“For God so loved He gave…”– John 3:16
The Bible urges the believer in regards love. For example…
Colossians 3:14 says: “Put on love.” 1 Corinthians 14:1 says: “Follow after love.” Philippians 1:9, we are to “Abound in love.” Hebrews 13:1 we are to “Continue in love.” 1 Thess 3:12 says we are to “Increase in love.” 1 Peter 4:8 says we are to “Be fervent in love.” Phil 2:2 says we are to “Be consistent in love.”Hebrews 10:24, says “Stimulate, Spur one another on to love.” 2 Cor 8:8 says, “Be sincere in love.” Love is the greatest, Paul wrote, “And I show you a still more excellent way. “- 1 Cor 12:31 – LOVE.
Love is to be the way we think, believe, act because we are motivated by God’s love for us. God so loved us, the cross demonstrates it…A friend recently shared with me life could be summed up in three things, which are the headlines below. He is right for the Scripture teaches it…
So we …
- – LOVE GOD-
“The life I live by faith I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself Up for me.” -Gal 2:20
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”- Romans 5:8
“And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.” Matthew 22:38.
So we …
- – LOVE THE BELIEVERS –
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”-John 13;34-35
“The person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.” – John 14:21
“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,”- Philippians 2:3-6
“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”- 1 John 3:16-18
“My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus.”- 1 Cor 16:24
So we …
- – LOVE THE LOST –
“…The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’- Matthew 22:37-39
“To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.” – 1 Cor 9:22
“I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,”-Romans 9:2-3
Love God, Love others. Love seeks to prefer others for their welfare to ultimately express love to Christ, daily… we are “in a nut shell,” to..
Love Christ,
Love the Believers,
Love the Lost
Love is Motivated and Maintained by the fact.
“We love because He first loved us!”- 1 John 4:19
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”- Romans 5:8
” For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’- Romans 8:38-39.
APPLICATION;
Hide theses words in your heart and practice these three
Love Christ,
Love the Believers,
Love the Lost.