God Loves You with a Greater Love

by Pastor Dag Heward-MIlls

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.    John 15:12-14

The great love of God will change your life forever. This love is greater than anything found on earth. When a man says to a woman, “I love you”, it cannot be compared to the greater love that I am writing about in this book. Your mother may love you, your father may love you; but none of them will die for you. Your boyfriend may love you and your girlfriend may love you, but none will die for you.

This book is about the greater love of God. When you open up your heart to receive this great love, you will be born again. If you open up your heart to this great love from God, you will become a new creation and live a totally different life. If you open up your heart to this great love from God, you will escape your punishment in Hell. You deserve to go to Hell and so do I. But through the love of God who sent His only Son that we
might not perish, we can be born again! Hallelujah!

We can become new creatures! We can escape the outer darkness and the torments of Hell. What manner of love is this that we can be called the children of God? What great salvation has been shown to us that Jesus should shed His blood to save us from our sins! I want you to open up your heart and enjoy the great salvation that Christ offers to you.

I am sad to say that many Christians do not understand salvation. That is why I am writing this book. Salvation is rarely preached about these days. It is time for us to bring back the solid foundations on which Christianity will forever stand.

Seven Things You Should Know about Greater Love

1. There are different kinds of love, but Jesus’ love is the greatest. God has a special kind of love which is the greatest kind of love in existence. Just look at these Scriptures which describe God’s love. What manner of love is this? God’s love is the great love, the everlasting love and the greater love.

Behold, what MANNER OF LOVE the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.   1 John 3:1

But God, who is rich in mercy, FOR HIS GREAT LOVE wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;     Ephesians 2:4-5

And we have known and believed THE LOVE THAT GOD HATH TO US. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 1 John 4:16-17

The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with AN EVERLASTING LOVE: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.  Jeremiah 31:3

The Beloved and the Greater Love I once knew a young lady who had a beloved. This beloved young man wanted to marry the young lady but he did not treat her well. He seemed to be torn between his beloved and some other girls. Their relationship was tumultuous, to say the least.

One day, this young lady finally came home and said, “It’s over.” She was tearful because her heart was broken by the broken relationship. But I comforted her and told her that God would give her somebody else, an even better beloved. After some months God answered our prayers and a nice young man came out of nowhere and fell in love with her.

They seemed to be enjoying their relationship and one day I asked the young lady, “How is your new relationship?” She smiled and said, “It’s far greater than the first relationship. God has been good to me.” In other words, she was experiencing a greater love and a better relationship. So I asked her, “Why is this relationship better?” She said, “I didn’t even know that this is how happy I could be. I didn’t know there was a much greater love that I could experience.” Indeed, this young lady experienced a greater kind of love. This is how God’s love is. It is a far greater kind of love. What manner of love is this?

2. The love of Jesus is greater than ‘the love of brothers’. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit UNTO UNFEIGNED LOVE OF THE BRETHREN, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.  1 Peter 1:22

Many families have disintegrated despite the fact that they are related. They break up and fight each other time and time again. The love of Jesus must be far greater than the love between brethren.

The Kidney Donation

One day, there was a prayer meeting in which prayers were offered up for a brother who needed a kidney donation. They declared their love for this brother and wanted him to continue to live through a kidney donation. However, as the prayer meeting went on, they realised that no one was prepared to donate his kidney even though that was what they were praying about. Finally, the leader of the prayer meeting decided to allow God to choose whose kidney should be donated.

So he took a feather and told the gathering that he was going to throw the feather in the air and whoever it landed on would have to donate his kidney. Everyone agreed to this process of divine selection. He threw the feather in the air.

Up it went and came sailing down, amazingly, in the direction of the leader himself. Suddenly, the leader began to shout and blow at the feather so that it would not come to him. It was evident that no one was prepared to donate his kidney; not even the leader. It is one thing to say you love someone but it is another thing to have the “greater love” which makes you sacrifice yourself for him.

3. The love of Jesus is greater than the love of women. Many songs have been written about the love of women. Actually, most songs are written about the love between men and women and yet much of the pain in the world comes from the break-up of the relationships between men and women. Oh, how easily the love of women goes sour! The love I am writing about is the greater love.

I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: THY LOVE TO ME WAS WONDERFUL, PASSING THE LOVE OF WOMEN.  2 Samuel 1:26

AND JACOB LOVED RACHEL; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter. And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her to another man: abide with me. And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.  Genesis 29:18-20

AND THE KING LOVED ESTHER ABOVE ALL THE WOMEN, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. Esther 2:17

The love of women is the love of the female body; with this kind of love the woman gives her body to a man to indulge him. The love of women is short-lived. Most women are unable to keep the attention of a man for very long. I had a friend who had two girlfriends. I asked him how he could have two girlfriends at the same time. Then he answered, “I used to have eight girlfriends when I was in sixth form but now that I am in the university I have only two.”

This young man had a very short attention span for the different women in his life. The love of Jesus lasts longer than the lust a man has for different women. The love of Jesus has lasted throughout the centuries. It has persisted until it reached you and me. The love of Jesus Christ is a far greater kind of love than the love a man can have for a woman. There are limitations with this love of women. Even the most intense couples need counselling shortly after they are married. Many who say “I love you”; “You’re my dream”; “I’m so happy I met you” will often say the same things to another person. Obviously there is something missing in this “love for women”.

The Widow

There was a certain pastor who lived happily with his wife until he died unexpectedly. The wife was heartbroken and she
cried continually. Her pastor tried to counsel her but she could not be comforted. One day, she went to the graveside and wept from morning to evening. As she cried she scratched and clawed at the grave. She wanted to pull her husband out of the grave.

One day, the pastor had a vision and he was taken to Heaven where he saw the husband of this lady. To his amazement, this man was very happy in Heaven. He spoke to the pastor and told him that he was very happy to be in Heaven. The pastor told him, “Your wife is crying every day and she cannot be comforted.” Then the dead pastor told him something truly shocking. He said, “Oh, don’t worry about my wife.

The Lord told me when I got here that she was going to be okay and that He was even going to give her a new husband who would be better than me.” He said, “Please tell my wife when you go that this is what the Lord said.” “But she won’t believe me.” “Don’t worry, the pastor said, I will tell you a secret between her and me. When you tell her she will know that you have spoken to me.”

Then the dead husband told him a secret that only he and his wife knew. After the vision, the pastor called this woman and told her that he had seen her husband and that she was going to have a new husband who would be better than the old one. She said, “No way, it can never happen.

I will never have a new husband and no one could be better than my husband.” Then he told her the secret. She screamed and said, “You have been standing outside our window to listen to our conversation.” It was then that she realised that it was a real vision. As time passed she did marry again. One day the pastor asked her, “How is your new marriage?” She smiled sheepishly and said, “Indeed this new husband is far greater than my first husband. I am experiencing a greater love.”

This lady experienced greater love in her second marriage. Indeed, there are lesser and greater kinds of love but Jesus’ love is a far greater love than the love of women or the love of brethren.

4. The love of Jesus is greater than the love of a nation. People claim to love their countries. But when the country is poor, they claim citizenship of another country if they can. A lot of Ghanaians and Nigerians have changed their nationalities and are now proud to be British, American, Italian and German citizens. People change their accents and dissociate from their countries at the slightest opportunity. But Jesus Christ stayed by His cross and died for the whole world. The love of Jesus Christ is far greater than the love anyone can have for his country.

5. The love of Jesus is greater than the love of a mother for her children.

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Isaiah 49:15

Mothers can and do forget their children. Some mothers drop their children on the doorstep of another and turn away forever. Indeed, the love of a mother is a great thing to behold. But it cannot be compared to the greater love that Jesus exhibited when He gave up His life for the whole world.

6. The love of Jesus is greater love because He sacrificed Himself for us. This love is greater because one usually gives something when he loves. Jesus did not give us money, houses or cars as some do; He laid down his life! He gave His life; He did not live to be seventy years. He poured out His blood for us. The blood is the life. He gave us His life by giving His blood.

HEREBY PERCEIVE WE THE LOVE OF GOD, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 1 John 3:16

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. UNTO HIM THAT LOVED US, AND WASHED US from our sins IN HIS OWN BLOOD.  Revelation 1:5

The Man in the Deep Freezer

One day, a young man met a lady and told her how much he loved her. This young lady was enthralled by the love the young man showered on her and decided to marry him. They got married, moved into their new house and bought furniture, a deep freezer, a fridge and all the things they needed to make a happy home. One night, they were in bed when armed robbers broke into the house. The husband managed to escape into the living room and did not know where to go next. When he saw the new empty deep freezer, an idea occurred to him to jump into it and hide in it. When the armed robbers could not find him, they beat up his wife and maltreated her. As the wife screamed and called for help the husband was nowhere to be found because he was hiding in the deep freezer. When the armed robbers finally left, he came out of the deep freezer to console his wife. But she would have none of it. “You don’t love me,” she said. “If you had loved me you would have come out of the deep freezer to save me.” The husband said, “I love you but not that much.” Then he continued, “Don’t you understand? There is nothing much that I could have done. Those guys would have killed me. I would have lost my life trying to save you. I would have been a hero but I would have lost my life.”

Later on when the lady went to church, she heard the pastor preaching, “Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Then she realized that her husband had been unable to lay down his life for her. Even though he did love her to an extent, her husband’s love could not be compared with the love that Jesus had for her. Jesus Christ laid down His life for her. Her husband did not do that.

7. You shall not escape if you neglect such a great love. To ignore, to despise and to neglect the greater love of Jesus is to leave yourself to suffering and unhappiness. If you reject such great love, I wonder who will love you in future.

How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; Hebrews 2:3

The Desperate Beauty When I was in the university, I knew many beautiful Christian girls. There was this particular Christian girl who was outstandingly beautiful. All the young men wanted to be in a relationship with her and marry her. She received many letters from many young men. She simply read every letter and made fun of the people who had written to her. She would show the letters to her friends and they would have a good laugh. Eventually, she left the university and fewer and fewer young men were interested in her. At a point no one proposed to her anymore. As the years went by, she became desperate and decided to join a church where the pastor did not have a wife. After some time she realised that the pastor was not noticing her so she decided to dance in front of him during the praise and worship time. Somehow, he still did not notice her.

Eventually, she decided to go and propose to the pastor herself. She went up to him and said, “I would like to marry you. Will you marry me or not?” But he did not want to marry her. How embarrassed she was! What a shame! Someone who was desired by so many people now had no one who loved her and wanted her. You see, if you reject great love you will one day regret it. A day will come when you will not get such love showered on you. You will live to discover that you cannot escape if you neglect the way of salvation that Jesus brings. The Grieving Widow

One day, I met a lady whose husband had died. Her husband had been a pastor who had died in his early forties. She told me how her husband loved to pass by her and make swipes. She said, “Anytime he walked past me at home, he would touch me. But I did not like it. I did not appreciate his constant touching.” She proceeded to tell me about how he had been stricken by cancer in the midst of his years.

According to her, a time came when he would lie down at home, unable to raise his hands. She would pass by him, as at other times, but this time he could neither raise his hands nor give her one of his cuddles. She said, “As he lay there dying I wished so much that he would stretch his hand and touch me like he used to.” But it was all over. She had rejected his love many times but wished she could have it again.

The very thing you reject may be the only way by which God will bless you. Open your heart to the greater love of Jesus and enjoy His love, forgiveness and blessing.

by Dag Heward-Mills

Best selling author and a mega church pastor.