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February 2012 DevotionalHow’s Your Love Life?
Our great Creator is the author of love. We wouldn’t know about love at all apart from His loving nature. Love is of God . . . God is love (1 John 4:7b, 8b). We wouldn’t know what love looks like apart from His example. Whose love can come close to that of the Lord Jesus for us, His rebellious creation? But God commendeth (demonstrated/displayed) His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Think about that—while we were stuck in our sin, Jesus died for us! The next few verses in Romans 5 go on to explain further the enormity of God’s love for each of us. A human being may go so far as to give up life for the sake of another who is considered worthy of that sacrifice. A fire fighter or police officer may rescue someone or protect his or her partner and lose their life in the process. A soldier could die for the sake of his countrymen’s freedom. But, does anyone volunteer to die for murderers, rapists, or the Saddam Hussein’s of this world? I know of only one who gave up His life to die for liars, murderers, blasphemers, and the covetous—God the Son, Jesus Christ. He revealed that love has a price tag—it is sacrificial, impartial, and undeserved. God’s children, those who are saved or born-again who have claimed Jesus’ death and resurrection for the complete payment of their sin against God, are called to love just as their heavenly Father loves. First, we are called to love God. Jesus said the first commandment was to Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength (Mark 12: 30). Whoever has come to a fuller knowledge and experience of God’s wonderful love cannot help but love Him in return! We love Him, because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). Secondly, we are to love others. In Mark 12:31 Jesus went on to explain that the second greatest commandment is to Love thy neighbor as thyself, and then in Matthew 5:44 follows the most difficult command of all: Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you (Matthew 5: 44). Loving God supremely and loving others sacrificially and impartially—that is how God wants us to live.
So, how is your love life? Is it built upon God’s love for you? Is worldly Self in control or are you loving God with all your heart, mind, and strength? Are you loving others—friend or foe—sacrificially and impartially? May it be so for each of us! Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God (1 John 3:1a). Continue ye in my love (John 15:9b). By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another (John 13:35). Mrs. Andrea Koenig |
What is love? What do we love? Many of us love pizza, chocolate, and our dogs. If you talk to a Wisconsinite, you may hear something about “loving” the Green Bay Packers, brats, and cheese curds. We would also say we love our families, our friends, and, hopefully, the Lord as well. But is our love growing and maturing? Do we love the difficult person in the pew behind us? The needy one? The brash? The rebel? Jesus said, If ye love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15), and along with that challenging test, He shows us the way to live a life of love.
So, how can we live a life of love? Not in our own power! First, we each must be reconciled to the Loving God who made us so His love can fill our hearts. When we turn from our sin, confessing our rebellious ways, and claim the Lord Jesus’ death and resurrection as payment for our sin, God grants forgiveness and gives us a new life—we are “born again” into God’s family (see Romans 10:9-10 and John 1:12). The next step requires diligence and dependence upon the Lord as we seek to grow in our love for God by loving Him as Jesus said—with all our hearts, minds, and strength. We must seek and saturate our hearts with God’s Word! If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love (John 15:10a). Then we need to be on guard against worldly love that serves Self first and best. 1 John 2:16-17 says, Love not the world (way of life apart from God), neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust (strong desire) of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And then finally, loving others as we want to be loved will flow from our hearts as we grow and abide in God’s love. 