THE LOVE OF CHRIST

Think back for a moment to when you were a child. What if your parents had never demonstrated how to use a fork and spoon. Then one day they placed you at a table with these utensils  and said, "Eat!" You would have no idea how to use them to get food into your mouth. Consequently, you would have made a mess. Fortunately when it comes to loving others, God has given us the best example: Jesus Christ. He knew that the best way to teach us how to love was to show us how it is done and throughout the gospels, we can see Jesus' love in action. Of course the greatest display of Christ's  love for us was when He took the punishment we deserved by dying on the cross.
Because of that tremendous sacrifice, we are obligated to love others. The scriptures state,"Owe nothing to anyone except for your obligation to love one another."(Romans 13:8). Since we will never match the depth of God for us, we will never be able to fully repay the debt of love we owe Him. That is why  we have to keep giving out that same kind of love to others.
Perhaps you have grown up in a home where love was seldom expressed, or you have had a distorted view view of love and you feel you are incapable of truly loving others. Take heart, look to Jesus as your example. When Christ becomes the standard of your love, you will understand what the apostle Paul meant when he  said that Christ 's love controls us.