September 22, 2021 ONLY THE LOVE OF GOD
Romans 5:5 “and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
1 Corinthians 13:13, 16:14 “But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” “Let all that you do be done in love.”
Mark 12:30-31 “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this; you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other greater commandment greater than these.”
Sometimes I think that we view human love and the love of God as the same-if we do, we are wrong. If we live and operate out of human love, we live beneath what God has for us. Human love is insufficient and human love fails. Once we look closely at human love, we find that it is a selfish love; human love is based on the desire for self-fulfillment. (One may even be about good deeds because doing good deeds makes them feel good about themselves.) The good news for us is that God has poured out His love into our hearts-and His love is a super-natural love. Romans 5:5. We are no longer limited or restrained by mere human love. If and when we find ourselves getting frustrated, or angry, or being impatient with others, it’s a sure sign that we are not operating out of the love of God. (We do not have to feel condemned when realize that we are not operating out of His love-but use that realization to turn us back to the love of God.) Once we know and experience the love that God has poured into our hearts, we take on a new view of others, and of life itself; it is like getting a new ‘operating system’-we are changed at the core of our being. With the love of God, we can love the unlovely, the inconsiderate, and even the guy that cuts in front of us in traffic-lol. Living out of the love of God does away with our ‘trying’ to love, or ‘trying’ to have the right response-expressing His love becomes natural-and that is freedom. It takes a lot of energy to be frustrated or angry, or to be irritated; His love liberates us from the self-life. His love introduces us to a much bigger world where we discover that we can live our lives as ambassadors of Christ, expressing the love of God wherever we go; we can live on a higher plane. Following are a few descriptions of love from 1 Corinthians 13 that give a good picture of what the love of God is like.
“If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging symbol.” “Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant.” “does not seek its own” “does not take into account a wrong suffered” “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with truth” “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” “Love never fails”
Ephesians 5:1-2 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
1 John 4:7-8 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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