LET GOD’S LOVE REIGN IN YOUR LIFE
With the dawning of the Christian era, the mystery of history was solved. No longer did believers in the LORD God wonder why we are here and whether there will be a hereafter.
Jesus Son of God solved that mystery by His birth like no other . . . life like no other . . . death like no other . . . resurrection like no other . . . ascension like no other.
History (His Story) was/is the working out of the will of God our Creator until, as Paul put it, “the gathering together of all things in Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1). The goal of history, therefore, is unity in Jesus Christ! From the beginning to the end of our own story, Christians are involved in His Story. And Love has been, is, and always must be the theme of that amazing story!
“For”, the Bible says, “God is love . . . so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son . . .” And Jesus said. “The Father loves me because I lay down my life . . . As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now, abide in my love.”
Obviously the goal of the Christian life is to abide in our Lord’s love! How is it possible? Granted: God is love . . . “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so” . . . The thirteenth chapter of I Corinthians tells us what love is. “But I’m not God . . . Jesus . . . perfect! How can I be expected to love like that?”
Jesus was aware of that seemingly insurmountable challenge which would be faced by His chosen ones, so He painted a word picture prior to, leading up to, His command that we abide in His love – John 15:1-10 . . .
As He so often did, Jesus here referenced something which was a part of the religious heritage of the Jews. Over and over again in the Old Testament the nation of Israel is pictured as the vine or the vineyard – familiar sights everywhere in Palestine!
But now Jesus calls Himself the true vine . . . You thought all you had to do was to be born a Jew and thereby you would inherit the kingdom of God. However, your vine has withered, been corrupted, gone to waste. So, my Father planted me in your vineyard so that you can connect to me and become branches of the real vine – one that is everlasting – IF I (Jesus) abide in you and you abide in me.”
As mystical as this sounds, folks, it is so easily understood if we put our minds to it with yet another analogy with which we can identify:
Suppose a person is weak, falls into temptation, begins to spiral downward spiritually. Then he is befriended by a person of Christian character whose influence becomes evident, so that when he is in the company of (hanging out with) that spiritual-minded person, he finds himself becoming more and more like his friend and he begins to “straighten up and fly right”.
As long as he is in the presence of his friend, he is okay, but if the two of them part company for a period of time, that old tendency to sin rears its ugly head and tries to bring him down again. What is the solution to his problem? Spend as much time as he can with friends whose loveliness of character and propensity to do right rubs off on him! Obvious!
What is Jesus saying to us? Stay connected to Me, the true vine. Maintain constant contact with me - the source of spiritual life, the epitome of true love. “Hang out” with me, a friend like no other. What’re you doing? Hanging out with Jesus!
Choose to be in company with Me until you soak up my nature . . . become a product of my nurture, then choose to share the joy of being loved . . . Love is a choice! Choose love in your relationships – John 15:11-14 . . .
“Love” in the Bible is a complex word. There are several variations of it – and they don’t all mean the same thing. To say “I love you” can be an expression of friendship . . . the parting of ways . . . sympathy . . . intimate relationship.
In couples counseling we have identified “love languages” - which differ from one relationship to another, and even between two people who say they love each other. “Why did you two get married?” Inevitably comes the answer, “because we loved each other” - most often with the emphasis on the past tense.
If you truly loved each other, you still love each other. Now let’s talk about the way(s) with which each of you would like the other to express his or her love - words of affirmation . . . spending meaningful moments together . . . acts of service . . . gifts of appreciation . . . physical touch. Once you identify your loved one’s preferred “love language(s)”, speak that language – or - speak a combination of languages!
Jesus talked about the importance of “being loved” plus “communicating love” in word and in deed - in response to felt need. Love is something you say and do! If I love Jesus, I say so and I show so. Therefore, what I tell folks is: True love says “I care about you. I want what’s best for you. God does too!”
If love reigns in one’s life, what one says is “I care about you so much that I will, to the best of ability, do what I need to do, whenever I need to do it, for as long as I need to do it so that together we may help each other become the persons God would have us to be – and - do what God would have us to do. So help me God!”
Isn’t this what God did for us through Jesus Christ our Lord? He chose us for salvation . . . consecration . . . demonstration of the marvelous manifestations of His grace by receiving His love for us . . . responding to His love personally . . . sharing the joy of His love with others - the latter expression of love being the act of love that makes our joy as complete as it could be!
Receive the gift of love God sent to us . . . love others as God loved us . . . share the joy of love no matter the cost of sharing that love . . . experience real joy, wonderful joy in this life; do this; and, in the life to come, your appreciation of that much-anticipated reward of entering into the joy of your Lord will be experienced in proportion to your practice of love in this life. Where love reigns, God reigns!
During Oliver Cromwell’s reign as Lord Protector of England way back in the 1600s, a young soldier was sentenced to die. The girl to whom he was engaged pleaded with Cromwell to spare the life of her beloved - but to no avail.
The young man was to be executed when the curfew bell sounded, but when the sexton repeatedly pulled the rope, the bell made no sound. The young girl had climbed into the belfry and wrapped herself around the clapper so that it could not strike the bell. Her body was smashed and torn, but she did not let go until the clapper stopped swinging. She managed to get herself down from the belfry, bruised and bleeding, to meet those awaiting the execution. When she told what she had done, Cromwell commuted the sentence!
A poet beautifully retold the story in these words:
At his feet she told her story,
Showed her hands all bruised and torn,
and her sweet young face still haggard
with the anguish it had worn.
Touched his heart with sudden pity,
Lit his eyes with misty light.
“Go, your lover lives,” said Cromwell;
“Curfew will not ring tonight.”
True love. Real love. Agape. Call it what you will, but Jesus love sacrifices for others. He set the cost of His kind of love high in that He laid down His life for His friends. What a friend we have in Jesus!
For most, laying down one’s life does not happen in one great act of service or sacrifice. More often than not, loving others demands countless hours and even moments that add up to hours that add up to days that add up to weeks that add up to months that add up to years!
Countless moments of small sacrifices - laying down position or status, setting aside pay raises because they would require longer hours or a move to another location, giving up pleasures, foregoing a night’s rest, doing whatever needs to be done, whenever it needs to be done, for as long as it needs to be done; all of our acts of service and sacrifice constitute the Christian’s calling: to lay down one’s life one moment at a time! Amen.
