How do we love?

So how do we show love for others if love is so important?

We all know John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  However I think we sometimes conveniently forget 1 John 3:16.  “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”

Love is by nature self-sacrificing.  Laying down your life is not about dying for someone else, it is about living for them.  Laying down your life means letting go of the throttle hold that we have on our own rights, our own interests, our own wants, and choosing to lay that down, and take up the interests of someone else.

It is not about thinking less of ourselves, but thinking of ourselves less.

If we love, then the other Fruit of the Spirit will come naturally.  If we don’t know how to love, then we need to focus on the other Fruit, and love will come naturally.

• If we are kind, we show love.
• If we are patient, we show love.
• If we are good, we show love.
• If we are gentle, we show our love.
• If we are self-controlled, we can show love.

(You see where I am going with this?)

Love is not a feeling, it is an act of our will.  The only way to show love is to do something loving.

 

Growing Love

How do God and the Holy Spirit help us to grow fruit in our lives?  By putting us in situations where we are tempted to act in the opposite way.

So how does he grow love in our lives?  By putting unlovely people around us.  It is easy to love just those people who love you back, or to love only those people who are lovable. 

Loving a cute puppy is easy, but can you love an ugly stray?
Loving your family is easy, but can you love the person who annoys you most at work?
Loving orphans is easy, but can you love beggars on the street?

It is not always easy, but that is how we know it is of God.  That pain we feel is God stretching us, and teaching us to leave behind all unloving behaviour and attitudes.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
(1 John 4:8)

Who should you be loving today that you find hard to love? 
How should you be showing love today that will hurt or stretch you?

Love is…

 

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8)

It does not say that God loves, or God is loving. It says that God IS LOVE.  It is his nature, one of his key attributes.

We spoke the other day about the Fruit of the Spirit being our attempt to take on the nature/attributes of God.  Well, this one seems to be the biggie.

 

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
(1 Corinthians 13:1-7)

 

I read somewhere that a useful (and scary) test is to try and replace the word “love” with your own name, and see how you make out.

• Sharkbait is patient.
• Sharkbait is kind.
• Sharkbait does not envy.
• Sharkbait does not boast.
• Sharkbait is proud.
• Sharkbait is not rude.
• Sharkbait is not self-seeking.
• Sharkbait is not easily angered.
• Sharkbait does not keep a record of wrongs.
• Sharkbait does not delight in evil.
• Sharkbait rejoices in the truth.
• Sharkbait always protects.
• Sharkbait always trusts.
• Sharkbait always hopes.
• Sharkbait perseveres.

 

So, how well did you do?

Day Three : Purity

Blessed are the pure in heart,for they will see God. (Matthew 5:8)

So let's just get this one out of the way. Purity is a tough one, but from the verse above we know it is something we need to strive for. So today, we seek a desire to be clean, a spirit of

PURITY

This entire time of lent is about striving for purity. I think the operative word here is striving. We will fail.

Yes, I said will fail.

Haven't you heard? If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8) and all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

So what hope do we hope. Well, the good news or us is that it is not about reaching the prize. It is about reaching for the prize.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-15)

Paul reminds us to keep looking forward, to 'forget what is behind' (our sinful nature) and strain for what is ahead. We cannot be clean by our own effort, but thankfully we don't have to be.

Haven't you heard? If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-9) and all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23-24)

We can never purify ourselves. Or achieve purity in our own strength. Luckily we don't have to, all we have to do is accept his redemption, confess our sins, and strive onwards.

So what is our challenge for today? How do we seek purity

How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. (Psalm 119:9-10)

By reading His word, and taking it to heart.