The power of love
Posted by Mark Labuschagne on Wednesday, April 10, 2013
I am of the opinion that mankind has achieved so much, yet cannot truly comprehend the TRUE LOVE God has for His creation. We use the word love so easily, yet, we do not understand the true value of its meaning.
Love is the ultimate sacrifice: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) There is no getting around it, God sacrificed His Son, the One who sits at His right hand so that you and I could know (Worship) Him as Lord. Even getting ones head around this statement is probably one of the main reasons mankind stumbles over it. In the natural, this immeasurable compassion is incomprehensible to those who do not believe. And those who do accept it by and through faith, do not try to understand it, but simply embrace it.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His Son, giving is an extension of love. When we surrender unconditionally to His life, giving becomes part of our unselfish worship. We do not hold back, but open our hearts to the goodness that is Christ and then give out of Him and not out of ourselves.
We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. 1 John 3:16 - Selfishness is as far removed from a true believers heart as the East is from the West. there is no beginning and end in the heart of those who have surrendered their will in this way. Actually, it is real easy to identify those who have surrendered, this by the way they give. Jesus said, "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends". John 15:13
Why not let the following passage speak to you as you read through it:
1 Corinthians 13 (NIV)
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
My friends, love is the foundation that our lives are built upon (First for Him and then one another, there is no getting around it). Love is the cement that binds hearts together, it is the very essence of our purpose, it is the central core to our existence and is an integral part of our worship.
True love is never offended, it holds no grudges and forgives without question.
Come, let us love as He loves.
