But whoever habitually keeps His word and obeys His precepts [and treasures His message in its entirety], in him the love of God has truly been perfected [it is completed and has reached maturity]. By this we know [for certain] that we are in Him: whoever says he lives in Christ [that is, whoever says he has accepted Him as God and Savior] ought [as a moral obligation] to walk and conduct himself just as He walked and conducted Himself.
1 JOHN 2:5-6 AMP
You can hear God's Word as many times as you like, but you won't profit from it until you become someone who keeps and obeys his Word by habit. Am I selective in what I obey? Do I decide what is convenient for me or am I ready to obey God in all things? My life's response, not my mouth's profession, will determine what I get in return from God. I could deceive man with an outward show of piety and morality; God is not moved by such frivolous and shallow living.
Love isn't just a feeling, an emotion or a state mind; it is also a God - thing. God is love, so any definition of love that leaves God out cannot be considered to be love. You don't go asking a TV to define what it does; the manual tells you all you need to know. If you want to know and fully understand what and who love is, seek out the person of love himself.
From his example, God not only declared his love for us; he also acted it out by sending his Son as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Even when men didn't know what they were doing, crucifying him, he still asked his Father to forgive them. What this tells me is that if I claim to know this same God, and that Christ lives in me, I have been given an example to emulate. I am left without any excuse if I choose not to love others the way I have been loved, or the way I have been instructed to love.
So a life has been given, an example laid down, and an instruction given. What is my response? His time of favour is here.
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