11/03/2021
God loves us, and if we believe this completely, and abide in His love, then God will abide in us. We all want to be loved, but are we loving God, Jesus, and all those around us as we should? Are we loving our families, friends, neighbors, and even our enemies? Love is not to be confused with tolerance. God doesn’t tolerate us when we don’t know Him, not in our disbelief, or while we are yet sinners, no, he loves us in spite of it, and deals with us lovingly regarding our lack of relationship with Him, and our sinful nature. This is how we should love others, by loving them just as God loves us, striving to know their hearts, and repairing our distant or broken relationships with them by speaking God, and Jesus Christ into their lives.
“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
1 John 4:16 ESV
Our prayers can flow easily for our families, friends, and others who we are close to, but what about those who we find ourselves unable to so much as like? What about those we can’t stand, who lash out at us, want nothing to do with us, lord themselves over us? What about those whose personalities clash with our own, or whose faith is contrary to ours? Can we love them enough that we can show them Jesus Christ in our lives, and speak the gospel, and the Word of God, into them where they are? Can we ask God to heal their lives, their hearts, and their spirits, and Jesus to transform them, even though our human selves want selfishly to hold Our God close to us and to deny His love from those we detest? Can we love others as we truly love ourselves? Can we obey the second great commandment by loving others as we do ourselves?
““But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”
Luke 6:27-28 ESV
Let’s look back on the prayers we have offered over just the past few days, and honestly ask ourselves if even once we have prayed for the lost soul of an enemy, or someone we dislike around us; have we prayed for a professed believer that we dislike at church? If we did so, was there even the slightest feeling of love in our heart for them, or were we praying with a sense that, by our faith, we were better than they were? Were we attempting to serve them with our prayers, or demonstrating our superiority of faith? This sounds harsh, but so often we hoard our faith like a treasure, and whether consciously, or subconsciously, we hold it close to us like a prized possession… fearing that if we share it with an enemy, or someone who acts haughtily towards us that we will be giving them a further advantage as they belittle us, or mistreat us. Are we loving our neighbors, or our enemies when we do this? Are we trusting that God can change their lives? Is this the love of God flowing through us?
“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
1 John 4:8 ESV
So, let’s make a concerted effort today, and every day, to love all others as God has loved us, and is loving us right now. Let’s extend our prayers into their lives, and ask Jesus to lead them to God from that place where they are, and to transform their lives… making them righteous. Let’s do this by realizing that withholding God from someone we feel is unworthy isn’t demonstrating our love for God, but is judging, and in this way we are stepping into the very sin we detest by placing ourselves above the Lord.
““Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”
Matthew 7:1-2 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the full measure of love that you are pouring into us. Thank you for your Son Jesus who showed us how to love those who are sinners, tax collectors, unbelieving Gentiles, and even those who nailed Him to a cross. Lead us into a greater understanding of how we should exhibit, and abide in love with each prayer we pray, and in every action we take towards others. Help us to erase the hardness in our hearts that we have for so many by loving them with the same intense love that you showed us by sending your Son Jesus to redeem us. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who is the fullness, and the manifestation of love in the world, and all of creation. Praised be your name for every lost soul, or person that we might dislike who walks into our lives, because in them we have the opportunity to love as you love, and to perfect ourselves in righteousness by another small measure. Merciful are you Father for loving us when we are undeserving, and lifting us out of our jealousy for your attention. Your grace is sufficient for us, and it is sufficient for all those who are yet to know you, or who are confessing their sins before you now. Wash us in the blood of Jesus, and take away our sins… even the sin of judging others in our attempt to withhold your love from them. Perfect us in your love, so that when you look at us in judgement, you will see the loving image of Christ, and not the person we are without His love covering the sin in our lives. Call us your children Father, and seat us before you where our loving gaze can be on you always, and your love can flow over us for all eternity.
“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
1 Timothy 2:1-4 ESV
““Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.””
Luke 6:37-38 ESV
Rich Forbes