Love God And Love Others

Christianity and church planting is all about practicing love and sharing Christ. Loving others is practicing godliness because God is Love (1 Corinthians 13:1-13¹)

Scripture Reading 

John 15:12–16 KJV
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.   

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.   

Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.   

Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.   

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Exhortation

Christianity and church planting is all about practicing love and sharing Christ. Loving others is practicing godliness because God is Love (1 Corinthians 13:1-13)

Our Christian calling is simply a call to love God and love others. This is our foremost commandment; we must strive to keep this commandment so that our prayers would be answered.

What is love?

Love is that thing or feeling that wants you to be your best, give your best, and do your best for others without compulsion.

Always remember that;

• Love is:

This refers to the fact that love causes you to become your best. Love affects your nature; it makes you into something

• Love gives:

John 3:16² teaches us that God so loved the Lord that He gave His only begotten son. If we love the world, we would give to missions, we would give to support the beginning of the gospel in new mission fields. Apostle Paul teaches in the Corinthians that your giving is a proof of your love. Mary Magdalene gave the box of oil because she loved.

• Love does:

There are things that we do because we love. Jesus Christ bled and died for us because He loves us. If we love the world; we would share the love of Christ with them. If we love our families, we would share Christ with and compel them to come in (Luke 14: 22-24)

Love is a spiritual thing. It is a divine mystery that only Jesus Christ can give us the standards of true love. On the scale of love, the love of Jesus becomes the absolute degree. So then how do we love?

1. Understand your own imperfections:

Admit that you are not perfect; you cannot do everything people expect; but you can be your best, give and so your best. Don’t be too hard on yourself when your best is not enough.

2. Make room for the faults of others:

Not everybody has your kind of heart, so don’t expect much from those you love. We are fundamentally humans, spirits living in a body, so make room for the faults of others.

3. Put God and others first:

Love is not selfish; love is selfless and seek the best in others.

4. Strive to raise the other in: 

Don’t despise those that you are supposed to be loving. Commit yourself to lifting others up.

Stay blessed; I love you!

Referenced Scriptures

1. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (KJV): Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. ↩︎
2. John 3:16 (KJV): 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. ↩︎