LOVE! It's what we all want; it's what we all need. But, what's it all about? What is love? What does it look like? There's no doubt our culture is in real trouble when it comes to defining love. We understand romance, sexual attraction, getting what we want. We understand adultery, broken relationships, unfaithfulness, sleeping around, or making commitments and then breaking them. But true love and the ability to offer it to others escapes most of us. It certainly escapes our culture. We are living in an increasingly selfish and hedonistic culture in which people think of themselves first and others only if their behaviors make the morning newspaper.
What does love look like? Love is faithfulness, loyalty, commitment, fidelity, integrity, and selfless behavior. do you see love at work in your life? 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 provides us the best possible definition of love. Let me quote it for you, "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. Love never fails." All of us fall short of the Bible's definition of love. Our failings speak of our need for God's love and his help in sharing it with others.
In John 3, John's gospel presents Jesus as the revealed love of God. Probably the most famous verse in the Bible is John 3:16. The verse teaches us that God is a lover, a giver, and a forgiver. Because he loves, he took action for us, not for himself, by sending His Son to die a criminal's death as the lamb of God. Because he loves, he gives to us what we need to overcome our lack. In christ Jesus, god gives to us a new life and the promise of eternity. Because he loves us, he forgives us our failings so that we will not perish from our own destructive ways.
Everything about God speaks of love -- His character, His loving actions, and His willingness to offer us love, even though we don't deserve it. Most of us can show some type of kindness to those who love us, but only Christ-like love can show kindness to enemies or to those who have hurt us.
This Sunday, we are going to explore how we can invite the love of God into our daily life. Jesus suggested to Nicodemus a "new birth" experience (John 3:3). Too many of us try to go it alone, falsely believing we can make ourselves better people or at least convince others that we aren't really bad people after all. Jesus taught that we need an infusion of God's love and God's Spirit.
I'm praying for you, for your family, and for nation. We desperately need the love of God in our lives and our relationships.
See you Sunday at the ARC (10:15 AM). Pastor Tom
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