Love One Another
Romans 13:8-10 ESV
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
It is our duty, our
obligation, as followers of Jesus Christ, to love one another with God’s love.
This love is not like human love, though, for it is not based on feelings, and
it has nothing to do with whether or not the ones we are to love are deserving
of that love, in our human estimation. It has everything to do with the fact,
though, that God so loved us that he gave his life up for us so that we could
be saved from our sins and have eternal life with him. Thus, we should love
others with that same kind of love.
This kind of love is also not
based in human flesh. It is divine love. It prefers what God prefers, which is
what is pure, honest, righteous, holy, moral, kind, generous, and selfless,
etc. So, when we love with this kind of love, we will not take advantage of
others, nor will we willfully do what we know is going to harm them. Thus, we
will not steal from them, slander them, lie to them, commit adultery with or
against them, or be hateful towards them, etc. We will not despitefully use
them to our own advantage, either. And, we will not trick them, play mind games
with them, or deceive them in any way.
When we love with this kind
of love, we love our enemies, as well as our friends. We pray for them, do good
to them, and want the best for them. We treat others as well as we treat ourselves,
providing we are treating ourselves in the right way, though. We put other’s
needs above our own, and we will willingly give up our own rights and
reputations to see others be free from their addictions to sin, too. For, we
truly care more about others’ true needs than we do about whether people will
like us or not.
The Bible says, too, that we
are to love one another as Jesus loved us. Well, he left his throne in heaven,
he came to earth, was born as a baby, took on human flesh, and suffered and was
tempted as we are, yet without sin. He preached the good news of salvation from
sin to the religious and to those who never trusted in the Lord to save them
from their sins, even though he was hated and reviled in return, and even put
to death. He brought comfort to the sorrowful, healed the sick and afflicted,
and he gave his very life for us on that cross so we can be free from our sin
addictions.
If we love others with this love, how should that
change…?
So, if we love others with
this kind of love, how should that change how we treat them? Or, how we view
them? Or, how we talk about them when they are not present? This kind of love
is selfless, and it thinks about what the other person truly needs above its
own needs, and it willingly gives up its own rights and reputation to see
others go free from sin and to walk in the light of God’s love, in his
righteousness and in his holiness. And, it cares about others’ needs, and
listens to people, and prays for them, and comforts them and speaks healing to
them, but not lies, but truth only.
And, we will obey God and his
Word, for in this we also show that we love his children, and this is also how
we show that we love God. Thus, we will never tempt others to sin against God,
nor will we lead them into sin. We will also not rejoice with them or over them
when they do fall into sin, but we will weep over them, and have sorrow in our
hearts, and we will do all we can to lift them back up and to help them back on
to the right path, on the straight and narrow. And, we will not allow ourselves
to be pulled down with them, either, but we will stand strong in our faith,
even if they reject us.
Also, when we love others
with God’s love, we will be patient with them, not in the sense of being
accepting of sin, though, or not in the sense of ignoring sin, either. But,
love does not give up on people, but it always holds out hope that our loved ones
will turn their hearts to the Lord in submission to his will for their lives.
And, it is kind, but not in the way some people interpret kind, for it is never
kind to tell people lies. Jesus was kind, but he always told people the truth
about their sins and of their need to repent and to trust him to be their Lord
and Savior.
We also will not be jealous
of what they have that we don’t have to where we are resentful and bitter
towards them. We also will be humble toward them and not let our pride stand in
the way of us loving them. And, thus, we will listen to them and consider what
they say, and we will be thoughtful to show that we did listen, and we do care,
and that their lives are important to us as well as are their true needs. Thus,
we will not insist on our own way, unless, of course, it is God’s way, i.e. the
way of salvation.
This love does not compromise
with the world or compromise truth to be loving, for that is not love. It is
selfishness, because we want others to be happy with us, more than we want them
to be in relationship with Christ.
Wake from Slumber
Romans 13:11-14 ESV
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
While it is true that the
ungodly in this world are spiritually asleep, whereas the godly are spiritually
awake, it is possible for the church, at some point in time, to be lulled to
sleep by feel good messages which coddle people in their sins, and by the
worldliness in the church, resulting in many compromises with the world and
spiritual apathy. It is also possible, too, within the gatherings of the
church, that there are many ungodly people who think they are godly, but who
have bought into a false faith and a false hope of salvation based on a lie.
So, truly they, too, are spiritually asleep.
So, this is a call to the
church which has been lulled to sleep to wake up. This is a call to forsake their
idols, their sins, their apathy and their worldliness, and to humble themselves
before God in repentance and to follow the Lord from this moment on in purity,
righteousness and holiness. For, our salvation is nearer to us than when we
first believed. In other words, we are saved, we are being saved, but our
salvation will not be complete until our Lord returns one day to take us to be
with him forever.
So, what is this saying
exactly? It is saying that, as Christ’s followers, we should no longer be
living the way we did before we believed in Jesus, for Jesus set us free from
slavery to sin, and he has empowered us to walk in his righteousness and
holiness. There is never an excuse for any Christian to ever still be walking
(living) in sin, making it our practice. In fact, all throughout the New
Testament the church is warned that if they walk according to the flesh, and if
they make sin their practice, that they will die in their sins, not have the
hope of eternal life with God in heaven.
For, you see, faith is not a
one-time deal, then we live our lives, and one day we go to heaven when we die.
Faith is continuous. We have to walk according to the Spirit, and by the Spirit
be putting sin to death, if we want to have eternal life with God. And, that is
what this is talking about here. It is saying that time is running out, and our
Lord will come back one day, and that he will judge us, and we won’t be
accepted merely because we one day prayed a prayer to receive Christ. He will
judge us by our walks of faith, not by our professions of faith. We must endure
with him to the end if we want the assurance and hope of eternal life with him
and heaven as our home.
So, it is imperative that we forsake our…
So, it is imperative that we
forsake our idols, our sins, sinful addictions and practices, all that is
unholy, ungodly, impure and unrighteous. This means we need to purify ourselves
as God is pure, and that we need to be holy as he is holy. We obviously can’t
do this in our flesh, but this is of the Spirit, but we have to cooperate with
the Spirit’s work via yielding to the Lordship of Christ, surrendering to his
will for our lives, and walking in obedience to his instructions to us.
This forsaking of sins and
idols also includes all that we willfully take into our eyes, ears and minds
every day. We need to examine all TV shows, news shows, music, games, movies,
and all recreation and entertainment and everything we see, hear or read before
the Lord in prayer, and against his Word. And, we need to see if it is ungodly,
unholy, immoral, impure, etc., and if it is, we need to get rid of it, for as
the saying goes, “Garbage in, garbage out.” What we take into our minds we take
into our hearts and then from our hearts flows all sorts of evil, if what we
are taking in is evil, or even if it represents small compromises with the
world and with the ungodly.
We need to find our lives in
Jesus Christ alone, in other words. We need to bathe our minds and hearts with
his word, and then we need to follow his truth, his ways, and his will.
Only in Him
An Original Work / February
19, 2014
Based off Isaiah 30
Woe to those who look to
man’s help;
Who turn away from Jesus
Christ;
Forming an alliance not in
step with God;
Making their own plans, and praying
not.
Willing not to listen to
truth,
They close their ears to what
is right.
Pleasing words are all that
they’ll hear;
Feel good messages that bring
cheer.
Trust in your Lord; turn from
your sin.
Put your faith now ONLY IN
HIM.
Do not turn to idols. They’ll
not satisfy.
Jesus will save you. That’s
why He died.
Your Lord will be gracious to
you.
He cares all about you, ‘tis
true.
He forgives you all of your
sin
When you give your life up to
Him.
Oh, how truly gracious He’ll
be
When you bow to Him on your
knees;
Turning now from your sin;
walking in his ways.
He’ll lead and guide you all
of your days.
Now you will sing praises to
Him.
He delivered you from your
sin.
You’ll tell others now of His
grace,
So they may see Christ
face-to-face.
Sunday, April 15, 2018, 7:49
a.m. – Thank you, Jesus!
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