WEEKLY
DEVOTIONS
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more devotionals!! "THEY
LOVE ME--THEY LOVE ME NOT" "Beloved, let us love
one another; for love is of God; and every one that
loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth
not knoweth not God; for God is love." Mother Teresa once said, "It's not how much you do, but how much love you put into what you do that counts." Every year, around this time, the nation turns its attention to the subject of "love." From the youngest to the oldest, everyone expresses their feelings for one another. Some use candy and flowers to show their love...others give Valentine's cards and jewelry. However you celebrate the "season of love," I hope you remember the source of this love. If it wasn't for God, we could never experience this exciting, exhilirating, wonderful feeling called love! Think about it...before the church was ever born, before anyone ever read from the Holy Scrolls, before the first house was ever built--God created love. The place was the Garden of Eden...the man's name was Adam. God saw that he was lonely so He caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. He then took a rib from his side and created a wife for him. When Adam awoke, his eyes beheld the most beautiful creature he had ever seen! In that moment, he fell head over heels in love! Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh." He named her Eve...and people have been falling in love ever since! But something is happening in our country that is hard to explain. People are doing things now in the name of Love that really has nothing to do with it! Several years ago, Susan Smith strapped her two little boys into the backseat of her station wagon and sent it rolling into the river while she stood on the bank and watched it sink into the mirky depths. Her two sons drowned. Why did she do it? She said because she loved them. A couple of years ago, Monica Lewinsky carried on an affair with the President of the United States--a married man. An affair that has ripped his family apart, split the Senate, and torn this country right down the middle! Why? She says because she loved him. Church members can't get along with each other and seem more interested in finding out who's right and wrong than trying to agree. Why? We say we love God...but in the words of the old song: What's love got to do with it?! In Matthew 24:10 & 12, Jesus said that just before He returns that, "many will be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." We are certainly seeing this prophecy being fulfilled right before our eyes! Who knows what true love really is anymore?! Who's to blame for this sudden decline in morals that has gripped our nation? Well, let's begin at the source: God. John 15:13 says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." That's a pretty high definition of love, isn't it? But who would know more about love than the One who created it, right?! In John 3:16 we read, "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." God became flesh and dwelt among us...He became human. He faced every kind of temptation and yet, He didn't sin. And then, He went to the cross of Calvary, took our sin and shame upon himself, and died in our place so we could live forever! In other words, God loves you so much...He would rather die than live without you!! Now, that's love...in its purest form!! So we can't blame God for the moral decay of our society. Next, let's take a look at the one who represents God in this world: the church, also known as the Body of Christ. Jesus told his disciples in John 13: 34,35, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." There are two things I want you to notice in these verses: 1) We are to love each other the same way Jesus loves us! Let me ask you a question: Can you think of one person in your church that you would die for? You see, Jesus died for our sins because he loved us...and he expects us to love each other the same way. We should love everyone in our church body enough that we would die for them...and not only the ones in our congregation, but also those in other churches and denominations! You see, we are all part of the Body of Christ and if anyone says he loves God and hates his brother--he is a liar and he will not make it to Heaven with that sin in his life! The Holy Spirit is speaking to you right now, showing you people that you need to forgive and to love. Don't quench the Spirit by turning a deaf ear to what He's saying to you! The second thing Jesus said was, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." In other words, He commanded his disciples to be role models for the rest of the world and show them what love is really about! So the reason our society is sliding into the pit of despair is because of a lack of loving role models! The church is supposed to show the world how much God loves them...but all that the world is seeing is a sorry bunch of unloving role models fighting one another! We are a far cry from where the church first started! The early church was born out of Heavenly power on the day of Pentecost and the members were so full of love that they voluntarily sold their possessions and gave them to the poor! There's something else that we have lost sight of...it's found in John 3:17, "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." There is only one person who has every right to condemn the sin in this world and that is Jesus! But instead of condemning the world, he came to save it! Now that's love! Love does not condemn...but rather, love covers a multitude of sins and perfect love casts out fear! Let me ask you a question: How many people have you led to the Lord by condemning them and making them feel like dirt? Now, how people have you led to the Lord by loving them and showing them God's love through you? See the difference?! Now, don't get me wrong...as ministers of the Gospel, we are called to stand up against sin --not the sinner! Condemn sin, but love the sinner. However, the problem is: if we can't love each other and we are so far from understanding God's love...how are we going to show it to a lost and dying world?! No wonder the first fruit of the Spirit is love...because without it, you have nothing. And you can't give somebody something that you don't have! How soon we have forgotten the words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:1, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as an instrument that is out of tune and useless." I don't care how much you speak in tongues and shout...until you learn to love and forgive-- God can't use you!! It is time to stop having lifeguard meetings while people are drowning in their sin! We need to be willing to turn pulpits into fishing boats, our automobiles into ambulances, our homes into shelters, our bodies into the temples of the Holy Spirit, and our churches into hospitals where the souls of men, women, and children can be healed by the grace of God! When we do that, we'll begin to be the church, and the loving role models, that God intended us to be! A Hindu manufacturer once told Evangelist Stanley Jones why he had come to one of his meetings. He said, "years ago when I was a boy, we heckled a missionary preaching in the bazaar and threw tomatoes at him. He wiped off the tomato juice from his face and then, after the meeting, took us to the candy shop and bought us some candy. I saw the love of Christ that day, and that's why I'm here today." Do you see what Jesus meant when he said, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, that ye have love one to another?" Not only does love bring about spiritual benefits but also physical benefits. A noted doctor has listed several emotions that produce disease in human beings. They are: fear, frustration, rage, resentment, hatred, envy, and jealousy. He says the only antidote that can save people from being destroyed by these powerful forces is love. You see, God wants us to love one another not just because he said so, but because he wants us to live healthy and productive lives! When we allow these other feelings to take root in our hearts they eat at us like a cancer until we are completely consumed by fear, anger, jealousy, and resentment. No wonder there is so much sickness in the Church! In Revelation chapter 2, Christ appears
to John the Revelator on the Isle of Patmos and delivers
this message to the church at Ephesus: "I
know your works, and your labour, and your patience, and
how you cannot bear them which are evil: and how you have
tried them which said they were apostles, and are not,
and have found them to be liars; and you have
forbearance, and patience, and have labored for my name's
sake and have not fainted." Now that
sounds like a church that God would be pleased with! But
instead, he says, "Nevertheless I have
somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first
love." In other words, this church had
labored for the Lord with patience and perseverence, they
avoided anything that was evil, and had exposed false
prophets in the church and cast them out....they had done
all of this but they had forgotten God! How could that
happen?! They had lost their love--therefore, they had
lost their God. Friend, if you are
unsure about where you stand in God's eyes, then I want
to invite you to pray this simple prayer right now:
Jesus, I'm afraid and unsure about my life. At times my
life doesn't make any sense and I'm searching for
answers. I believe that you have what I'm looking for. So
I'm going to trust you with my life, my future, and my
soul. I ask you to forgive me for the sins and mistakes
that I've made. I believe that you died on the cross for
me...that you took the shame and the blame for my
mistakes and failures upon yourself so that I wouldn't
have to pay the penalty for my sin. Thank you for giving
me eternal life! Now, give me peace concerning my future
and all that it holds. Amen.
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