EXPOUND" OUR LOVE FOR GOD IS SEEN IN HOW WE LOVE OTHERS AND OURSELVES.
pa help po please
Share
EXPOUND" OUR LOVE FOR GOD IS SEEN IN HOW WE LOVE OTHERS AND OURSELVES.
pa help po please
Sign Up to our social questions and Answers Engine to ask questions, answer people’s questions, and connect with other people.
Login to our social questions & Answers Engine to ask questions answer people’s questions & connect with other people.
Answer:
It’s not always easy to love others, yet we are commanded to do so. Thankfully, God’s great love in us empowers us to do what is impossible – to love as Jesus did, giving His all to the frail, the weak, and those hard to love.
To love others is commanded.
This is one of those no-grey areas. Matthew 22:39 tells us that the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbour as ourselves. It’s not a suggestion or a preference. It’s a commandment, second only to loving God with all we are and have. Jesus doesn’t say ‘like’ your neighbour. Whether we like them – or even whether they’re likeable – is irrelevant. We are commanded to love them to the extent to which we love ourselves. The word neighbour also isn’t limited to the people next door, our family, or our friends or work colleagues. It essentially means ‘the one next to’ us, so it includes anyone and everyone we may come into contact with. To love others means to have no exceptions. Our love for others is a manifestation of God’s love. That extended to the whole world, not some He ‘liked’ or who would choose Him.
These two ‘greatest’ commandments are inseparably linked. We cannot claim to love God and not love others. 1 John 4:20 effectively silences any argument to the contrary. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And before we get hung up on the possible distinctions between ‘neighbour’ and ‘brother,’ Matthew 25:40 puts it very clearly. And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ We must remember that Jesus identified totally and completely with every single person in the entire history of mankind – past and future – on the cross. To love others is to love all others.
To love others is to reveal God’s love.
It is both an awesome privilege and a sobering responsibility to love others. Many who refuse salvation or who have left the church justify their choice on the hypocrisy of Christians. While the Bible teaches us never to compromise on the truth of God’s Word, we are taught to ‘hate the sin and love the sinner’ at all times. The apostles, in the book of Acts, set a clear of example of what the body of Christ should be – a place where needs are met, both spiritual and otherwise. Sadly, when the unsaved look and see how the church treats her own, there is little impetus to seek salvation. There is little evidence of the unreserved and merciful love of God or the grace He gave so freely. We are quick to quote ‘God so loved the world’ but very slow to reveal it in real terms.
God’s love in us is our way to love others.
It comes down to the immeasurable grace of God. Jesus prayed that His disciples would know the full measure of the love of God. He knew we needed it for our own sakes but also to empower us do what is impossible in our human nature – to truly love others. The magnitude – the length, depth, breadth, and height – of the love of God is immeasurable. It is too much for any human being to hold. His love cannot be contained and must spill over to those around us. Let’s learn from Scripture and seek first to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. When we do, His love is manifest in us and loving others will be joy rather than struggle. His love has the power to pour out despite our weaknesses. He will empower our weak hands and feeble knees so we can help others.
Explanation:
hope this helps