Joyce Meyer once said that love
consists of sacrifice and giving and at the time it struck me as so true.
I then started to meditate on our love
for God. Words can be so empty. When we tell the Lord that we love Him, what
do we actually mean by that? How often have
you told the Lord in prayer and during worship that you love Him? What did you mean by that? We find a number of verses in the gospel of
John chapters 13 to 15 that says the same as John 14:21: Whoever has my commandments
and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my
Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. This is one
way to love the Lord; by doing what He says.
Jesus, however, set the example of perfect love. He sacrificed all self-indulgence - His
selfish desires - and gave all His time and resources for the sake of others. He summed up His actions in John 15:3, which
is in the same context as John 14:21 above: Greater
love has no one than this; that someone lay down his life for his friends. Did He do it for us? Yes He did love us in that way, but I believe
He did it for His Father, who loves us so much that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have
eternal life (John 3:16). He obeyed
Father God by manifesting this love His Father has for us and in that way He showed
His love for His Father. He set the
example for us to do the same – to prove our love towards Him by loving our neighbour
sacrificially and through giving of ourselves.
I want to look at love for the Lord from the
perspective I received from Joyce Meyer. Jesus said in Mark 12:30: And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
How do we know when He is close to our hearts? What do you think about most of the day? Maybe how you can improve in your sport, what
you can do to make your business more profitable, what you can do at work to
make a better impression, what you can do today that will be fun, etc. How much thought have you given the Kingdom of
God and your relationship with Him (Matthew
6:33). The Kingdom involves winning souls, encouraging people, praying for
the sick, teaching the Word of God, giving sacrificially, serving the needs of
people, i.e. using your gift to make a difference, to the glory of God (Romans
12:6-8).
Seeking His righteousness involves getting to know the Lord –
thinking about Him, meditating on His Word - so you can please Him by obeying
in faith. All these demand time and
effort; and to make the latter available you need to sacrifice other things
that takes up that time and effort.
Loving the Lord with all your heart therefore involves
giving of yourself to the glory of God.
The disciples and the believers of old set a good
example of how to love the Lord. We read
about the consequences of acting in faith, i.e. loving the Lord, in Hebrews 11
and in particular verses
32-38 and in Paul’s experiences as recorded in 2
Corinthians 11:24-29. We know that
most of the other disciples of Jesus had similar hardships. Jesus said in John 16:33: I have said these things to you, that in me you may have
peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. How do you measure up in comparison to these?
Where are your heart’s desires set at?
In our next Golden Nugget we’ll look at more areas in which
we should the love the Lord based on Mark 12:30.Let's worship with Terry MacAlmon
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