Love motivates reciprocal relationships (Carnegie, (1988), 1 John 5:3). God is love* and His love is self-sacrificing and unconditional as proven by His actions (1 Peter 4:8, 1 John 4:8-9, Psalm 34:8). God initiated the love relationship with you and me and, as “while we were yet sinners”, He sent Jesus Christ into the world to offer mankind an invitation to be freed from the corruption of sinful behavior (Romans 5:8). Christ died for all, but God knew that not everyone would understand or accept this blessing. Being grateful opens the door to relationship building as it creates a willingness to trust and when trust is earned, love can grow unconditionally. When you honor or respect a spiritual God, you show it physically through your behavior reflecting His character.

 

Jesus placed God first in His life and modeled what it looks like to not only honor but to love God. Jesus displayed self-sacrificial love, described in the Bible as offering yourself as “a living sacrifice” to God (or) described another way, He lived His everyday life serving God and other people regardless of the cost to himself (Romans 12:1-3, Matthew 26:50-53). He voluntarily held himself hostage (using His free will) to the boundaries of God’s holiness (Appendix 2H) to give you the opportunity to become a Child of God.

 

By asking for and accepting this free gift from God, you receive the Holy Spirit in your heart to not only identify you as such, spiritually, but to grant you access to the power to imitate Christ physically (1 Peter 2:24, Ephesians 1:13, Deuteronomy 31:8, https://www.gotquestions.org/be-imitators-of-God.html). When you respond to God by deciding you want to be like Jesus, your heartfelt intentions are empowered so you have the ability to do it; though because of the love of God, He will not grade your physical performance (Ephesians 2:8-9, 3:16-19, 5:1-2 Appendix 1U).