Beloved, let us love one
another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows
God. (1 John 4: 7)
From
that we reason: GOD IS LOVE. Therefore,
love is God.
Of course, John’s logic is right if we accept his
definition of love, which brings us again to the meaning of biblical love. We are speaking of a love that has little to
do with emotion; it is more a state of mind than a feeling of ecstasy or a
quickening of the pulse. It is a sense of
the rightness of things.
We sometimes say that love wins in the end. In truth, love keeps on loving even if in
doing so it seems to lose. Love loves because
ii is right to do so. Such is the love
of God.
So how do we know we love God? Because we FEEL it in moments of deep
religious experience?
No. We know
we love God because we keep his commandments… I know I love God when I do what
He asks me to do.*
By this we know that we love
the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is
the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not
burdensome.
(1 John 5: 2, 3)
Does love have a chance in a world like ours?
The first answer is that IT DOES NOT MATTER. Whether love wins or loses, the Christian has
sold out to love. If we believe there is
a difference between right and wrong, we know that the issue is not winning or
losing but doing what is right….
However, John dared to declare, “Everyone who is born
from God defeats the world” (John 5:4).
The Christian were a company of happy warriors confident they WOULD win.
*
Which
all brings us back to the reasoning of: GOD
IS LOVE. Therefore, love is God.
True,
IF. If the “love” we equate with God and
godliness is love as God defines it.
False,
if the “love” we equate with God and godliness is defined any other way by any
other source.
So, will you let God
define the ways you choose to love; or will you let the ways you love define your
god?
Reason
among yourselves. Let me know what you
decide.
*from
the adult Sunday school lesson for April 19th in Discovery. Emphases added and indenting modified by
Anderson Graves.
---Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry,
and rural leadership development.
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield,
Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking
Organization (SAYNO); and director of
rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
#Awordtothewise
You
can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button
on the right-hand sidebar.
Support
by check or money order may be mailed to
Miles
Chapel CME Church
P O
Box 132
Fairfield,
Al 35064
No comments:
Post a Comment