Because I Love Him

But what is amazing about love, is this:

• A young boy at a certain age despises young girls

• He frowns like he swallowed a dose of castor oil when the teacher makes him sit next to a girl

• But at a certain age, something very mysterious begins to happen to him. That same boy that despised sitting beside a girl, now wants to sit beside her every time he gets a chance.

WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?

We say the “love bug” bit him. This is the only way we know to explain his odd behavior. But notice this:

• Without ever being in love before

• Without ever taking a course in class

• Without ever reading a book on love

All of a sudden they become experts on love!

Now I am being facetious, because they may THINK they know all about love, but in actuality they know very little about it.

WHY DO WE SAY THAT?

Illus: A young man might meet a young girl named Susie, and immediately he feels that he cannot go through life without her. The very next week when you see him, you ask him how his girlfriend Susie is doing. And he might tell you that he has had three other girlfriends since then.

Yet a few weeks ago he was madly in love with Susie!

There is something seriously wrong with the dating system in this country. We wonder why there are so many divorces in this country, and it could be related to how young folks go about selecting a companion.

HOW DO THEY GO ABOUT SEEKING A MATE?

A young man seeks for a mate the same way that a young man seeks for his first new car. That is, when a young man reaches that certain age and begins to look for a car, he goes to a car lot and looks the many cars over, and he finds the one he likes. After he looks them all over and he decides that this is the one he wants, then he just has to have that car.

But he knows that he is only going to keep that car for so many years. He knows, as excited as he is now, there will be a time when the newness will wear off, and he will come across another one that is shinier, and that has a lot more to offer. When that time comes, he knows he will swap his old car in for on a new one.

This is the kind of love today that many practice when they get married. It is as if they enter the marriage with the idea that this one will do for the present, but as soon as I can find another one I like better, I will swap this one off.

And if you ask these people if they know anything about love, they would give you that little grin like, “Yes, I know a great deal about LOVE!” BUT THEY DO NOT!

Illus: You can ask the average man on the street if he loves the Lord, and he will look at you like you fell off the back of a turnip truck, and say, “Of course, I love the Lord. Everybody loves the Lord!”

No, everyone might say they love the Lord, but according to the scriptures everyone does not love the Lord.

The Lord said love for Him can be summarized in one way. Look at John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

Notice, he starts this off with little conjunction, “If” ye love me. When it comes to loving the Lord, there is a big “If” in the front of some people who claim to love the Lord.

In other words, He is saying:

• Do not go around telling people that you love the Lord when you are not willing to obey Him, because the fact is, you do NOT LOVE THE LORD

• Do not get on your knees and pray, and tell God that you love Him, unless you are willing to obey Him

The PROOF OF OUR LOVE is that we obey Him.

What are some of the areas of our life that will be affected by obedience to his commandments? If I really love the Lord Jesus-

I. THERE WILL BE A CONVERSION

Our relationship with the Lord starts off with a love gift – we give Him our LIFE at conversion.

We did not always love Him enough to do this, but something very mysterious happened at CONVERSION and we started loving Him, and we came to realize that life without Him is not worth living. We gave Him our HEART and our LIFE!

When you find a person who loves to give, you will find a person who knows something about love.