The primary evidence
of genuine Christianity is the believer’s demonstration of love. As Jesus
Christ declares, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have
love for one another.” (John 13:35, NKJV) Since JESUS CHRIST is the
ultimate manifestation of divine love, our theological definition of love is directly connected to His
person and work. LOVE IS THE CHRIST-ANOINTING – spiritually activated in
our thoughts, attitudes, words, decisions, actions and ministries for the
express purpose of transforming lives, increasing faith, restoring
relationships and authenticating witness.
Today we revisit a
primary New Testament passage on covenant love: (I Corinthians, chapter 13, The
Message Bible)
1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but
don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his
mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to
a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the
stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and
what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “Me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “Me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day;
praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what
we say about God is always incomplete. But
when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
11 When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and
cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I
left those infant ways for good.
12 We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a
mist. But it won’t be long before the
weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly
as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three
things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope
unswervingly, love extravagantly. And
the best of the three is love.
Stay tuned…more to
come tomorrow.
Sisters and brothers,
be continually blessed and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO
MEET YOUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!
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