and submitting ourselves to this truth enables the fulfillment of our potential to love by the actual presence of "the love of God... shed abroad in our hearts."


"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
(II Timothy 1:7)