THE ULTIMATE TEST OF OUR LOVE
We can talk all we want about love but the scriptures will give us some insight into how much we love our God and Savior and the Holy Spirit. After examining and thinking deeply on the scriptures below we should find our love seriously inadequate to meet the claims we make about our love for God and man, and rightly so. Let's begin with the words of the apostle John which alone would quiet most, if not all of us.
1 John 3:17 KJV - "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?"
I want to go further than this verse does because not only can we meet the needs of this life but we also can share the needs of the life to come. Let me clarify that. If anyone has the words of eternal life, the gospel, and sees someone who needs Christ as Savior and shuts up their bowels of compassion to the point of not sharing it with others, how can the love of God be in him? How can that person say he loves his neighbor?
Do we refuse to share our faith with others knowing that the end of the unsaved is eternity in a lake of fire that is irreversible? We must forget about what people might think of me or you. Imagine appearing before the throne of God on the day of judgment and hearing one of the people we knew in our sphere of life who needed Jesus accuse us before the throne of God of not telling them. Christians, we need to begin to live with eternity in view. We are far too enmeshed in this world and we are in need of personal revival in order to refocus as to what our priorities are. We cannot ignore the cries rising daily to the throne of God begging for someone to come and help them find salvation. People are tired of church as church is and want to hear from someone who has heard from God and brings God's word under the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit.
John 14:15 KJV - "If ye love me, keep my commandments." What commandments we might ask? I will only give one that deals with love that should put all of us to shame.
THESE ARE THE WORDS OF JESUS!
Let's look at Matthew 5:44 KJV - “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."
This verse sounds impossible to the natural human mind, and even sounds very difficult if not impossible to the average Christian of any generation, and yet it is a command from our Savior; not a suggestion. When we go to work, out in the public arena to shop or do other things or appear in church next to someone we have issues with we are told to love them and there are no conditions attached. We are to love them unreservedly. Can we honestly state that we are obeying this all the time or even part of the time. What if you were in a country where Christians are persecuted, tortured and killed? How would we respond. Could we be like Stephen who prayed, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge" or like our Savior Jesus who prayed, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."
These may be hypothetical questions at present, but we don't know what any day may bring forth. If everyone is honest with God and themselves we must confess that we are not able to obey even this one command, and Jesus has given us many more to consider.
So we see here one statement concerning seeing and meeting need and another concerning obedience to the commands of our Lord and Savior. In both cases, honest Christians must confess to being inadequate and might think again before stating that they love the Lord and their fellow man as God has commanded. See also Romans 12:14 “Bless them which persecute you, bless and curse not.”
Other scriptures come to my mind which, in my personal opinion, don't need commented on because their meaning is so plain and clear and unmistakable.
Mark 12:30-31 KJV - "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." We should all prayerfully consider this!
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TWO EXAMPLES THAT WOULD PUT ALL OF US TO SILENCE.
Exodus 32:30-32 KJV -- MOSES SPEAKING
And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. Is this speaking about the Book of Life in Revelation 20? What happens to people whose names are not in that book? Revelation 20:15
Romans 9:1-3 KJV -- THE APOSTLE SPEAKING
"I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh."
Which of us could say to God "Blot me out of they book or I would be accursed for the sake of others?" What depth of love could cause these two men to cry out such words to God and mean them with all their heart? They would sacrifice themselves and face the wrath of God for the sake of those they loved.
I am convinced that Christians at their very best efforts to love would be hard pressed to pray these prayers no matter what generation we live in. So, in essence, we must admit that we fall far short of the love we profess for God or man, and yet God will help us grow and increase in this wonderful love that dies totally to self for the sake of others and for the glory of God if we are willing to be taught such amazing love.
Agape love; we can say the words and not know the full extent of them. May God grant us to love as he would have us love both now and forever - AMEN!
C R Lord © 9/13/2023
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