What Is Love
Scripture Reference I John 4:7-12 (KJV)
I John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
INTRODUCTION
Since the bible declares and I believe that God is a Spirit (John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.) It is difficult to imagine what a definite picture of Him would look like.
However since the bible also declares that God is love (verse 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.) then it is safe to say that we see a clear picture of Him when we love one anther.
God looks, feels, taste, smells and sounds like love
So when we go out of our way to spread love we are showing the world just how good God really is
MAIN BODY
When we look at the word love it carries different meanings to different people. For instance, some view love as something that should be given freely while others view it as something that should be shared in only the most intimate and discriminate way.
When God introduced the word love in the bible he was talking to Abram about offering his son who Abram loved dearly:
God tests us by seeing if we are willing to offer the thing that we love the most for his glory (Genesis 22:1,2 1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.)
God wanted to be sure that Abram was willing to give anything to Him.
Are we able to be used like this by God right now?
Can He have need of the one thing that we truly love and expect us to give it to Him no matter how much we love it?
Are we placing the love of the thing, person or place in our lives over the love of God?
We must always remember that we serve a jealous God one who makes no secret that He wants to be first in our lives all by himself. It’s the first of the ten commandments (Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.)
God also tells us that we should always seek him first (Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.)
So really when we want to get anything that we declare that we love then we should try to amplify God in our lives and watch and see if the thing that we seek gets closer to us
As we look at our scripture for today it is extremely specific about joining the word love and God together. In fact John writes in (verse 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.) that a person that does not love does not know God
In other words without love you can not have an intimate relationship with God
There are so many talented and gifted artist who have provided us with so many beautiful pictures that give us so much of an image of what God should look like but John writes that (verse 12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.)
I am sure that if you are anything like me then there are times that it is hard to even like the people that we are supposed to love
There are times that I have a hard time even speaking to my wife and the bible has ordered me to love her
It is during these times that I get a better revelation of what the love of God is really like
It is during these times that I realize how God must feel when He continues to love me in spite of my sins
It is during these times that I realize that that it must be difficult for God to continue to bless me even though He has already blessed me tremendously and I have not fully used what He has already given me. Yet I still desire to ask for Him to bless me even more.
When I think of the love of God and all that he has done for me my soul gets excited
I thank God for His love that he has placed in my life and my prayer is that He continue to love me as I continue to spread the love of God to everyone around me
CONCLUSION
In conclusion we should always be willing and ready to try love before we go off into tearing stuff up.
We may not feel like showing love sometimes but I can assure that love is the only answer when dealing with loved ones
I Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
Finally, I would like to close this sermon with an email sent to me recently by a friend expresses their thoughts on love;
Suppose one morning you never wake up, do all your friends know you love them?
I was thinking...
I could die today, tomorrow or next week, and I wondered if I had any wounds needing to be healed, friendships that needed rekindling or three words needing to be said.
Let every one of your friends know you love them.
Even if you think they don’t love you back, you would be amazed at what those three little words and a
smile can do.
And just in case God calls me home, I LOVE YA!!!
Let’s Pray:
Dear God, I thank you for all that you are doing in my life right now. I truly appreciate this new opportunity that you have afforded me to refocus on your desire for me to love my brethren. I am determined not to let you down by failing to show the love of God to my brethren. I am now ready more than ever to show the love of God in my life right now. This is my prayer, in the mighty name of Jesus.
Thank You. May God continue to bless you and keep you. Amen
Your Friend
Minister Juan D. Lane Sr.
