Greetings – God is love!

Well, I may as well go for the throat.  In my last letter to you I spoke of culture and the culture that God is instilling in our midst.  One facet of that culture is being a house of love.  I have a concern that that phrase will become a cliché in our midst and lose its relevance.

While my first inclination is to talk about the Greek words used in the New Testament, agape and phileo, and how those are defined, I don’t think that is how I am supposed to approach it.  There is much to learn from the words but the tendency can then be to become cerebral about it.  I think God is looking for more of a practical application than merely a ponderous investigation.  Let me give you a sampling of Jesus practical teachings on love (quotes are NKJV):

·     Matthew 5:44-45  But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven…

·     Matthew 6:24-25  No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon.

·     Matthew 22:37-39  Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’

·     John 3:16  For God so loved the world that He gave…

·     John 12:25  He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

·     John 13:34-35  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

·     John 14:21  He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.

·     John 15:12-13  This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

True love is gritty and raw.  The love God wants us to participate in knows the truth but seeks the best response to build up another and/or the church.  True love is not just a “warm fuzzy” but reaches into the deep places in our lives and calls forth courage and compassion to see godly change in ourselves and others.  True love always costs the one who is loving – the costs are not always obvious or on a similar scale, but there is always a cost to loving.  This is part of the culture that God is developing in our midst.

I leave you with Paul’s closing exhortation in his first letter to the Corinthians: “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.  Let all that you do be done with love.”  (1 Cor 16:13-14)

Loving you all and may you all have a very blessed Christmas and ring in the New Year with the Lord,

Pastor Merril