The High Calling of Love!

Now that you have had the weekend to consider 1 Corinthians 13, let's consider what John has to say in 1 John. He writes some pretty strong words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

"The second great commandment is: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." 1 God's will is that we love others. "For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another."2 "And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us."3 "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us."4

Now it's easy to love the lovable. It's easy to love those who love us. It's easy to love those that make us feel good. If that is all God meant He would not have commanded it because we are already inclined to love those easy

people in our lives. No, I don't believe it stops there. God wants us to love those we are NOT inclined to love.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,'" 5 Ouch, that kind of love just isn't natural.

Most of us have people in our lives that are not our favorite people. They may be people in our church, our neighborhood, our school, our job, even in our families. What about loving those "hard to love" people. Surely God didn't mean them!!

"Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes."6 "By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother."7

"We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death."8

"If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother." 9

These are very strong words and there is no doubt that love is important to God. Why do we struggle with it so?

How do we love others we are not inclined to love? It's not natural, it's supernatural. We need to lay down OUR life, and yield to HIS.

"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."10

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."11

Love is indeed a very high calling.

Diane

1 Mark 12:31
2 1 John 3:11
3 1 John 3:23
4 1 John 4:11-12
5 Matthew 5:43-44
6 1 John 2:10-11
7 1 John 3:10
8 1 John 3:14
9 1 John 4:20-21
10 1 John 3:16
11 Galatians 2:20