Romans 15:4 "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
13 Let love of your fellow believers continue. 2 Do not neglect to extend hospitality to strangers [especially among the family of believers—being friendly, cordial, and gracious, sharing the comforts of your home and doing your part generously], for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as if you were their fellow prisoner, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body [and subject to physical suffering].
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Love’s Generous Expression
Hebrews 13:1-3 Common English Bible
Our acts of service and sacrifice
13 Keep loving each other like family. 2 Don’t neglect to open up your homes to guests, because by doing this some have been hosts to angels without knowing it. 3 Remember prisoners as if you were in prison with them, and people who are mistreated as if you were in their place.
Keep Loving each other like family.
Do not neglect to open your homes to guests.
Remember the prisoners as if you were in prison with them.
What an incredibly interesting array of both ancient, contemporary ideas!
Loving each other like family – respecting and honoring one another!
Respecting the home, respecting the life of the family and their belongings.
By showing kindness to strangers, you could be showing kindness to a messenger of God.
Paying it forward, buying an extra burger to share with a homeless person, helping someone change a flat tire on their car, offering a ride to a colleague who needs one—in these ways and countless more, our God often gives us all opportunities to show hospitality and compassion for someone who has a need.
As I encounter people who are not part of a faith community, it saddens me when they describe Christians as less-than-compassionate people.
Words I often hear in these conversations are that Christians are aloof,not friendly or forthcoming; cool and distant.and judgmental and condescending.
Many people see church buildings in their communities as little more than social clubs, entertainment centers or worse, only occupied on any Sunday.
Any other day, the parking lots are 99.99% empty of cars and any activity.
They hear church people speak out mostly about what the members oppose.
Where is that sound of “little children of all ages” glorifying God and Jesus?
The world needs to see the Body of Christians as people of compassion—good-news people who minister and act like Jesus.
That will happen only when we finally nurture a habit of practicing compassion.
It is not by accident that the writer of Hebrews urges readers to love each other and to look out for the needs of strangers.
It’s easy to overlook the unusual or the unfamiliar.
It takes the love of Christ to step out, move out and reach out to the stranger who might just bring a singularly unique blessing that you never saw coming.
Learning, Growing, Living, in the Family of Faith
There’s all the difference in the world between describing what it means to ride a bicycle and actually helping somebody learn to get on the seat and pedal away.
Making a layer cake seems to be fairly straightforward when I look at the recipe books, but I haven’t had much success in making one that actually tastes right!
What I need is hands-on guidance: somebody to actually take the time to teach me to do it in front of me and then patiently allow me to try my hand at it too.
The moral instruction provided for us in Hebrews 13 is to be trained and formed in our lives not by learning to apply abstract principles but as a result of seeing these principles successfully or erroneously worked out in the family of faith.
We can read, for example, about what it means to love one another, but it is far better to observe such love in the lives of loving people.
We can understand that we are supposed to care for strangers, but we can experience it firsthand if we are brought up and raised in a home where such care, consideration and compassion for one another is faithfully practiced.
We can read the principles and hear sermons, demands for sexual purity, but we will do far better if we are raised in a flourishing home where they are modeled or we are even able to sit in such homes as we visit other families in our church.
Praise God, the list of mission and ministry opportunities goes on and on.
Establishing these ethical norms is demanding.
It takes the first love of God, our time, effort and patience, and involvement.
The miracles wrought through purposeful discipleship, transformation cannot be achieved by searching the internet, watching a video or reading an article.
If information was enough to bring about transformation, then all we would need to do is write it down or say it.
But you can’t learn love, honor, and faithfulness from the content on a screen.
No, if you are to be content, pure, loving, and hospitable, then that is going to have to be proactively discovered and actively worked out in the family of faith.
Look, then, to your brothers and sisters who exemplify Christ-likeness in these ways.
Read Hebrews 13:1-3 again, praise God for those you know who live these verses out, then be sure to learn from them so in these ways you become like them.
Make it your aim to follow their example that you, like Paul, might humbly be able to say to others, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).
Easter is but a short time away.
Celebrating the ultimate act of agape love and sacrifice and service.
What will your efforts at discipleship and transformation in preparation for this coming Easter look like, sound like, be more Christ like in these coming weeks?
I have heard repeatedly: “it takes an entire community, an entire village.”
According to Wikipedia, the original quote “it takes a village to raise a child” is an African proverb meaning it takes a whole community of people interacting with a child to ensure he or she grows in a healthy and safe environment.
Regardless of which stage of life we are all in: parents raising children, married with no children, single, or late adulthood, even a church, we need community.
In these times of recovery, perhaps we need to go back to the essential basics of the Gospel to learn it all over again – to teach it unto each other all over again?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Heavenly Father, thank You that while we were yet sinners You loved us and gave Christ to be the propitiation for our sins. Help us in word and deed to increase and abound in brotherly love for one another, just as we also do for You. Give us wisdom as we enter into mission and ministry to our brothers and sisters in Christ and may we speak the truth in love to Your praise and glory. This we ask in Jesus name, AMEN.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and tribulation and all these things come on you, in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. 31 For the Lord your God is a merciful and compassionate God; He will not fail you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
“I can’t stand Sundays!”
The woman holding her newborn son shouted deep into the church angrily.
She rose from her pew and shared that on Sundays she often felt so lonely and empty because many of her friends were busy with families and ball games.
She was a single woman, new to the church saying she was not a member there.
She is unhappy about her situation and asked the congregation for prayer.
The congregation surrounded her, her young child and laid hands upon them.
Together, they prayed for a good fifteen minutes.
Following the service, she sat down, met privately with the Pastor and his wife.
She said she was separated, divorce papers had been filed with the courthouse.
The father of the child was caught being unfaithful.
she confessed that she felt her sense of intimacy had been badly betrayed.
She had tried dating in the past several weeks but didn’t find the “right” man.
She also went to a few churches but felt they weren’t “loving” enough either.
In their response to the woman,
the Pastor and his wife suggested perhaps she shouldn’t focus mainly on searching for the right man, or seeking even the right “loving” congregation.
The Bible teaches that everyone’s main concern should be about seeking the first love of the Lord first – cultivating and growing in their intimacy with God.
That’s the first step on our journey to a loving and secure peace and happiness.
In our passage from Deuteronomy for today we hear a call to earnestly seek the Lord with all of your heart and all of your soul.
This prophetic word was originally spoken to God’s people who would come to repeatedly betray the love of the Lord and be scattered in exile many years later.
The call is followed by a promise that those who are earnest in their search will find the Lord.
Please note that the act of earnestly seeking the intimate love of God is more than just taking a few or several first steps or a phase in our spiritual growth.
Rather, it is a lifelong quest.
The continued search for God, leading to the deepening experience of his love, is the foundation of securing our inner peace in the only One who never betrays.
Growing Intimacy in Your Relationships.
Psalm 63:1-3 Amplified Bible
The Thirsting Soul Satisfied in God.
A Psalm of David; when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
63 O God, You are my God; with deepest longing I will seek You; My [a]soul [my life, my very self] thirsts for You, my flesh longs and sighs for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have gazed upon You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. 3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You.
Intimacy is something that each of our souls deeply desires.
Intimacy is defined as close familiarity or friendship; closeness.
Intimacy in marriage includes physical acts of intimacy, but we yearn for intimacy in every close relationship we have in our lives.
Our longing for closeness is a part of our created design.
In Psalm 63it is articulated this way,
“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.”
We long to be and remain close to God our Creator! [Psalm 139, Romans 8:35-39]
We long to be close to God, our Great Shepherd! [Psalm 23]
We long to be close to our Savior, the Resurrected Jesus! [John 21:15-17]
We were created by God for relationships.
Yet, we all know how difficult it is to create safe spaces for true intimacy in our lives.
Humans are imperfect, and we so easily hurt each other.
Hurt, disappointment, insecurity, and grief lead to walls going up in our hearts.
Only God is made of perfect love that we can trust with our whole hearts.
Nonetheless, we need each other and can’t give up on the work of tearing down the walls and trying again to build safe, long-lasting, and close relationships.
Intimacy requires a commitment to forgiveness.
Intimacy requires a radical commitment to forgiveness.
Please note that forgiveness does not mean you are called to remain present in an abusive or unhealthy relationship.
Forgiveness is a daily requirement to remain close to other very flawed humans.
Guess what, you need to be forgiven that much too because you bring just as much selfishness and brokenness to your home each day too!
It is so easy to see the ways one’s spouse lacks empathy, love, and kindness, but while we are worried about pointing out their failures, the question needs to be asked of ourselves: exactly what size plank am I missing that is in my own eye?
I have to lay down my right to be right if I want to feel close to this person who is my spouse, my life-long soulmate and embrace a life of radical forgiveness.
Unity is the foundation to an intimate relationship.
1 Corinthians 1:4-10 Amplified Bible
4 I thank my God always for you because of the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 so that in everything you were [exceedingly] enriched in Him, in all speech [empowered by the spiritual gifts] and in all knowledge [with insight into the faith]. 6 In this way our testimony about Christ was confirmed and established in you, 7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift [which comes from the Holy Spirit], as you eagerly wait [with confident trust] for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ [when He returns]. 8 And He will also confirm you to the end [keeping you strong and free of any accusation, so that you will be] blameless and beyond reproach in the day [of the return] of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful [He is reliable, trustworthy and ever true to His promise—He can be depended on], and through Him you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 But I urge you, believers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in full agreement in what you say, and that there be no divisions or factions among you, but that you be perfectly united in your way of thinking and in your judgment [about matters of the faith].
1 Corinthians 1:10 instructs, “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.”
God communicates with us that we are to relate with, interact with our brothers and sisters in Christ with a whole and earnest heart and soul which seeks unity.
He likens us to a body, each of us different in our skills, gifts, and uses but we all work together towards one mission which is to keep the body alive!
We do not have to see eye-to-eye on every issue in our relationships to live in unity, but we do have to be humble enough not to let divisions grow among us.
Intimacy with God and each other is built when we earnestly seek to spend much quality time together.
Psalm 24:5-7 Amplified Bible
5 He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, And righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 This is the generation (description) of those who diligently seek Him and require Him as their greatest need, Who seek Your face, even [as did] Jacob. Selah.
7 Lift up your heads, O gates, And be lifted up, ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in.
Psalm 27 Amplified Bible
A Psalm of Fearless Trust in God.
A Psalm of David.
27 The Lord is my light and my salvation— Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the refuge and fortress of my life— Whom shall I dread? 2 When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. 3 Though an army encamp against me, My heart will not fear; Though war arise against me, Even in this I am confident.
4 One thing I have asked of the Lord, and that I will seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, To gaze upon the beauty [the delightful loveliness and majestic grandeur] of the Lord And to meditate in His temple. 5 For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. 6 And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, In His tent I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; Be gracious and compassionate to me and answer me. 8 When You said, “Seek My face [in prayer, require My presence as your greatest need],” my heart said to You, “Your face, O Lord, I will seek [on the authority of Your word].” 9 Do not hide Your face from me, Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not abandon me nor [a]leave me, O God of my salvation! 10 Although my father and my mother have abandoned me, Yet the Lord will take me up [adopt me as His child].
11 Teach me Your way, O Lord, And lead me on a level path Because of my enemies [who lie in wait]. 12 Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries, For false witnesses have come against me; They breathe out violence. 13 I would have despaired had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. 14 Wait for and confidently expect the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for and confidently expect the Lord.
Building intimacy requires time spent sharing the same space with open ears and having an open heart ready to connect.
One tip for time together is to commit to making some of this time screen-free time – time for family bible study, family devotions, family prayer sessions.
When we seriously want to really hear our spouse, friends, family members, or children’s hearts, we have to deliberately, intentionally, remove distractions such as our phones, video game boxes, our televisions, so we can fully engage.
We grow closer to God, Jesus, Holy Spirit and in our personal relationships as, when we are intentional about being present with each other when we interact.
Intersecting Faith and Life.
Habakkuk 3:17-19 Amplified Bible
17 Though the fig tree does not blossom And there is no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive fails And the fields produce no food, Though the flock is cut off from the fold And there are no cattle in the stalls, 18 Yet I will [choose to] rejoice in the Lord; I will [choose to] shout in exultation in the [victorious] God of my salvation! 19 The Lord God is my strength [my source of courage, my invincible army]; He has made my feet [steady and sure] like hinds’ feet And makes me walk [forward with spiritual confidence] on my [a]high places [of challenge and responsibility].
For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.
What connections, relationships do you feel covenanted and called upon by God to be a bit more considered and intentional about cultivating more intimacy in?
What is one way you can push yourself to be more present and available in this relationship in the coming weeks, as we move closer to celebrating our Easter?
Are there things that you need to release to the Lord and forgive before moving forward?
Carve out some family time, time with friends, write out a prayer of forgiveness and share them, allow God to start healing the broken relationships in your life.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
139 1-6 God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I’m an open book to you; even from a distant sight. You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too— your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful— I can’t take it all in!
7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you’re there! If I go underground, you’re there! If I flew on morning’s wings to the far western horizon, You’d find me in a minute— you’re already there waiting! Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I’m immersed in the light!” It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.
13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.
17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful! God, I’ll never comprehend them! I couldn’t even begin to count them— any more than I could count the sand of the sea. Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, guide us and lead us, shepherd us to you in faith, obedience, and love. Guide us each day, teach us to be fully committed to you.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
3 See what an incredible quality of love the Father has shown to us, that we would [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, we are [even here and] now children of God, and it is not yet made clear what we will be [after His coming]. We know that when He comes and is revealed, we will [as His children] be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is [in all His glory]. 3 And everyone who has this hope [confidently placed] in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (holy, undefiled, guiltless).
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
See How Well We Are Lavished With Love?
1 John 3:1 New International Version
3 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
The word lavish presents a picture of extravagant abundance.
It is almost too much, too generous and luxurious.
Being lavish borders on being wasteful.
But the Father has lavished his love on us.
God’s love is even more than what a wonderful mother showers on her infant.
Isaiah 66:12-14 New International Version
12 For this is what the Lord says:
“I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. 13 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”
14 When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass; the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, but his fury will be shown to his foes.
God’s love and care are supplied all the time.
God’s love is a constant bombardment of affection and care.
We may be as oblivious as an infant to the presence of his love, but God still continues to pour his love into our lives.
God’s love flows into us deeply, redefines who we are at the very core of our heart, mind and soul.
When we open our hearts to God’s love, we are transformed by it.
We are remade, regenerated into children of God.
It is God who makes us his children, not us.
We cannot earn that status.
It is a gift of God’s great love.
Because we are sinners, we do not understand God’s love for us at first.
We don’t even know we need him until we realize we are stuck in sin and cannot save ourselves.
We become God’s children when we receive Jesus as our Savior (John 1:12).
Not one of us is worthy of God’s love.
We cannot earn it.
God just loves us.
We would not be God’s children if he were not already deeply in love with us.
How amazing is that!
Being said with an exclamation mark, what if we turned that into a question?
“How Amazing Is That?”
“I Really Do Not Feel God’s Love.“
Psalm 13 Authorized (King James) Version
Psalm 13
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
1 How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? 2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death; 4 lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. 5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. 6 I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.
Have you ever said or thought these words in public or in private?
If so, you’re not alone.
Truth Be Told, Too many times I have really struggled with the disconnect between knowingthat God loves me and actually seeing, and feelingHis love.
It might be tempting to brush aside the discomfort of this disconnect and get on with the responsibilities of life.
“After all,” some will pat you on the back, say, “love is an action, not a feeling.”
But if you look closely at the love displayed in the Bible, it’s clear that it’s not just automatic rote Christian responsibility—it’s also passionate emotion.
God doesn’t just act lovingly toward us, He feels love for us.
And He doesn’t want us to only understand His love, but to experience it in a deep way, a deeply visual and tactile way – to visualize it and touch it daily.
If, like me, you’ve struggled with a disconnect between knowing about God’s love and actually seeing, feeling it, accept your feelings as being quite real.
Sometimes, like the Psalmist who penned Psalm 13, we will not feel loved.
Sometimes, like the Psalmist who penned Psalm 13, we will not see God’s love.
Psalm 13 is someone’s deepest expression of a heart and soul in angry anguish.
It has remained in the Bible through countless edits because God wants you the reader to know, the maximum extent to which God feels, visualizes our hearts.
Heart Distant or Delighted? Learning to See Jesus With a Smile …
Psalm 13:5-6 Authorized (King James) Version
5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. 6 I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.
1 John 3:3 Amplified Bible
3 And everyone who has this hope [confidently placed] in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (holy, undefiled, guiltless).
I recall many years ago sitting in a circle with the other members of my Bible study group when our leader invited us to imagine what Jesus’ face looks like.
Dutifully, I closed my eyes and tried to picture Him.
The image that appeared was of a man with long, greyish silver locks and dull, piercing brown eyes.
His unsmiling lips were hard set in a neutral line.
He didn’t look disapproving, but he didn’t look very happy either.
As I studied His face, I felt sad, fearful, and unsure of how He felt about me.
I was deeply troubled by this experience because, intellectually, I knew God always loved me deeply and felt positively—even passionately—about me.
Throughout the Bible, God describes His love in the most tender terms known to humankind.
He compares His love for us to the love a parent has for their child—a warm, welcoming, compassionate love (Isaiah 66:13; 1 John 3:1).
He also describes His love for us as the love a groom has for his bride—a passionate, ardent, sacrificial love (Revelation 19:7; Ephesians 5:25-27).
Yet, my picture of Jesus that evening revealed that, deep down, I also perceived Him as uppermost serious and restrained, maybe even a little depressed at me.
It also highlighted my fear that I was not a source of joy or pleasure to God, and that, though He loved me, it suddenly felt more being with a distant, aloof love.
I knew this isn’t how God wanted me to view Him.
Ephesians 3:18, the apostle Paul prayed, “May you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully” (NLT).
More than anything, I wanted to experience the love of God—I wanted to feel it, not just know about it.
So I started asking God to take my understanding beyond intellect and into a more studious, scriptural, deep heart knowing of my value to Him.
1 John 3:1 Amplified Bible
Children of God Love One Another
3 See what an incredible quality of love the Father has shown to us, that we would [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
Truth be told, sometimes it’s so much easier to notice the love people have for you than the love God has for you.
Why?
Because you can physically see them and the way they express love.
But when it comes to God, it can be challenging to see, understand, the extent to which He loves you.
After all, none of us can physically see Him on this side of Heaven.
That’s why God gave us His Word… to help us to see, feel, and understand who He is and how much He really does love us.
See, throughout the Bible, God is described as an all-powerful and eternally just God, but also as deeply loving to those He created.
In the entire biblical story, God is presented as a character who strongly cares for us… so much so that He even allowed His Son, Jesus Christ, to enter this world to bring about a redeemed and restored relationship with humanity.
In fact, Jesus is the physical embodiment of God’s eternal love, showing us that His love is a real, tangible being we can cling to and put our hope in rather than just an abstract concept we cannot ever hope to even begin to .01% understand.
Now, before we dive further into how Jesus loves us, first let’s clarify the meaning of biblical love.
BIBLICAL LOVE
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Amplified Bible
4 Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. 5 It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. 6 It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]. 7 Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening].
There are many different kinds of love.
There is parental love, brotherly love, and romantic love.
When anyone says the word love, we often first associate it with anything from dating to sex.
But, the word is so much more broad than we often think.
According to the above passage, biblical love is simply putting the needs of others before your own.
All of us fall short of the expectation set by this passage at some point, because selflessness does not come naturally to us (Romans 3:23).
But, the good news of the Gospel is that God perfectly embodies these four verses.
He is the one that created love in the first place!
In turn, this means that God is LOVE itself (1 John 4:8).
And because He is love, He displays this quality not only through His words, but through His actions as well.
GOD’S DEVOTED LOVE
Psalm 103:12-14 Amplified Bible
12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. 13 Just as a father loves his children, So the Lord loves those who fear and worship Him [with awe-filled respect and deepest reverence]. 14 For He knows our [mortal] frame; He remembers that we are [merely] dust.
As any good father would, God feels sentiment and shows affection toward His children.
This picture of God as the perfect Father is a deeply intimate one because it illustrates how far [east from west], He would go to keep us safe and secure.
Another illustration of God’s love is seen in Hosea 2:14-23.
Rather than a father this time, this Bible story describes a faithful husband that comforts and treasures his wife – which is also meant to be seen as a metaphor for God’s devoted love to an unfaithful Israel.
Despite Israel’s unfaithfulness, God expressed His infinite love for His people all the more through love poetry, painting a beautiful image of God’s extreme devotion and affection towards His Bride, the Church.
LOVE AS AN ACTION
Romans 5:8-10 Amplified Bible
8 But God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Therefore, since we have now been justified [declared free of the guilt of sin] by His blood, [how much more certain is it that] we will be saved from the [a]wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, it is much more certain, having been reconciled, that we will be saved [from the consequences of sin] by His life [that is, we will be saved because Christ lives today].
But, love is not merely a feeling.
Love is also an action… that God shows from the very beginning of the Bible.
Out of His love, God established a rescue plan for humanity in the wake of Adam and Eve’s sin (Genesis 3:15).
Out of His great love, God freed Israel from slavery in Egypt – not because they earned it, but because they were His people (Exodus 12-14).
Out of His love, God became fully human, yet fully God through the person of Jesus Christ – living a perfect life and dying a death we deserved so that we could all be restored into unto, a right relationship with Him (John 3:16-17).
In each scenario, all of God’s actions toward His people are motivated by pure love. He doesn’t just say He loves us, but He actually does something about it.
THE LOVE OF JESUS
John 15:13-16Amplified Bible
13 No one has greater love [nor stronger commitment] than to lay down his own life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you keep on doing what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you [My] friends, because I have revealed to you everything that I have heard from My Father. 16 You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed and placed and purposefully planted you, so that you would go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit will remain and be lasting, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name [as My representative] He may give to you.
By coming into the world and sacrificing his own life for us, Jesus demonstrated the ultimate love of God.
He died for us because He considered us friends worth dying for (John 15:15).
This is the radical love that Jesus showed during his time on Earth… and still shows us today even if we do not see it in quite the same way we see the love of our friends and family.
So, when asking the question “Does Jesus love me?” the simple answer is “yes.”
Jesus really does love you not because of anything you have done, but because of who He is!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Almighty God, we praise and thank you for making us children of God, not through our own power and piety but through our baptism into crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ. We turn daily to you, and in that turning we find peace, courage and purpose. Make your whole church a witness to the great good news of Christ’s resurrection.Father God, may we have the grace and the power of the Holy Spirit to grasp how immeasurable wide and deep and high and long is your love for us, expressed in all that Savior Jesus has done for us, that we may be your children. In his name, Amen.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
7 Beloved, let us [unselfishly] [a]love and seek the best for one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves [others] is born of God and knows God [through personal experience]. 8 The one who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. [He is the originator of love, and it is an enduring attribute of His nature.]
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
I want you to take a few seconds or minutes, preferably the rest of forever, and meditate, ponder, and just think about the depths of love that Jesus has for you.
Depending on the day, perhaps you may perceive or you genuinely feel a barrier, because we may know all too well, how we often fail, falter, take our eyes off our King, and at times maybe even want nothing to do with Him.
But I’m here to tell you that in those exact moments, Christ’s all-encompassing love is yet all the more present and there to sustain you!
For He has chosen you, though you will most definitely fail, and falter and too, stumble, He called you his own, though you and I will flinch, and we all have a place at His table even when your gaze is not perfectly fixed on the divine host.
So do meditate, ponder and think about how Christ’s love for you and me is like an all consuming ocean that you and I cannot ever swim away from.
Do think about that He is the greatest joy in times of triumph.
Do think about that He is your deepest comfort in your utmost trying of times and sorrows.
Pray – Oh, what love He has for his children…Oh, what love He has for you!
So please join me today in praising God, and His Word, for his persistent love.
Praise God, that He continually shows us what love is even right now.
Praise God, that He first loved us which enables us to, therefore, go and love on others exactly where they are.
So today, the remainder of this week, and continually, let there be no shortage of love from the children of God especially during times we are all experiencing.
Ask Jesus right now, through prayer and study of His Word, through fellowship, to love others through you as He has so graciously covered all of you in his love.
What Does it Mean That ‘God Is Love’ in 1 John 4:8?
1 John 4:8 Amplified Bible
8The one who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. [He is the originator of love, and it is an enduring attribute of His nature.]
Love is a word that has taken on many meanings throughout the ages.
Innumerable writers, movie directors, music and dance choreographers and hosts and myriads artists alike have tried their best to convey the idea of love.
Though almost no one has the same definition, there is an underlying thought.
Love is a feeling and an action.
Love is what one person feels and does for someone else.
Even in the Christian faith, love entails many qualities.
1 Corinthians 13is an entire passage devoted to the idea of love.
The chapter ends on the notion that love is both greater than hope and surprisingly greater than faith.
Here too we see that love is how one person relates to another, both in feeling and action.
The dictionary definitionalso describes how people relate.
With so many perspectives on the idea of love, an entire biblical passage dedicated to the idea, and too many songs, stories, and movies to count, love must be very important.
Moreover, this proves without a shadow of doubt we have all been affected by love in one way or another – love touches everyone – without any exceptions.
We also know that God values the idea of love because of how many times the word is used in the Bible.
In the original King James Version (KJV) the word love appears 310 times.
The frequency of the word will largely depend on the translation.
Important to note, the English word for love is split into different words in theoriginal writingof the Bible.
The original languages used words to describe love including phileo, pragma, and agape.
When love is evoked in Scripture, the term is used to describe the way we talk, act, and our mindset toward others.
In the Bible though, love is by no means limited to human relationships.
In fact, the Bible informs us that the reason why we love other people, the reason we can understand love, is exactly this: because God first loved us.
We can identify these people by testing their spirit.
One way to test the spirit is by examining someone’s ability to love.
After John makes clear the difference between false prophets and true believers, he admonishes us to love one another.
How do we accomplish this?
We look at what God has done for us.
John makes the claim that love is first and foremost defined by God’s choosing to love us, His children.
With this powerful and inspiring truth into mind, we should then in response, turn our heart to love one another (God’s children), the way our Father loves us.
He speaks confidently in detailing that God loves us, so we ought to love one another, but what does John mean when he says, “God is love”?
What Did John Mean When He Said ‘God Is Love’?
1 John 4:8Authorized (King James) Version
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
In this verse, we see that John equates God with love.
This metaphorical statement takes on a literal meaning when we consider the evidence of John’s claim.
In this passage, John mentions the sacrifice of Jesus for humanity–an act of love (1 John 4:10).
Since the Garden of Eden, God has acted on behalf of humanity, showing His love and support for His followers.
There have been consequences such as the banishment from Eden (Genesis 3), but God has maintained a loving relationship with people since the Fall.
Why?
The answer is evident in God’s love and all the stories that follow in the Bible where God acts on behalf of humanity.
These events culminate into the eventual Second Coming of Christ.
As God has remained an ever-present constant in the lives of humanity, so too are we supposed to show ever-present love to one another on an ongoing basis.
John states that we cannot love God and hate someone else (1 John 4:20).
If God has already chosen to love each of us despite our fallen nature since the beginning of time, why should or would we choose not to love someone despite an offense in the present time?
Obviously, this is easier said than done, but John makes clear “God is love.”
He drives this point further by stating we remain in love when we draw close to God, and as we draw close to God, the love of God abides in us (1 John 4:16).
The way God perpetually treats us in love, we should strive to treat other people.
How Does This Verse Affect How We Give and Receive Love?
John’s message to followers of Christ is a message echoed throughout the Bible.
A significant area where this is shown occurs when Jesus is questioned by a Pharisee.
“When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test him: ‘Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?’
He said to him, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.’” (Matthew 22:34-40)
Jesus lets us know that the second greatest act we can do daily as Christians is love other people, while the greatest commandment is to love God.
If we are abiding in God, as John admonishes us to do, then we will not only seek to love God as Himself but will see loving others as an extension of that.
Interestingly, the Bible does not tell us to love ourselves, possibly because that action comes so naturally for believers and nonbelievers alike.
We can use this awareness then to change how we view other people.
Instead of maintaining a mindset of “me versus you” or “them versus us,” we can acknowledge the fact that we are all image-bearers of God (Psalm 139:13).
No matter our difference in faith, behavior, or physical appearance, we are God’s children and we should definitely strive to treat each other accordingly.
Three Ways to Love Others by Knowing that God Is Love
1. Encourage One Another
Proverbs 16:24 Amplified Bible
24 Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, Sweet and delightful to the soul and healing to the body.
The words we speak carry weight, for better or for worse.
When we choose to speak in a godly fashion, we can use words to encourage those around us: family, friends, coworkers, even strangers.
Pleasant words include gratitude, compliments, and any other type of speech that benefits the person hearing.
As we know that God is love, our love is not by any means limited to words.
We can also show love through actions that bring about health to the body of the person receiving.
2. Forgive One Another
Matthew 6:14-15 Amplified Bible
14 For if you forgive [a]others their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins], your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others [nurturing your hurt and anger with the result that it interferes with your relationship with God], then your Father will not forgive your trespasses.
Holding resentment against another is not the proper way to act as a Christian.
God has chosen to forgive humanity despite our constant sinful nature.
Likewise, God wants us to exercise forgiveness for those people who offend us.
3. Pray For and With One Another
James 5:13-16 Amplified Bible
13 Is anyone among you suffering? He must pray. Is anyone joyful? He is to sing praises [to God]. 14 Is anyone among you sick? He must call for the elders (spiritual leaders) of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with [a]oil in the name of the Lord; 15 and the prayer of faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another [your false steps, your offenses], and pray for one another, that you may be healed and restored. The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous man (believer) can accomplish much [when put into action and made effective by God—it is dynamic and can have tremendous power].
A lot of people say expressions like, “I’ll pray for you.”
How many of them will stop and pray in that moment?
Scripture informs us that prayer has miraculous power.
If the words we speak to one another can bring health to the body, surely the words we say in prayer are even stronger.
When we love like God, we pray for those we love, and those we don’t feel as fondly toward because the Lord watches over us all.
If God is omnipresent, then the Lord is present in all of our lives, whether we feel or even acknowledge His presence.
Acquiring this disposition of love will push us to serve and love others even when we may feel like their faith is not where we prefer, and may even bring others closer to God.
Once we perfect loving people, we would have perfected and fulfilled the second greatest commandment.
This will prove not only God is love, but God is always with us and within us.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
May I Recognize Your Words Prayer
God of truth, sometimes I not sure if I’m actually hearing your voice, or if it’s just my own thoughts or even another spirit. Sharpen my spiritual hearing, Lord, so I can recognize your words when you are speaking to me. Help me know it’s really you, with no doubt or second-guessing. When I’m asking for your guidance in important decisions, give me your peace that surpasses understanding with your answer. Help me remember that your words to me will never go against your written word in the Bible. Please, Give unto me a clear mind and push out all my confusion. Amen.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
As believers in Jesus, we should be loving other people.
Yes, even those that are unlovely.
Why?
Because God loves us and forgives us even when we don’t deserve it.
And out of that love that we have been given, we should be loving others and leading them closer to Jesus.
1 John 4:8 Amplified Bible
8 The one who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. [He is the originator of love, and it is an enduring attribute of His nature.]
Part of knowing God, and being His follower is developing love in your life.
And it might take a little effort on your part.
And it might take a substantial effort on your part.
And it might even take a miraculous effort on your part.
Somewhere there might a hurt so unconscionable, it is beyond redemption.
You might be holding onto a grudge whose origin is utterly lost to the ages.
You might be used to gossiping, maybe even spreading rumors about others.
If you are reading this and can find no of God, love for God and for others, love bears all things at all times and perseveres for as long as forever lasts for You.
The encouragement is to keep praying even when praying is too difficult and keep hoping even when hope is the furthest thing from your mind, your soul –
God will always wait.
God will always and forever come to you when you choose to come to Him.
Luke 15:17-24 English Standard Version
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’[a]22 But the father said to his servants,[b] ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
And God will forever feel compassion for, to embrace, to celebrate, your life.
Psalm 42:1-3 English Standard Version
Book Two
Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul?
To the choirmaster. A Maskil[a] of the Sons of Korah.
42 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?[b] 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”
“Christ Loved Me – Yes, Even Me.”
The distinguishing mark of a Christian is their measure of confidence in their Savior Christ’s love for him and in the offering of his love to their Savior Christ.
First, faith sets her seal upon the person by enabling their heart and soul to say with the apostle John, “Christ loved me and gave himself for me.”
Then love gives the countersign and stamps upon the heart and soul gratitude and love to Jesus in return. “We love because he first loved us.”
In those grand old ages, which are the heroic period of the Christian religion, this double mark was clearly seen in all believers in Jesus.
They were men and women who knew the love of Christ and rested upon it as a man leans upon a staff whose trustworthiness Christ, the Shepherd has proved.
The love they felt toward the Lord was not a quiet emotion that they hid within themselves in the secret place of their souls and that they only spoke about in private or when they met on the first day of the week and sang hymns in honor of Christ Jesus the crucified.
It was a limitless passion with them of such a vehement and an all-consuming energy that it was visible in all their actions, evident in their conversation, and unmistakably seen in their eyes, even in their casual glances – Boy, what a Love.
Love for Jesus was a flame that fed upon the core and heart of their being and therefore by its own force burned its way into their demeanor and shone there.
Zeal for the glory of King Jesus was the seal and mark of all genuine Christians.
Because of their dependence upon Christ’s love they dared much, and because of their love for Christ they did much, and it is the same now.
The children of God are ruled in their inmost powers by love.
The love of Christ constrains them; they rejoice divine love is set upon them, they feel it shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, who is given to them, and then by force of gratitude they love the Savior with a pure and fervent heart.
My reader, do you love Him with that self same passion He first had for You?
Before you sleep, give your Savior an honest answer to that weighty question!
When you wake up again, then give unto your Savior an honest answer to this next weighty question –
For waking me up, how will I give all my Love to my Savior today?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Prayer to Love Others as God Loves Me
Heavenly Father, I am so utterly blessed to be Your child, and that I can call You “My Abba Father,” for You are my loving Daddy! My heart overflows with gratitude. You have made me a partaker of Your divine nature, and Your love for me is so wide, so deep – it is beyond my comprehension. May the truth of my identity in You sink deep into my psyche, and impact my relationship with others. Dear Loving Father, may I come to love others as You have first loved me, with compassion and care. Amen.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
28 Then one of the scribes [an expert in Mosaic Law] came up and listened to them arguing [with one another], and noticing that Jesus answered them well, asked Him, “Which commandment is first and most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The first and most important one is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul (life), and with all your mind (thought, understanding), and with all your strength.’ 31 This is the second: ‘You shall [unselfishly] [a]love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 The scribe said to Him, “Admirably answered, Teacher; You truthfully stated that He is One, and there is no other but Him; 33 and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to [unselfishly] love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully and intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that, no one would dare to ask Him any more questions.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Sometimes, the most important things aren’t difficult to grasp.
If they seem difficult to grasp, it is most likely because we ourselves, in our all too clumsy humanity have made it so because we ourselves have deemed it to be infinitely more important to be complex than simplified – it just feels “better.”
God desires us to be exclusively devoted to Him with all of our being, and to also be loving to others who surround us.
The covenant demands of God placed square upon our character boil down to the observance of these two fundamental principles that go echelons beyond laws and reveal God’s character [God IS Love] to the very hearts of all people.
Love Your Neighbor As Yourself
Mark 12:29-31Authorized (King James) Version
29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
We learn many rules growing up:
Brush your teeth,
Look both ways before crossing the street,
Always tell the truth.
Which of these is most important?
What do you believe is the single most important Truth you have ever heard?
Rabbi Jesus was asked a similar question by an expert in the Mosaic Law: Of the many commands and regulations in the law of God, which one tops the list?
Jesus did not hesitate: “Love God above all”—and he quickly added the second: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
And what kind of love does this refer to?
In connection with God’s love for us, this is unconditional, unconventional, love—totally gracious, totally generous, and totally with no strings attached.
Notice especially that Jesus says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
This means that if we are to love our neighbors unconditionally and generously, we will be required by God to love ourselves that self same way too!
God does not make junk.
God does not make mistakes.
We are created in God’s image; we are his masterpieces.
It’s not to just okay to love myself: God expects me to celebrate the person he created me to be – every moment celebrate God exactly as God celebrates us!
The Golden Rule Jesus gave us—“Do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12)—is another way of saying this command to love God and honor God and love and honor our neighbor as we love and honor ourselves.
Loving others well depends at least partly on our capacity to love ourselves.
What Does it Mean to Love Your Neighbor as Yourself?
Would it, Should it, Could it, surprise you to learn that loving your neighbor as yourself is found eight times in the Bible.
Not once, Not even twice but Eight times.
Go ahead and search for them – Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God.
Loving your neighbor as yourself is so important to God that He not only repeats Himself, He makes it a command.
And not just one in a list of many commands.
Rabbi Jesus coupled the command to love your neighbor as yourself with loving God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and with all of our strength.
James calls it the royal law.
It sounds beautiful, and it is when we obey it.
But loving your neighbor as yourself isn’t always easy.
That’s why God made it a command.
He knew we’d struggle.
Making it a commandment is actually to our benefit.
How is that?
We have to be reverently and deliberately obedient
We have to do it on purpose.
We have to be intentional about it.
Sometimes even out of our need.
But if we love God as God love us … obedience just flows from us naturally.
This is what it means to love your neighbor as yourself:
1. Loving your neighbor means receiving God’s love.
Too begin to love your neighbor as yourself, you need to know two things:
you need to know what love is and that you are loved.
The Bible tells us “this is love. Not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent his Son as a propitiation…” (1 John 4:10).
You and I are the object of this love.
God loves you.
God loves me.
Knowing this is imperative.
And not just that we are loved in a general kind of way, but deeply loved and unconditionally and unconventionally loved.
We tap into this when we understand that God loved us first. [John 3:16-17]
He’s the source of our love.
God loved us even before Jesus gave Himself for us.
God the Father is the source of all love.
Before we can give this love we need to receive it for ourselves.
You cannot give to someone what you yourself do not have.
2. Loving your neighbor means loving ourselves as well.
To love your neighbor as yourself as commanded, you need to measure love correctly.
The measurement within this command is—as yourself.
To love your neighbor as yourself you need to love yourself.
This is something that gets badly misunderstood in the body of Christ often.
It gets mixed up with dying to self and denying self as if we need to destroy our self.
This is not true.
Jesus died for each and every one of us.
If Jesus valued us enough to go through what He went through, we each have a sacred responsibility to Him to value what He values exactly as He valued it .
We need to love what He loves – us.
The Bible tells us the Father loves us as much as He loves Jesus (John 17:20-23).
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.[Authorized King James Version]
When we dare to simplify it: How dare we not love what the Father loves?
Learning to love ourselves prepares and helps us to love our neighbor.
3. Loving your neighbor means showing grace.
Knowing God is love and that this love is for you is not enough.
It needs to be developed and matured.
Imagine if you had a field of good soil and a bag of top notch seeds.
Would they produce a crop all by themselves?
No. The seeds must be planted and cared for.
Grace takes the seed of His love and the soils of our hearts and souls and creates fruit for the kingdom of God.
The Bible says,“it’s God who works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2.13).
Loving Him and our neighbor pleases Him.
Grace helps us do this.
Grace teaches us proper love, honor and respect for ourselves and for our neighbor – our freely receiving His grace empowers us all to freely give it.
4. Loving your neighbor means acting with compassion.
From Luke’s Narrative of the Gospel, when Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” He responded with a story: the Good Samaritan [10:25-37].
Even those who have no love for God see the value of the story.
What is the bottom line of this story?
Who did Jesus say was being a neighbor?
The one who had compassion.
Compassion is not simply a warm fuzzy feeling in our hearts.
Compassion does something.
A heart moved by compassion cannot sit idly by while someone suffers a need.
Loving God and Loving your neighbor as you are Loving yourself is being moved by God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to help to the full extent of your ability.
5. Loving your neighbor means looking out for their wellbeing.
The NIV translation of 1 Corinthians 13 says, “love protects.”
In Philippians 2:4 it says, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Loving your neighbor as yourself is to look out for other people’s wellbeing.
To look out for them is to pay attention.
You notice if they need something and then you help.
For example, their clothing tag is sticking out or they have food on their face so you let them know.
Or something more serious like when a neighbor has surgery or becomes sick.
Concerned for their health, well-being, I head over to their home with a meal or a loaded gift card so if they aren’t able to cook, they won’t have to cook, can eat.
6. Loving your neighbor means serving them.
Serving from the heart is kindness in action.
Kindness is one of the attributes of love listed in 1 Corinthians 13.
The surprisingly wonderful thing about kindness, though, is you can do acts of kindness without kindness residing in your heart.
If the kind thing is done out of duty then it isn’t love.
Jesus said he came to serve (Mark 10:45, Luke 19:10, Matthew 20:28).
God, who is love, came to serve.
Love serves.
For you to love your neighbor as yourself, you’ll have a heart to serve them.
Let them know you’re there for them.
If they need a ride somewhere, you drive them.
If they need their dog or cat checked on while out of town, you do that for them.
Other examples are getting their mail for them or taking them a meal if they’re not well.
Examples in a public setting are to let people in front of you in line at the store or in traffic.
7. Loving your neighbor means speaking kindly.
The childhood rhyme about sticks and stones versus words is not true.
To love your neighbor as yourself is to use words to build them up.
Speaking words of encouragement to someone who’s down is the most obvious example but there are hosts upon hosts and myriads and myriads of others.
We can be more intentional with our words by looking for and magnifying the good.
We can always find something good if we’ll take the time to look for it.
Examples of this are giving someone a simple smile, a simple compliment and simply telling someone how much you genuinely appreciate them.
8. Loving your neighbor means making allowances for other people’s humanity.
We live in a day and age when offense is as common as breathing.
Criticism is running rampant.
Love is not easily offended or critical.
Everyone does dumb things; no one is always right or knows everything.
We’re all a work in progress.
I remember sitting through a green light.
I wasn’t trying to inconvenience anyone.
I got stuck in grieving daze because a family member might die.
I remember that when I encounter people driving too slow, sitting at lights, or even cutting me off.
Maybe they have a reason.
Maybe they’re just being human.
We’re imperfect beings that do perfectly dumb things often.
Giving people the benefit of the doubt is loving your neighbor.
For example, I had someone honking their truck horn flailing their arms and cursing because I didn’t speed through an almost red light.
They were behind me and so they got stuck at the red light with me.
I don’t know why they were so angry but they may have had other pressing circumstances surrounding them that day – I prayed for them.
9. Loving your neighbor means sharing in their joys and sorrows.
The Bible says we are to“rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15).
Celebrating can be difficult for us at times, especially if our neighbor is getting something we have longed for.
For example, a new job, a raise, or a pregnancy.
Celebrating with them in spite of our own pain is a strong show of love.
Likewise, mourning with our neighbor can be hard if we don’t know what to say, or have recently lost something or someone ourselves.
Loving God, Loving your neighbor as yourself is showing up and being there with your heart open, allowing them to be what they are, and support them.
10. Loving your neighbor means forgiving.
Forgiveness is a big deal to God.
Bible says He planned it for us from the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).
Jesus frequently spoke forgiveness over others that resulted in the healing of their bodies.
Forgiveness is freely given to us and to love your neighbor as yourself you’ll pass the forgiveness on.
Jesus highlighted this in His story in Matthew 18 when Peter asks how many times is he to forgive.
He tells the story of a king who forgave an enormous debt to one of his servants.
This servant failed to pass the forgiveness on.
He demanded payment of a small debt from his neighbor.
When the king heard of it, he had his servant remanded for his debt, revoking the debt cancellation.
Jesus’ story tells us that love always forgives.
We all need forgiveness, so loving your neighbor is to forgive them as you have been forgiven.
In both the Hebrew [Old] and New Testaments we are commanded by God to love our neighbors as ourselves.
On several occasions Jesus himself says that is a part of fulfilling God’s law.
Again and again God shows us how to love others.
The call to love our neighbor is not complicated, but it can be challenging to follow.
It means more than being hospitable, tolerant, patient, and kind.
It means more than showing respect and honoring others.
It also means more than just being civil with people you disagree with—even though it also means all of that.
Loving our neighbor implies that the well-being of others matters—so we should work for justice, protection, and opportunities for others to thrive.
It means listening to others.
It also shows that the possibilities for showing love and care for our neighbors is endless and could leave us overwhelmed by all the needs for neighborly love!
Yet all of us can love our neighbors in the name of Jesus Christ.
We can honor, love and respect them enough to show how the love of Jesus is forever shaping us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
As you are loved, Jesus says, so love one another (see John 13:34).
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Dear God, thank You for Your unconditional love. Lord, help me to know myself and to love myself. If I don’t feel self-worth, how can I expect someone else to cherish me? Help me to develop a healthy self-identity, remembering that I am a child of the King, created in Your image. Help me know who I really am, what I really want from life, and what I want in the person I will spend my life with. Thank you, Lord, for loving me so completely that I am being completely changed! Help me to be more aware of your Love so I may love my neighbor with the love you have for the world.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
6 Grandchildren are the crown of aged men, And the glory of children is their fathers [who live godly lives].
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
What our Grand parents are to us …
“What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance. They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humor, comfort, lessons in life. Most importantly, milk and cookies and plenty of Ice Cream.”
“A grandfather is someone with silver in his hair and gold in his heart.”—Anonymous
If nothing is going well, call your grandmother. —Italian Proverb
“When Grand Ma smiles, the lines in her face become epic narratives that trace the stories of generations that no book can replace.” Anonymous
To a small child, the perfect granddad is unafraid of big dogs and fierce storms but absolutely terrified of the word “boo.” Anonymous
I still remember the simple lessons taught to me by my grandmother Lou. She taught me how special I was simply by telling me what a coconut looked like.
The time she spent with me, and the things she passed on with her simple, yet gentle words, pats upon my head, are still invaluable treasures that I cherish.
Throughout history, grandparents have played a central role in the lives of their children and grandchildren.
There is even a Grandparents Day the first Sunday after Labor day, put into its place by President Carter in 1978, to genuinely celebrate how important the contribution and impact our grandparents make to families, communities.
Today, let’s give honor where honor is long overdue, to take a few moments to stop and reflect on the value of grandparents—past or present and future.
Let’s dive into a few Scriptures that offer beautiful words of affirmation about the aged—timely words that show just how important grandparents truly are.
Does the Bible say anything about Honoring Our Grandparents?
When most of the books of the Bible were written, parents and grandparents held positions of high honor in the life of the family and of the community.
Children were expected to revere their elders and learn from them.
When God introduced the Law to the Israelite nation, He even included a commandment to “honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12).
God also made it part of His Law that the younger person should stand in the presence of the elderly as a sign of respect (Leviticus 19:32).
Implied within this command is a multi-generational attitude of respect and honor toward a family and communities senior relatives.
As children observed their parents honoring the grandparents, they, in turn, at some point in life, would shoulder that responsibility when their time came.
Proverbs 17:6 says that “children’s children are the crown of old people.”
Every grandparent understands that comparison.
There is a special kind of bond between a grandparent and a grandchild that benefits both.
Someone has humorously stated that “grandchildren are God’s reward for not killing your own children when they were teenagers.”
Humor aside, there is some truth to that.
Grandchildren, like children, are a reward—a blessing from the Lord and one way that He is good to us (Psalm 127:3).
“Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.” – Proverbs 17:6
What a picture of God’s design for the good of families.
Think about it.
There’s three generations here.
You have got grandparents, parents, and children.
All of us fit into this spectrum in some sense.
We all are children with parents.
We all are grandchildren.
Some of us are parents or step parents of children who pray about being blessed with Grand Children, perhaps even Great Grand Children.
Some are grandparents with grandchildren.
This Proverb Calls Us to Honor Generations of Our Families
And the picture here is ABBA Father God has designed our lives to honor and respect our own parents and our grandparents.
God has designed our lives as parents and grandparents to be glorified in the way we love and raise our children, in the very way we love our grandchildren.
So, as we see these three generations, I just want to encourage you to think about life and think about how you can honor your parents, even just to thank God for them, to pray for them, and grand and great grand parents, as well.
How can you honor them?
How can you pray for them?
I think in my own life, none of my grandparents are living.
My mom and my dad have long gone to be the Lord.
So when it comes to these groups in my life, I think about my mom.
I thank God so much for my mom and my dad and their parents, and by God’s grace, for the legacy, blossoming revelation of faith, they’ve passed on to me.
I could go on and on and on far, far beyond the scope of this devotional just talking about God’s grace toward me.
God, I want to honor all generations of my parents, I’m so thankful for them.
Proverbs 17:6 Encourages Us to Glorify God in Our Families
And then I look the other way and think about my stepson.
I think about how precious he is, what a gift he is, and how much I pray for him.
I want to glorify God by loving him and caring for him well, and then I pray for his growing son.
So I pray for my grandson all the time.
I have no children of my own, but my sister does so I pray for her grandkids.
I pray that they would know God, they would love God, they would know God’s love for them and model God’s love for others.
So, just think about your life and where you are right now in the spectrum, whether you are single, married, a parent, or a grandparent, So I just pray.
1 Timothy 5:1-5 Common English Bible
Caring for God’s family
5 Don’t correct an older man, but encourage him like he’s your father; treat younger men like your brothers, 2 treat older women like your mother, and treat younger women like your sisters with appropriate respect.
3 Take care of widows who are truly needy. 4 But if a particular widow has children or grandchildren, they should first learn to respect their own family and repay their parents, because this pleases God. 5 A widow who is truly needy and all alone puts her hope in God and keeps on going with requests and prayers, night and day.
In the New Testament, the duty of an adult grandchild is made explicit:
“If a widow has children or grandchildren, they should learn to serve God by taking care of her, as she once took care of them. This is what God wants them to do” (1 Timothy 5:4, CEB).
So the honor shown to a grandparent in need is more than mere respect; it is taking practical steps to support the grandparent and doing whatever it takes to meet his or her needs.
Doing so is a natural part of honoring and serving and giving glory to the Lord.
Grand Parent Responsibility Towards Grand Children
Proverbs 13:22 Christian Standard Bible
22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his[a] grandchildren, but the sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.
Just as grandchildren have sacred obligations to love, honor, and assist their grandparents, so do grandparents have responsibilities toward their children’s children.
Proverbs 13:22says that “a good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.”
Righteous people live wisely and pass on their wisdom, their knowledge, and their material blessings to their grandchildren.
In our day, it has become common for grandparents to have full custody of their grandchildren from the parents’ inability [drugs, alcohol, mental illness, legal issues] or their unwillingness to rear their own children.
While this is sad, it also demonstrates the unique love grandparents have that creates a willingness to begin the task of bringing up a child just when child-rearing was supposed to be finished.
Few retirees would volunteer for the emotional, financial, and physical burden of rearing children again, but, because they are grandparents, they’ll set aside their own desires for the needs of a grandchild.
Honoring and Respecting All Grand Parents?
The Bible gives examples of grandparents, and some of those grandparents were wicked:
2 Kings 11 recounts the sad story of Athaliah, mother of King Ahaziah of Judah.
When Ahaziah died, the Queen Mother ordered the execution of all her royal family so that she could take the throne.
Unknown to her, one of Ahaziah’s sisters, Jehosheba, hid a baby grandson, Joash, in a bedroom so that he escaped his grandmother’s bloody rampage.
He and his nurse remained hidden in the temple for six years while his grandmother ruled Judah.
When Joash was seven years old, the high priest brought him out, anointed him, put the crown on his head, and proclaimed little Joash king of Judah.
When Athaliah saw this, she flew into a rage, but the godly high priest ordered her to be executed.
Thus, it was the murder of his entire family by his own grandmother that had ushered in the forty-year reign of King Joash of Judah.
Did Joash, at some point in his 4o year kingly reign privately or publicly forgive the scriptures do not say.
If there is some reason, legitimate or otherwise, and you are at severe odds with your grandparents, the matter of extending or not extending mercy, granting or not granting forgiveness is between Father God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and you.
Scripture repeatedly says mercy and forgiveness are always the right choices.
Matthew 5:7Christian Standard Bible
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Matthew 9:13 Christian Standard Bible
13 Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice.[a] For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”[b]
Kinsman Redeemer
Leviticus 25:25-27 Christian Standard Bible
25 If your brother becomes destitute and sells part of his property, his nearest relative may come and redeem what his brother has sold. 26 If a man has no family redeemer, but he prospers[a] and obtains enough to redeem his land, 27 he may calculate the years since its sale, repay the balance to the man he sold it to, and return to his property.
Ruth 4:14-17 Christian Standard Bible
14 The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you without a family redeemer today. May his name become well known in Israel. 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. Indeed, your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” 16 Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and became a mother to him. 17 The neighbor women said, “A son has been born to Naomi,” and they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
An unusual grandparenting relationship is found in the book of Ruth.
The story of Ruth is a beautiful tale of love and loyalty between a young widow and her bereaved mother-in-law, Naomi.
Although her husband is dead, Ruth chooses to stay with her mother-in-law to care for her.
She even leaves her own people, the Moabites, to follow Naomi back to Israel where she meets and marries Boaz.
When their first child is born, the townspeople congratulate Naomi, saying, “Naomi has a son!”(Ruth 4:14–17).
The child was no blood relation to Naomi, but, because of the great love and connection between her and Ruth, she adopted the baby as her own grandchild.
This reminds us that grandparenting can come in many forms.
In this day of broken and dysfunctional families, divorce, and step-parenting, godly men and women who will prayerfully step forward, adopt their children’s step-children as their own grandchildren are blessed, as Naomi was blessed.
Her adopted grandchild, Obed, became the grandfather of King David.
When God designed this world, He instituted the ministry of the family as His means of propagating the earth and teaching us about love and relationship.
He intended for the elder to teach the younger and for the younger to revere the elder.
Grandparents, Great Grandparents play a uniquely special role in this design.
Free from the responsibility to train and discipline a child, grandparents can offer open arms, acceptance, and a safe place for a child to run when things are not going well with Mom and Dad.
Grandparents can provide wisdom beyond that of the parents, since they have already walked this road many years before.
A wise grandparent, though, will never intrude upon a parental decision in front of the child.
A grandparent’s role is not to supersede the parent but to support, encourage, and counsel as needed.
When parents, grandparents, and children are living out their roles as God first designed, the entire family, entire generations of families, communities thrive.
If I could give gold crowns to each one of my wonderful grandparents, I would.
They have invested so much into my life, and made such an impact,
I believe they ought to be treated like royalty.
However, I pray, that the way in which I’ve lived my life, would be such an abundant blessing to them, it feels like a crown of honor.
Not only are grandchildren a crown to the aged, the aged are the pride of their family – What a truly excellent reminder of the importance of grandparents!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
ABBA Father, Every good and perfect gift comes from You. I thank you, Lord, for the joy and happiness, the moments of learning, and the guidance and care you have brought to us through our wonderful grandparents. I truly appreciate the kind of life, love, and nurturing they have given our parents, for through these, I was taught to depend on You by faith, and I was raised with the morals and values to respect others and be concerned for their welfare. Thank you, Lord, for our godly grandparents.
Gracious God, I pray also that each and every grandparent would be able to see their grandchildren as crowns of joy. I also ask that every child would be able to see their grandparents as people of steadfast faith they can look up to. Thank you, Lord, for the beautiful legacies they leave behind. I pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
22 Wives, be subject [a]to your own husbands, as [a service] to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as Christ is head of the church, Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives should be subject to their husbands in everything [respecting both their position as protector and their responsibility to God as head of the house].
25 Husbands, love your wives [seek the highest good for her and surround her with a caring, unselfish love], just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify the church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word [of God], 27 so that [in turn] He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy [set apart for God] and blameless. 28 Even so husbands should and are morally obligated to love their own wives as [being in a sense] their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own body, but [instead] he nourishes and protects and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members (parts) of His body. 31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined [and be faithfully devoted] to his wife, and the two shall become [b]one flesh. 32 This mystery [of two becoming one] is great; but I am speaking with reference to [the relationship of] Christ and the church.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
My Reflections on Saint Valentine’s Day
You are all probably acutely aware of all the pink and red an whites decorating many of our stores in the month of February.
I have been thinking a lot about what it represents, and what we can learn.
It occurred to me that many of us Christians will preach lovely messages on Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Easter, and even Christmas.
Yet, I find when it come to Valentine’s Day, we usually pass that one over.
I had to ask myself the question, “why?”
I can’t speak for others, but I think the answer for myself is that this seems too worldly to merit preaching a message related to it.
But is God completely silent on the themes this day brings to us?
You can’t avoid it.
The commercials, the decorations in the stores, the parties in school, the gifts at the office, and many other things confront us all whether we like it or not.
We are talking about romantic love.
Why do we Christians avoid that topic so much at church and in religious settings?
Is it completely worldly?
Is it ungodly?
Does the Bible condemn it?
Maybe the Bible ignores it?
I think what we will find it that it is far from worldly.
In fact, it is a reflection of our God.
1. Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven, to earth come down; fix in us thy humble dwelling; all thy faithful mercies crown! Jesus thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love thou art; visit us with thy salvation; enter every trembling heart. [Charles Wesley, 1707-1788]
My Reflections on the Sure Love of God
God is love.
When I say love, I am not talking about the little miniature fat guy Cupid that goes around shooting people with arrows.
That is almost too cute for my taste.
In fact, it can make romantic love seem almost silly or frivolous.
What I am talking about is the special love a man and a woman have for each other.
The love a man and woman have for each other is part of God’s design from the very beginning when he saw that it was not good for man to be alone.
If you never read the Song of Solomon, which is really titled the “Song of Songs” in the first chapter, which means “The Best of Songs,” then you are definitely and decisively missing out on the best love poetry ever written.
Key Words throughout the Book are: “Love” and “Marriage.”
The Song of Solomon beautifully portrays the qualities of a pure “love” and the ingredients for a “successful marriage.”
To develop this kind of a relationship requires total honesty, unselfishness and unconditional an unconventional support.
The whole book is a love poem between a betrothed couple, who later appear to have gotten married.
It is romantic, sensual and is part of the word of God.
The couple refers to each other as the “one whom my soul loves.”
It speaks of being faint with love.
It describes the admiration for and the delight they have in each other.
In poetically describes the precious beauty that they see in each other.
Some people have had a real problem with taking this book literally, as if romantic love poetry is not worthy of scripture.
As a result, they interpret it as an allegory of God’s love for his bride Israel or as an allegory of Christ’s love for the church.
But that doesn’t eliminate the fact that it is still romantic love poetry.
If it were merely figurative of God’s love for us, the conclusion is still the same.
Romantic love is not worldly but comes from God. In fact, if it were figurative, then the case is even stronger that romantic love is godly, good, and beautiful.
It is a reflection of the love that God has for us.
Imagine that!
God describing is love for his people in romantic love poetry!
However, I think we should take it as what it is. It is simply beautiful and romantic love poetry.
Romantic love does not originate from the world.
It comes from the God of love.
In fact, all throughout the Bible, God presents himself as the greatest lover of all.
God fondly recalls the early days of his marriage to his bride, Israel.
Look at this passage of scripture:
“Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine,” declares the Lord GOD.
Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you, anointed you with oil. I also clothed you with embroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk.
I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,” declares the Lord GOD” (Ezekiel 16:8-14)
God loves his bride passionately.
He showered all of the symbols of his love on her.
Nothing was too good for her.
God is the lover of lovers.
When God loves, He loves very passionately, and with passionate love can come intense anger and fury, jealousy and pain when the one whom your soul loves is unfaithful to you.
Notice what happens next in this passage:
“But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your fame, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by who might be willing. You took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors and played the harlot on them, which should never come about nor happen. You also took your beautiful jewels {made} of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images that you might play the harlot with them…” (Ezekiel 16:15-17).
And God continues for many more verses describing how his perfect bride was unfaithful to him using the very jewels, clothes, other things God gave to her.
It was as if his “perfect bride committed adultery in their own bed! After going into more details about how he beloved was unfaithful to him, He concludes:
“Thus I will judge you like women who commit adultery or shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy. I will also give you into the hands of your lovers, and they will tear down your shrines, demolish your high places, strip you of your clothing, take away your jewels, and will leave you naked and bare. They will incite a crowd against you and they will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. They will burn your houses with fire and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women. Then I will stop you from playing the harlot, and you will also no longer pay your lovers” (Ezekiel 16:38-41).
Do you think God is angry?
Of course!
Wouldn’t you be angry and hurt if the one your soul loves cheated on you?
In fact, many of us would divorce our spouse in a heartbeat.
But God does no such thing.
In his passionate, relentless, undying love, God does not close the book on his beloved bride.
His love never dies.
Notice:
“Therefore, behold, I will allure her (or “woo” her), Bring her into the wilderness And speak kindly to her. Then I will give her her vineyards from there, And the valley of Achor as a door of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. It will come about in that day,” declares the LORD, “That you will call Me Ishi And will no longer call Me Baali” (Hosea 2:14-16).
Maybe some of the flavor of this is lost in translation.
God woos his bride back to him after a period of anger and wrath.
He puts a song in her heart again.
In that day, she will no longer call him “Ba-ali,” which translated means “my Lord.”
No longer will God be “my Lord,” but “Ishi,” which means “my husband.”
Do you see the kind of love that God has for his bride?
In fact, one of the final pictures we have in scripture of the consummation of God’s plan is that of a marriage feast.
In Revelation 19:7-9, God uses the image of a wedding to describe the time when his heart’s desire will be fulfilled.
We, God’s people, are the bride, and he is eagerly anticipating that wedding day when we will be together forever.
“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And he said to me, ‘These are true words of God'” (Revelation 19:7-9).
In the next scene is the arrival of the groom.
But it is unlike anything you have ever seen.
Notice:
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:11-16).
The groom comes riding in on a white horse.
His robe is dipped in blood, his own blood.
Jesus died and was willing to go to Hades and back for his bride.
Even though she has been unfaithful, he will come riding in, swoop her up on his steed and ride off into Heaven with her arms around his waist.
Yes, Jesus loves his bride with an undying love.
You know, love does strange things.
It makes people look past the warts and the rough edges.
Sometimes people will say, “I just don’t understand what he sees in her!”
Maybe she is a “Plain Jane” with several flaws.
Maybe she is overweight.
Maybe her hair is stringy.
Maybe her clothes are out of style.
Maybe she is mismatched.
Maybe her nose is too big.
Maybe she is nothing to look at.
Maybe she is a mess.
But to her man she is the most beautiful thing in the world.
Love causes him to look past those things to see who she really is.
Isn’t that what God does?
He looks past all of our rough edges, all of our filth, all of the ugliness in us.
He sees what we can truly become.
They say that “true love is blind.”
I disagree with this.
Oh, I know that there can be the star struck person who is no longer capable of thinking with good judgment, but that is not what I am talking about.
I am talking about true love.
True love is not unaware of the flaws, the warts, and the dirt.
Instead, true love looks beyond these things.
Now, please turn in your bibles to our devotional text from Ephesians 5:22-32.
Ephesians 5:22-33The Message
22-24 Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise submit to their husbands.
25-28 Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They’re really doing themselves a favor—since they’re already “one” in marriage.
29-33 No one abuses his own body, does he? No, he feeds and pampers it. That’s how Christ treats us, the church, since we are part of his body. And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become “one flesh.” This is a huge mystery, and I don’t pretend to understand it all. What is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church. And this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife, loving himself in loving her, and how each wife is to honor her husband.
A Beautiful Bride ….
In many weddings, the moment a bride begins her walk down the aisle is very important.
Everyone stands to join the groom in watching her as she processes to meet him.
That moment is important for the groom too, of course.
He loves his bride and longs to have her with him.
Her walk down the aisle is a picture of the approach that began before they met.
And their meeting at the end of the aisle symbolizes the beginning of their new life together, which they pledge before God to continue throughout their lives.
Jesus loves his bride too.
Our text makes that clear even as it calls earthly husbands to give themselves up in loving service to their wives.
After all, for all to see, Jesus gave himself up for his bride, the church, at the cross at Calvary.
Christians are not frigid prudes that do not know what love is.
Christians are passionate people full of life that comes from the giver of life.
Remember this, the next time your anniversary comes up, or the next time your beloved’s birthday comes, or any time when you are driving on your way home.
We serve a God who is full of passionate love, and nothing is godlier when you display the same passionate love of God toward the one whom your soul loves.
Rejoice! Together we are the one for whom Christ waits at the end of the aisle.
The toughest love
Valentine’s Day, also known as the “day of love”, is one of the most widely celebrated holidays.
It’s the day when we’re supposed to tell those near and dear to us how much we cherish them.
Because everyone needs to feel loved.
Love is powerful.
So powerful, Jesus summarized the greatest Commandments using only love:
Mark 12:28-34Amplified Bible
28 Then one of the scribes [an expert in Mosaic Law] came up and listened to them arguing [with one another], and noticing that Jesus answered them well, asked Him, “Which commandment is first and most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The first and most important one is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul (life), and with all your mind (thought, understanding), and with all your strength.’ 31 This is the second: ‘You shall [unselfishly] [a]love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 The scribe said to Him, “Admirably answered, Teacher; You truthfully stated that He is One, and there is no other but Him; 33 and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to [unselfishly] love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he answered thoughtfully and intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that, no one would dare to ask Him any more questions.
Now, when it comes to loving those closest to us, we should, of course, tell those people that we love them—and often.
However, in reality, doing so requires very little faith on our part because chances are our love will be returned to us in equal measure. (Luke 6:32–33)
Once we have experienced the true nature of God’s unending, unconditional love, the only reasonable response is to share that love with others who have not yet experienced it.
But this is where Jesus asks us to lean on our faith.
He gave another commandment that often seems quite illogical and at times, impossible.
“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you (Luke 6:27).”
We are also called to love the unlovable.
This selfless love He’s describing can only be expressed with the supernatural help of the Holy Spirit.
When we put aside our emotions and trust the healing power of the Holy Spirit to help us and work through us for the benefit of those on the receiving end, we become a sure and certain eye witness of God’s transforming love and power.
Today,
“My beloved is mine and I am his; He pastures his flock among the lilies…..”Song of Solomon 2:16
In addition to telling your special someone how much they mean to you, maybe we should also reach out to those who wouldn’t normally come to mind on Valentine’s Day – Cherish Christ’s church, even when church is not so lovable.
You will be loving what Christ himself loves!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
A Valentine’s Day Prayer for True Love
Dear God, Help me today to understand what love really means.
I need a love that’s big enough to include all of us. Big enough for the dating and engaged couples, of course, with their giddy daydreams of a future together. But also big enough for the married folks, whether their passion for each other is still blazing brightly or barely more than a smoldering wick. Big enough for the singles toasting their independence, and for the singles wishing someone would come along and make that independence disappear. For the lonely and widowed and brokenhearted, I need a love that understands, a love that welcomes in hurt and sorrow instead of excluding them.
The love I need more than anything is Your love. Without Your love, no other love will ever be sufficient. And with it, every other love becomes richer and truer and more life-giving than it could have been otherwise. We have learned all our best loves from You: the love of faithful friends, of spouses and significant others, of parents and siblings and children. Love that commits. Love that sacrifices. Love that lays down its life. You authored each of these loves, taught us how to recognize them and long for them and give them away. Our best efforts at Valentine’s Day are just a fraction of the wholeness of love.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Today, let everything I see remind me of Your great love for all of God’s Children.Let today be a day for love. Real love. Big love. Your love.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
14 For this reason [grasping the greatness of this plan by which Jews and Gentiles are joined together in Christ] I bow my knees [in reverence] before the Father [of our Lord Jesus Christ], 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth [a]derives its name [God—the first and ultimate Father]. 16 May He grant you out of the riches of His glory, to be strengthened and spiritually energized with power through His Spirit in your inner self, [indwelling your innermost being and personality], 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through your faith. And may you, having been [deeply] rooted and [securely] grounded in love, 18 be fully capable of comprehending with all the saints (God’s people) the width and length and height and depth of His love [fully experiencing that amazing, endless love]; 19 and [that you may come] to know [practically, through personal experience] the love of Christ which far surpasses [mere] knowledge [without experience], that you may be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself].
20 Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
God gave us Jesus as a way of saying, “I love you and you are special to me.”
That is a really great gift, isn’t it?
Much better than Valentine’s cards, or candy, or flowers.
Still, we have those special people in our lives whom we need to give our fullest possible attention to – our wives, our sweethearts, our very good friends, those co-workers who work with us and beside us and those whom we may supervise.
Treat them special because they are special – who and what and why they are is absolutely 100% irreplaceable – every single one of their lives utterly matters.
They need to know that they are truly respected, loved and deeply appreciated.
God’s Unconventional Love versus Valentine’s Day
Ephesians 3:14-19The Message
14-19 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
Everyday is a special day when we open our eyes, take that next breath, set our feet upon the floor, walk forth into the kitchen get that very first cup of coffee.
We look outside, greet the morning, are welcomed by the dawn’s new sun.
A hand that raises the blades of a Venetian blind to look out the window at the sky of a sunny day.
Tomorrow, however, is a wee bit more of a special day.
Yes, it is Valentine’s Day.
But does everyone know the origin of this day?
It is a very old tradition which started because of a Bishop named Valentinus.
He lived back in the days of the Roman Empire.
Long ago, Roman officials were against young people getting married in the church.
Many young Christians wanted to be married by the priest, in the church, with God’s blessing.
Valentinus was sympathetic to these people and continued to help marry them, even though he was often threatened by the government authorities.
Sadly, he was taken to Rome and put to death for his faith and his defiance of the Emperor’s rule.
In memory and honor of Saint Valentinus, young couples started talking about choosing a Valentine, when they were actually talking about choosing a bride.
Now we call this day, Saint Valentine’s Day.
In the modern era, many people give their sweethearts Valentine’s Day cards with hearts all over them.
Some people give candies or flowers.
A red carnation or a red rose means “I love you.”
These are all ways that people show their love.
But God also gave us a gift to show us that He loved us.
It was Jesus. God gave us Jesus as a way of saying, “I love you and you are special to me.”
That is a really great gift, isn’t it?
Much better than cards, or candy, or flowers.
Today, let us meditate on biblical love, the greatest love of all time.
There once was a very old pastor, who was suffering from a long battle with cancer.
A few days before his death, he continued to hold on to a special verse that was the source of his inspiration.
He placed a bookmark where his favorite scripture passage was written:
“Who shall separate us from the love Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Romans 8:34-35 KJV).
Despite facing such a trail in his life, the old pastor was most certainly blessed with the power “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ;” a love that surpasses knowledge.
As children of God, we understand the fact that the root and foundation of creation is love.
It “surpasses knowledge.”
We know about human love.
Human love comes with the understanding that love comes as a reward for being good, for being faithful, being trustworthy and true, for being kind, for giving gifts, and for acting and for responding with appropriate behavior.
But this is not the same as the love which is embedded in the foundation of creation.
This is not the love that surpasses knowledge.
This is not the love that Paul prays we might have the power to grasp.
God’s love flows freely, without consideration of reward or any plan of equal or unequal or non-existent compensation.
This is a love that is not inherent to human nature.
We are more inclined to return love for love.
But the Scripture says,
“… how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps”(1 Peter 2:20-21).
If we are to approach love in the way of biblical love, we must meditate on what it means when the Bible says, we must love God and each other as ourselves.
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit–fruit that will last–and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.” (John 15:13-17)
Today, I would like to meditate on 3 questions about this amazing kind of love.
The first question is this:
Where does Love come from?
Where Does Love Come From?
Now some of you would answer, ‘that’s easy–it comes from within.’
Some may say, ‘It’s something that happens naturally as we mature as human beings.’
However, remember how hard it is to teach children to share?
That sharing instinct is not natural to them, but it is taught.
A human instinct is: self-survival.
C.S. Lewis, the famed English scholar, studied the various Greek words for love.
He came to distinguish the difference between what he called “needed love” and “gift love.”
Needed love is described as self-evident.
It is the most common kind of love in our world.
It is a mortal and human concept of love.
I love you, BECAUSE you love me.
I love you, because you provide for me, because you support me, and because you meet my needs.
Mr. Lewis illustrates that when we humans say to another, “I love you,” what we are really meaning is, “I need you, I want you. You hold value in my life.”
Now in contrast to “needed love” Mr. Lewis describes “gift love.”
This form of loving is born of fullness and wholeness.
The goal of gift love is to enrich and enhance the person whom it loves.
It does not require anything in return, nor does it hold requirements.
“Gift love moves out to bless and to increase rather than to acquire or to diminish. Gift love is more like a bountiful, artesian well that continues to overflow than a vacuum or a black hole. (C.S. Lewis)”
Mr. Lewis concludes this is what God’s love is all about. God’s love is gift love, not needed love.
This, of course, is the meaning of agape love; unconditional love.
Are we capable of agape love– loving as God loves?
To an extent we are.
But, we must go to the source of love, and the source of all love is God.
Jesus says in John’s narrative today, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. (John 15:13)”
Perfect love does not come from within, it only comes from above.
And when God lives within us, we become capable of expressing perfect love.
Please take secure hold of your BIBLES and turn with me to 1 John 4:7-11.
In his first epistle, John writes,
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” So, that is the answer to the first question: where does love come from? It comes from God. Then John adds, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:7-11).
The Second Question is ….
What does this Love look like?
A young girl came home one day bursting with good news.
“Mom, Dad, I know why we had to learn grammar!” she exclaimed.
“It is so we can understand God.”
Her mom and dad gave her a puzzled look, so the young girl explained.
“God is love, and love can be a noun, an adjective, an adverb, or a verb.”
What a powerful concept!
Now doesn’t that preach a sermon or three lasting all the live long day!
Love isn’t just a vague feeling.
It is an action, an attitude, a spirit, and a character trait.
Since Jesus was filled with the Spirit of God, his every attitude, thought, word, action and deed was motivated by the love of God for Him and too, vice versa.
He was motivated completely and without reservation by love.
So, what does love look like?
Gift love is best illustrated with Jesus, a blameless man, hanging on a cross simply and solely because of God’s love for us.
We cannot meet any of God’s needs or even all of God’s commands.
But God’s nature is to give love, unconditionally, unconventionally, even at times when we do not deserve it.
As John writes,
“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)
God’s gift love is a pure and perfect love.
It is an unconventional, never-ending, and everlasting kind of love.
It does not ask for you to meet up to requirements, and it does not ask for compensation.
No matter how many times we sin or fall short of the Glory of God, His love never left us.
No matter how many times the world rebuked Him, His love never left us.
What does love look like?
There is no Greater and more Powerful image than Jesus on the Cross.
That is perfect love.
Perfect love looks like God, for He is love.
God and love are not two realities; they are one.
God’s infinite power of being is: the infinite power of love.
In every movement of love we are dwelling in God and God in us.
And when we accept the Holy Spirit into our lives, we allow God’s perfect love to be pictured through us.
We can also illustrate perfect love through the way we live.
Through every attitude, thought, word, and deed, we have.
Christians are called to be a reflection of the image of God.
We reflect God’s perfect love so that others can also see what true perfect love looks like.
Love unconditionally, unconventionally to all.
Now, the third and last question is:
What does such love require from us?
Jesus answers this question in John 15:13-17,
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit–fruit that will last–and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.”
Jesus has issued the command: “Love each other as I have loved you.”
We are required by God’s command to love others as he has loved us–not with needed love, but with gift love.
Not because of anything they can or have done for us, but because of what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has done for us.
Luke 6:27-32Amplified Bible
27 “But I say to you who hear [Me and pay attention to My words]: [a]Love [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for] your enemies, [make it a practice to] do good to those who hate you, 28 bless and show kindness to those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 Whoever [b]strikes you on the cheek, offer him the other one also [simply ignore insignificant insults or losses and do not bother to retaliate—maintain your dignity]. Whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you. [c]Whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. 31 Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. 32 If you [only] love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
The world lives by the philosophy: “Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.”
To do good for people who are incapable of doing anything for you in return.
This is gift love, agape love. It is the love of God.
And of course, dear brother and sisters, this is the hardest form of love to give.
It is hard to love someone unconventionally when they cannot or will not or refuse to do the same for you.
But when the Spirit of the Lord is within, He will give you the strength to love.
The strength to be patient and compassionate.
The strength to reflect agape love to others who do not know God.
For the greatest command was to love God, and the second greatest command was to love one another.
Concluding Reflection’s: Love That Surpasses Knowledge
Ephesians 3:16-19Easy-to-Read Version
16 I ask the Father with his great glory to give you the power to be strong in your spirits. He will give you that strength through his Spirit. 17 I pray that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. I pray that your life will be strong in love and be built on love. 18 And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love—how wide, how long, how high, and how deep that love is. 19 Christ’s love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with everything God has for you.
Love is commonly considered an emotion—a feeling, inclination of the heart.
Love involves knowing the person we love, and yet even that knowledge is not the end of love.
Paul reminds his readers of this basic truth when he prays that they may “know this love that surpasses knowledge.”
Paul is talking here about the love of God, and he’s saying that it’s not enough to know about God without having love for God.
The standard of love that believers strive for is to “be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
That’s a high standard indeed!
God is, in every way, far beyond what our minds can comprehend or our hearts can contain.
We will never achieve this total fullness!
But what a powerful prayer this is—and what a wonderful goal to guide us in living our life!
To be continually growing in this “fullness of God” and his love is the delight of discipleship.
This is a wonderful prayer offered for us—but it’s also a prayer to offer on behalf of others.
What a transformation of our relationships when an entire community of Christ’s disciples experiences together a growing fullness of God’s love.
It’s beyond our ability to imagine!
Valentines Day is known as the day of love.
But God’s love lasts for eternity.
It is a perfect LOVE that loves unconditionally and unconventionally.
Where does perfect love come from?
It comes from God alone, and works within us when we become His children.
What does perfect love look like?
It looks like Jesus, a blameless man, hanging on a cross, for a world which did not deserve Him.
And as His children we reflect that image through our actions, our attitudes, thoughts, words, and deeds.
And what does such perfect love require out of us?
It requires us to move beyond “needed love” and give “gift love”.
To look around at others who are in need of God’s love and to give it to them–not asking what they can do for us, remembering what Christ has done for us.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
We bow our hearts before You, Father God.You are the Creator of everything we seein heaven and on earth.We pray that out of Your glorious, unlimited resources,You would strengthen our hearts and minds through the power of Your Holy Spirit.May Your love be the rich soil in which our lives are rooted.May Your love be the only firm foundation upon which we build,so that, together with all Your people everywhere,we would come to truly understand how long, how high,how wide and how deep Your love really is—how it far surpasses anything we can imagine.God, fill us with the fullness and the power that comes from You alone, so that our lives would reflect your goodness and grace to the world around us. Lord, fill us to overflowing with the knowledge and the wisdom of your fullness so that we love you more and serve you better. Help us to keep offering this prayer for others, that we may all grow in you.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
34 I am giving you a new commandment, that you [a]love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another.”
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
There is something Jesus said that I want you to seriously think about.
Jesus said to those who followed Him: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
As we see a war-torn nations–a nations which are economically, socially, and politically sick and pained with out of control poverty, oppressed, confused and bewildered–we have to believe that this is the hour for the church to speak out.
This is the hour for the the Body of Christ, the church, to show forth the love and grace of God in Christ!
This is the hour for the nations to hear Christ saying throughout the church, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
There is something Jesus said I want you to seriously, severely think a lot about.
Jesus said to those who followed Him: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
That verse of Scripture is tremendously important at this hour in history.
In another part of the Bible we find the same thing stated by John:
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:7-10).
The Bible repeatedly declares in no uncertain terms we who follow Jesus Christ should be just as much in love with each other, without exception, as God was in love with us when He sent His Son to die on the cross.
I want you to see what it means to love as God loves, because the Bible says, “God is love” (1 John 4:16).
The basic attribute of God is holiness, but love is another basic attribute of God.
It is a part of God’s nature to love, and all who know Jesus Christ as Savior also have this supernatural love instilled within their hearts by the Holy Spirit.
The greatest demonstration of the fact we are Christians is we love one another.
1 Corinthians 13, we have first a description of a man who does not possess love.
The Apostle Paul emphatically says,
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1).
The Late Reverend Dr. Billy Graham puts it succinctly ….
“In other words, suppose I could speak with the oratorical strength of a William Jennings Bryan. Suppose I could speak with cryptic language like Winston Churchill. Suppose I could speak with the power of Franklin Roosevelt, in which he used to sway an entire nation in war and in peace. Suppose I could sing opera like the great Enrico Caruso. Suppose I had a thousand tongues that could speak a thousand languages all at the same time. The Bible says all that is nothing, and I am nothing, unless I have this divine, supernatural love that God gives.“
The apostle Paul goes on to write,
Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge … but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2).
“I could be a man of tremendous knowledge; I could understand all the mysteries and all of history, and be able to put all the patterns together. I could know the Bible from one end to the other; memorize thousands of verses of Scripture. I could be a great Bible teacher; I could even be a preacher from the pulpit–and have not love. I know people in this country who are conservative in their theology–people who would die contending for the inspiration of the Bible–and yet there is so little love. I might know the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, but if I had not love, it would mean absolutely nothing in the sight of God.“
“I might be a man of great faith. The Bible says that I might have faith so that I could move mountains, but if I have not love, it is nothing. Suppose I could stand here today and say to that mountain, “Move into the sea,” and it would move! You would say, “Well, Billy Graham is certainly a man of tremendous faith to pray a mountain into the sea.” The Bible says that is absolutely nothing unless my faith is tempered with love.”
“I could be a man of great charity. The Bible says, “though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor … it profits me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3) unless I have this divine love that God gives. I could give everything I have to charity, but if the motive were not divine love, it means nothing in the sight of almighty God.”
“Here in this country we give billions of dollars away, but sometimes I wonder if our motive is not selfish. We are always asking the other nations and the other people, “What return is America going to get?” The motive of all giving and all charity should be love. I could also be a man of consuming zeal. Paul continues, “though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3). Suppose I were like many Korean pastors during the Korean War. Seventeen hundred Korean pastors paid with their blood for their faith in Jesus Christ. Suppose I died at a stake or was shot for my faith in Jesus Christ. You would say, “Billy Graham is a man of consuming zeal. He died as a martyr.” God says it is nothing, unless I am filled with the love of God.”
“What a brilliant life this man lived–this mythical man the Bible describes. He was a man of eloquence, knowledge, power, charity, zeal, but the Bible says he was absolutely nothing without love.”
“What a powerful thing love must be! How much stock God puts in love.”
“You say, “Well, Billy, what do you mean by love? What is a demonstration of love?” We have it demonstrated in 1 Corinthians 13. This might cut some of us to the heart. It is going to probe down deep, because one thing that the church of Christ in America lacks is the demonstration of love, and Jesus said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).“
“This love that the Bible is talking about in 1 Corinthians 13 “suffers long” (verse 5). In other words, it is patient. It is kind. It “does not envy.” There is no jealousy in this divine love that God gives. It “does not parade itself.” It is “not puffed up,” gives itself no airs. It is a love that demands humility. It never pushes itself to the top, never tries to promote itself, never tries to advertise itself. It is always in the background, truly humble. The thing that we need in the church today is genuine, old-fashioned humility.“
“Then, again in 1 Corinthians 13:5, the Bible says love “does not behave rudely.” It is always courteous and gracious at every turn. It “seeks not its own,” is never selfish. God looks after you, and you are to look after others, the Bible says. It is not easily provoked–not touchy or irritable. If people have to handle you with kid gloves, have to watch out what they say to you, you don’t know anything about this love that God is talking about.”
“Love “thinks no evil” (1 Corinthians 13:5). It never holds a grudge–never has malice. It rejoices not in iniquity, but in the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6). It is never glad when another falls. I know so many Christians today who, when they hear that another Christian has fallen, say, “Isn’t that too bad?” but they don’t mean it! They are happy that the other Christian has fallen because that places them just a little higher on the ladder of estimation in other people’s eyes.”
“Then the Bible says that this love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7). It is slow to expose the evils and faults in others. It is eager to believe the best, and it is always hopeful and optimistic concerning the future. The Bible teaches that love is greater than faith and hope (1 Corinthians 13:13). Love is the greatest thing in all the world.“
“I will never forget when singer and composer Redd Harper came to Christ in Hollywood. He said that to him the most amazing and thrilling thing after he came to Christ was this fact: “I found that I loved everybody, no matter what race or color or creed they might be. I just wanted to go hug the whole world.”
“When radio broadcaster Stuart Hamblen came to Christ, he said the same thing: “I fell in love with the whole world. There were certain people who had different racial characteristics from myself that I did not like before I was converted, but after I gave my heart to Christ, I fell in love with every one of them.”“
“Only this divine love that God gives will make us love others, and before we have revival in America we must have that kind of love among God’s people.”
“However, the greatest demonstration of love was God sending His own Son to die for you. You did not deserve to have Him die for you. You are a sinner!”
“The Bible says that you know nothing about this love if you are outside of Christ. It is impossible for you to have this divine love, because it is a gift of God only to those who love Christ.”
“But–God loves you! It makes no difference how deep in the mire of sin and transgression you have gone. God loves you today! He proved it by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for you on the cross.”
“At this exact moment you can receive Christ into your heart. God will give you this supernatural love until you too love the whole world. That is the solution to the international problems that we face at this hour. It is the solution to your personal problems–to let Jesus Christ come in. When Jesus Christ comes in, His love comes in, His Life enters in, the love of God shines out everywhere you are.“
Romans 5:8-10Amplified Bible
8 But God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Therefore, since we have now been justified [declared free of the guilt of sin] by His blood, [how much more certain is it that] we will be saved from the [a]wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, it is much more certain, having been reconciled, that we will be saved [from the consequences of sin] by His life [that is, we will be saved because Christ lives today].
I am reminded of the comprehensiveness of these words by so renowned a preacher, teacher, the stature, influence of Late Reverend Dr. Billy Graham.
Indeed, when I remind myself of them from time to time by reading, listening to his evangelistic crusades on the internet and You Tube, I am reminded of one more truth – as much as these words continually reach me, and I pray would too reach you the reader of this blog, “If I had not the love of Jesus in my heart ….?”
The same love of Jesus which He had in His Heart to do what He did for us …..
Even though we were at constant enmity with each other and with Him too …..
What then is “My Christianity?”
What then is my “Sermon in Shoes?”
— Turn the Volume of Your Computer or Your Phone to MAXIMUM! —
MY CHRISTIANITY ABSENT MY LIVING THE LOVE OF CHRIST.
MY CHRISTIANITY ABSENT MY LOVING THE LIVING CHRIST?
Christianity absent Living and Loving the Living Love of Christ is pointless!
It is infinitely worse than nothing, it negatively affects the world around us.
Have you ever had someone talk at you?
Not talk to you or with you, but at you.
Where it becomes evident that the person that is supposed to be conversing with you is not actually involving you in the exchange.
They are just expressing their love of and preoccupation with themselves all over you.
It is like a verbal vomiting attack.
They have no interest in any response from you or your feeling about what they are saying.
They are just in getting their “two cents worth” out of what they want to say.
How does that make you feel?
It is really hard to have any interest in the subject that person is talking at you about, right?
You want to pull the ripcord and get out of there as quickly as you can.
Loved is just about the last emotion that comes to mind, isn’t it?
This is Christianity without love.
It is lots of words and thoughts coming at people, but it is missing the part that makes it alive and vibrant.
Have you ever heard a really unpleasant noise?
Like hearing someone scratch their nails on a chalkboard or the sound of a dentist’s drill in your ear as they stand over you and drill out your tooth.
It is terrible, terrifying, annoying and effects you down to your very bones.
The louder it gets the worse it is.
This is the picture of religion without love from the Bible.
Christianity is no exception.
It is an expression of selfishness that comes off as really monstrously bothersome, unpleasant, unsettling and unnerving to those around.
Yikes, it sounds kind of harsh, doesn’t it?
1 Corinthians 13:1-3Amplified Bible
The Excellence of Love
13 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not [a]love [for others growing out of God’s love for me], then I have become only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal [just an annoying distraction]. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy [and speak a new message from God to the people], and understand all mysteries, and [possess] all knowledge; and if I have all [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love [reaching out to others], I am nothing. 3 If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body [b]to be burned, but do not have love, it does me no good at all.
This is the idea that Paul is getting at in his first letter to the church at Corinth.
Paul is often called the Apostle to the Gentiles but it is even more obvious from his writings in this thirteenth chapter, that love is equally as important to him.
SAVIOR JESUS WITHOUT LOVE … IS NOT SAVIOR JESUS
Religiosity without love is nothing!
It is also really annoying!
This is what Paul says in these verses.
C’mon, say what you really mean Paul!
He compares loveless Christianity to two really annoying discordant sounds of his day.
We don’t hear noisy gongs or clanging cymbals much today but the idea is something making a ton of noise and is deafening, jarring and irritating.
Think of perhaps a fire engine’s siren, though less rhythmic.
If the Apostle was writing today, he might have written if you don’t have love it is like a thousand nails moving up and down and all over upon the chalkboard.
It is a sound that is clear and not easily misunderstood.
One that is so wrong that no matter how loud you make it doesn’t come close to getting any better or less bothersome and irritating – it is just louder bad noise.
Paul was writing to Christians who were noisy gongs.
Their lives had become so caught up in themselves they had lost sight of love in the following of Jesus.
Their church was acting like 1000 ancient religious nails on the chalkboard.
Much like a person talking at you, they had made everything about them and their expressions of self.
They were supposed to be following Jesus but in fact, their church was about their pride.
Their faith was self-centered and self-serving.
Church became a contest to see who could speak the loudest or in the best tongue.
Without His Love, No One Sees Jesus…Even in Church
Since they made life all about them rather than Jesus, it was impossible for them to demonstrate true love for others.
Loving yourself that much precludes loving others with any authenticity.
You just care too much about taking care of yourself to care much for others.
The flesh is a greedy beast to feed.
The Corinthians were so prideful and self-focused in their walks with Jesus, even their use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit was worthless.
Paul says it is nothing to prophesy or speak in tongues if we don’t have love.
Even worse, their actions were like the noisy gong or clanging cymbal.
They were creating an unmistakable, discordant, and annoying impression for everyone around them.
Paul goes so far as to say that it would have been better if they did not meet as a church for all the damage they were doing.
For their lack of love, they were changing the beauty of God’s own gifts given through His will through His Spirit into something worthless and off-putting.
What was meant to be the Body of Christ moving perfectly together throughout the known world to testify to God’s glory became one uncoordinated hot mess.
Simultaneous Love for the Lord and love for each other is what is supposed to keep the Body of Christ in harmony.
Since it was nowhere to be found, the Corinthian church was stumbling around like a newborn colt.
They were doing a lot but not everyone would call it beautiful at the same time.
The Love of Christ, Love of His Life is Supposed to be our Calling Card
John 13:34-35Amplified Bible
34 I am giving you a new commandment, that you [a]love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another.”
We may be shocked by this idea, or not shocked enough by this idea, but look around at some portions of the church today.
You don’t have to go far on the internet to see pastors preaching with such anger and hatred, that what comes across is quite ugly and lacking in power.
There are others who are doctrinally sound but so intellectually focused that the Gospel that they preach comes across as being cold, aloof and forbidding.
They have the truth of the Bible but without the love of God, it is creating and introducing and delivering a really confusing picture into where chaos reigns.
They have lost sight of God’s love so they have completely lost the message brought to us by Jesus Himself. For God so loved the world He sent His Son.
God is love.
Jesus is God and is also therefore love.
Jesus was sent into this world as a man because God so loved the world.
Jesus said that the greatest commandments were to love God and love our neighbors while we are loving ourselves as God sacrificially first loved us.
Jesus said that the world would know us as disciples by our love.
Love is so essential to who God is and to what we are as Christians that Paul makes his really strong statement.
Without love, even Christianity is nothing.
We can never lose sight of love and still live the life that Jesus has for us in Him.
God is love.
A life lived absent the first love of Christ, is a life without God prominently in it.
So if we have gotten far down a path that looks like Christianity but is not filled with love, do a 180 degree turn – dare to turn around – to face God – facing you.
If we are working really hard for the church but are doing it in anger and spite and resentment, or out of our “duty and obligation – that is, works” stop it.
If we are so busy with “serving others” we have no time to love the people we are supposed to be serving…just stop.
It profits us nothing and creates a jarring discordant sound.
Only start again when we are able to say for certain that it is the love of Jesus compelling us and the love of the Holy Spirit coming through us.
No matter what it looks like to our eyes, if we don’t have love we are nothing.
Why?
Great Question … I am very glad you asked it in such a Kairos timely manner!
1 John 4:7-8Amplified Bible
God Is Love
7 Beloved, let us [unselfishly] [a]love and seek the best for one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves [others] is born of God and knows God [through personal experience]. 8 The one who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. [He is the originator of love, and it is an enduring attribute of His nature.]
Because Scripture is clear – if there is no love then Savior Jesus is not with us.
He is love and brings love wherever He walks.
He is love and brings love wherever He Talks.
He is love and brings love wherever He Ministers to God’s Children.
We all want to be something, someone like Christ in the Body of Christ, right?
RIGHT?
How do you recognize Jesus’ followers?
How do you find Christians?
Jesus said they love each other just as he loved the disciples.
In the immediate context this means he is willing to give sacrificially and extravagantly by dying for them at the cross, and he is also willing to love selflessly and practically by washing every single one their “filthy” feet.
His ministry reveals he will do almost anything in between extravagant and practical.
Imagine if we all gathered in fellowship to read and study and pray the Gospels and committed to love each other in the same way Jesus first showed his love!
Envision that first Love displayed through yourselves and the Body of Christ.
What do you anticipate seeing?
What do you expectantly hope and pray to see?
What do you actually see?
BETTER YET … WHO DO YOU SEE?
So, for the sake of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Go Live and Live greatly!
Go Love and Love greatly!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Father of all Charity and Compassion and God of all grace, I thank you for teaching me to love through the words and teachings and example of my SAVIOR Jesus. May my words and actions reflect his love toward your people today, tomorrow, and until you bring us all home to you. In the name of Christ, my Great Example, I pray. Amen.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
