Pursuing Love: Concluding Thoughts

Owe no one anything except to love one another, 

for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.” 

(Romans 13:8 NKJV)

    We owe it to our family, our friends, our neighbours, and our enemies to love them. We owe it to them. Think about that for a moment. It is the only thing we are to owe anyone!

    When we show love through our actions (1 John 3:18) we show others God. People who may not otherwise know God can see Him through us when we truly love Him and them.

    When we love, we “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). Others will see the difference when they compare us and our actions with those in the world!

    As we have studied over the past weeks, love (agape) is a determination to do no harm (Romans 13:10). It is a choice made to show that we serve God first, not ourselves. We don’t add to the negativity, we shine God’s light into the situation, guiding people toward His goodness (Romans 12:17-21). We shine His light when we behave as He has instructed us:

• Love one another
• Love your enemies
• Bless those who curse you
• Do good to those who hate you
• Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you
• Love your neighbour as yourself

 (John 13:34-35, Matthew 5:43-48, Matthew 22:36—40)

    Let’s do it God’s way!! He has instructed us over and over again to love as He has loved us!! Let’s reach beyond and grow up out of our natural tendency to react in the same manner in which we have been treated and learn to turn the lights on in people’s lives by responding to the situation with God’s love! Put His instructions into action!! It will take time to get comfortable with handling situations this way, but it truly is worth every effort!!

God is worthy of our obedience, a person’s soul is worth our effort!

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also 

ought to love one another.” 

(1 John 4:11)

You CAN do it! So can I!!

Pursuing Love For Our Enemies

    I would like you to consider this verse today:

“…I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44 NKJV)

    This is not the natural response to hurt and harm – at least not for me – so I have to recall this verse to mind and constantly remember that I don’t serve myself, I serve God!

    If I serve myself I burn bridges, I cut ties, I store-up resentment, I may even heartlessly “poison the well” in speaking badly to others of the people who have caused pain/hurt/disappointment. I will surround myself with people who deem my anger/upset justifiable. I won’t strive to change or grow because it’s hard, I will only wish others would so the world would be a better place.

    When I serve God I love, I bless, I do good, I pray – not for myself in this case, but for those who hurt me - I learn to forgive, I remain kind. I struggle but I grow because of it. I reach for the next rung on the ladder of growth because I know that God wants me to be holy in all my conduct, just as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). I seek justification through faith in Christ Jesus (Romans 5:1-2), not from the world. When I serve Him faithfully, I can prove to myself and to others what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God, so I sacrifice my wants for what God wants me to do (Romans 12:1-2) and I can become a better person than I was before.

    Serving God requires us to change, to grow up, and be different.

    We submit to this change and the work that goes into it because we want to “be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

    Do you serve yourself? Do you give into the upset, unleash the fury that you feel when you or someone you love is hurt or hurting, and never seek to change yourself?

    Or do you serve God? 

    Follow Jesus' example in 1 Peter 2:18-24 and trust God, trust His ways; it’s only ever for your own good! Allow yourself to grow up in Him!

“…beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.” (2 Peter 3:17-18 NKJV)

    And remember: 

"If someone does wrong to you, do not pay him back by doing wrong to him... Do not let evil defeat you, but defeat evil by doing good." (Romans 12:17, 21 NCV) 

You can do it! So can I!!

Pursue Love Toward All People

    If you have ever struggled with trying to feel justified in not exhibiting love toward people who “are not deserving of your love,” I beg for a bit of your time today, and ask you to think about Jonah.

    God gave Jonah the command to go to the city of Ninevah, tell them about God, and give them warning about what would happen if they didn’t turn from their wicked ways.

    There was just one problem though, Jonah didn’t like the people of Ninevah.  Jonah knew of the Lord’s mercy (see Jonah 4:2); He knew that if the people repented and turned to God, God would very likely have mercy on them and NOT destroy them – a punishment Jonah heartily believed they deserved.

    So Jonah chose to ignore God’s command. He got on a boat and sailed off in the opposite direction, and eventually ended up in the sea, in the belly of a great fish. Jonah, facing his own destruction, came to know the error of his ways, prayerfully repented, and God showed mercy to him and gave him another chance. He happily received from God what he refused to offer the people of Ninevah, think on that for a moment...

    Even with this second chance, God’s command did not change – ‘Go to Ninevah, tell them of Me, give them warning, that they might turn from their wicked ways.’  Jonah finally obeyed it, went to Ninevah, told them all that the Lord gave him to say (Jonah 3:1-4), and the people DID repent and God was merciful to them.

    God commands us to love: “love one another” (people you know, 1 John 3:23), “love your neighbour” (people you meet, Matthew 22:36-40), and “love your enemies” (people you don’t like, Matthew 5:43-48). His command has not changed, yet we, like Jonah, feel justified in completely ignoring the commands we don’t like. We need to humble ourselves, as Jonah was humbled in the depths of the sea, prayerfully repent and be obedient to all of God’s commands.

    The people of Ninevah “could not discern between their right hand and their left” (Jonah 4:11) – that is how God saw them and He pitied them, He wanted them to know of Him and His way so that He might be merciful to them.  There are people in your life, in your path, who don’t know God or His way, they can’t “discern between their right hand and their left” and you may be the one needed to tell them of God through kindly showing His love and exhibiting what it looks like to walk in His ways – you may be their Jonah!

    We get angry when we hear that there are people who have the cure for cancer but withhold it as we watch our loved ones die from that horrible disease, but we have something greater than the cure of cancer – we have access to life in Jesus and hope of eternal life – yet we withhold knowledge of it to those who are dying all around us in sin!

    Let’s pray for a heart that feels pity and concern for those who have forgotten God and His way, for those who do not know of God or His way. Let us love as God loves, who “is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

    Search your heart today. Determine to pursue love and to humbly show others how to live for God! Generously share the joy of the Lord with everyone around you - be the Jonah who tells them of a better way!

You can do it! So can I!!

Pursue Love With All Your Heart, Soul, and Mind

“Jesus said to them, “You shall love the Lord 

your God with all your heart, with all your soul, 

and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37 NKJV)

    This command is recorded seven times in the Bible: Deuteronomy 6:5, 10:12-13, 13:3, 30:6, Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:29-30, and Luke 10:27.

    At first glance we can see that this command was emphasized (mentioned FOUR times!) to the children Israel before they entered the promised land of Canaan and then referenced by Jesus in three of the four books of the gospel, but upon further investigation I found that there is something to learn from each mention:

    In the first recording of this command in Deuteronomy 6:5 we find with instruction to keep this command in our heart and teach them to our children, speak of them freely during our daily activities, and write them on your doorposts and gates.

    The next recording in Deuteronomy 10:12-13, states that the Lord requires it and that is for your good.

    Looking at the surrounding context of the third mention of this command in Deuteronomy 13:2-4, we find that in obeying this command, you prove to God your allegiance and dedication to faithfulness. He wants you to choose serving Him over all else. He does not want you to be led astray by men’s words but to walk after Him, fear Him, serve Him, and hold fast to Him.

    In the fourth mention of this command in Deuteronomy 30:6 we find that God will circumcise the heart (see Jeremiah 32:39) to love Him completely – to what purpose? “…that you may live.”

    When Jesus recalls this same command to the Pharisees in Matthew 22:34-40, we learn that loving the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind is “the first and great commandment.” On this command (and the second, “Love your neighbour as yourself”) hang all the Law and the Prophets. Everything given as command in the Law and all that was uttered by God’s mouthpieces, the prophets, is based on, and leads everyone back to, this command – the very foundation of righteousness, faith, and hope – to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength!

    In Mark’s writing, we learn that “there is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28-30) and in Luke’s writing we read the declaration from Jesus, Himself, “do this and you will live” (Luke 10:27-28).    

    Are you obeying the first and great command? The command that the Lord requires, the command that is for your good, the command that you are to know and live so well that you can speak easily of it and teach your children (or other people in your life) to follow your example in obeying it? The command that benefits you AND others as you obey it? The command that proves your allegiance to God and His way? Are you ready to diligently pursue this selfless love?

    Jesus said, “do this and live.” You can have life in His name (see John 20:31 and 1 John 5:11-13)! Love God with ALL your heart, ALL your soul, ALL your mind – give Him your ALL! It is worth every effort and every sacrifice to obey this first and great commandment!!

You can do it! So can I!!