Skip to main content

The Persuasion of Love

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another [1 John 4:10-11]
The inevitable outcome of experiencing the love of God in Jesus is that we  in turn live out this love with one another. The word “ought” is the verses above is not pointing us simply to an obligation to love. It is saying this love of Jesus we have received now compels us inside to love others.

Crucially this means that our love now must follow the template of God’s love for us because we who are in Jesus now know what love truly is!   I have previously spoken of my love for stencils which I use to help my daughter Abigail to learn how to draw better. She is learning to draw effortless from them! John is saying, you cannot  experience the love of Jesus and not be moved to extend the same to others. 

How should those who are persuade by Jesus love others? John says look at the love of God for you displayed through the death of Jesus on the cross for your sins. What do you see? You see God reaching out to you who doesn’t deserve it. Those who have experienced the love of God love those who don’t deserve it! Everyone has a person in their life who is difficult to love because of his or her attitude. As soon as I have mentioned it, the face has just flashed in your mind. Loving as God does means that we must start there.

When we look at the love of God, we see God loving us in a practical and costly way, not with empty talk. Jesus has died physically for our sins. We shouldn’t just say, “Brother, I am praying for your financial situation to improve, they change their diet for a week to spare cash so that they can give some money to help that brother in need”. When we are loving as God has loved us, rather than spending our spare time on social media or just watching Netflix we deliberately use some of our time to visit an elderly couple that can do with our fellowship.

When we think about all the different ways in which the love of God challenges our feel love, we may be tempted to say it is all impossible. But that misses the point of what John is saying to us: we must love because we are greatly loved and are being loved by God. The good news of these verses is not only that God has loved us and given us a new capacity to love, but also that we love out through Jesus. Jesus has plugged each follower of Jesus to the very loving life of God. This means we grow to love by surrendering our lives to Jesus.

We are already in loving union with God, but now we grow in our love for each other by surrendering more to Jesus! That is how we live through Him. And the key to surrendering more to Jesus is to keep our focus on the love that God displayed for us on the cross. Keep your focus on God’s love by studying the Cross, sitting under cross centred preaching, praying the cross and take part in the Lord's Supper. These things together work to persuade us to love as God loves us in Jesus.

Love Series :


Copyright © Chola Mukanga 2017
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Shame of Worldly Joy

Only a Christian can be joyful and wise at the same time, because all other people either rejoice about things that they should be ashamed of (Philippians 3:19) or things that will disappear. A Christian is not ashamed of his joy, because he is not joyful about something shameful. That is why the Apostle Paul in [2 Corinthians 1:12] defends his joy. He says, I don’t care if everyone knows what makes me happy, because it is the ‘testimony of my conscience.’ He means, let other people can be happy about base pleasures that they are afraid to admit; let other people rejoice in riches, fame, or popularity; they can be happy about whatever they want, but my joy is different. ‘I rejoice because of my conscience.’ A Christian has a happiness that he can stand by and prove. No one else can do that. They will feel embarrassed and guilty if their happiness is found in something that is outside of themselves. They cannot say, ‘this is what makes me happy’. But a Christian has the approval of his ...
Post a Comment
KEEP READING →

I am what I am by Gloria Gaynor

Beverly Knight closed the opening ceremony of the Paralympics with what has been dubbed the signature tune of the Paralympics. I had no idea Ms Knight is still in the singing business. And clearly going by the raving reviews she will continue to be around. One media source says her performance was so electric that "there wasn’t a dry eye to be seen as she sang the lyrics to the song and people even watching at home felt the passion in her words" . The song was Gloria Gaynor's I am what I am . Clearly not written by Gloria Gaynor but certainly musically owned and popularized by her. It opens triumphantly: I am what I am / I am my own special creation / So come take a look / Give me the hook or the ovation / It's my world that I want to have a little pride in / My world and it's not a place I have to hide in / Life's not worth a damn till you can say I am what I am The words “I am what I am” echo over ten times in the song. A bold declaration that she ...
Post a Comment
KEEP READING →

Pride vs Humility

Spiritual pride tends to speak of other persons’ sins with bitterness or with laughter and an air of contempt. But pure Christian humility rather tends either to be silent about these problems or to speak of them with grief and pity. Spiritual pride is very apt to suspect others, but a humble Christian is most guarded about himself. He is as suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his own heart. The proud person is apt to find fault with other believers, that they are low in grace, and to be quick to note their deficiencies. But the humble Christian has so much to do at home and sees so much evil in his own heart and is so concerned about it that he is not apt to be very busy with other hearts. He is apt to esteem others better than himself. JONATHAN EDWARDS  (Source: The Works of Jonathan Edward’s, Volume 1)
Post a Comment
KEEP READING →