“Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails....”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8aChristians have an obligation before God to Love. Jesus when asked,
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40
Jesus also said,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous...”
Matthew 5: 43-45.
Without love for God, our neighbour and our enemy we can’t effectively win souls for Christ.
Christians should not be constantly pointing to the sin of the world. People in the world know full well there is a lot of sin in the world. They don’t need reminding.
What the world is looking for is unconditional love irrespective of who they are, what they believe or their lifestyle.
The apostle Paul wrote,
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8.
It is incumbent on the Christian to get one pure message to the world. John’s gospel records the message Jesus want us to take to the world when it records the words of Jesus who said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son."
John 3:16-18.
Wouldn’t it be a terrible shame if because we failed to show love in as pure a form as we can toward family, friends, and even our enemy that even one person would miss out on going to heaven?
Tony Campolo the American evangelist said,
“We ought to get out of the judging business. We should leave it up to God to determine who belongs in one arena or another when it comes to eternity. What we are obligated to do is to tell people about Jesus, and that's what I do.”
Tony Campolo
That’s what we all as Christians should be doing. Are you?
Please think about it.
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