The Hill of Love ~ My Love for God and Jesus

I'm going to pick up right where I left off some time ago. Life sometimes gets in the way of writing blogs, and although I'm not sure that I'm ready to continue full bore, I'll do my best. I apologize for leaving you hanging from one post to another, but hopefully we'll continue our climb up the Hill of Love. It might help to go back and read my last post to refresh your memory. When you think about the fact that God IS love, you'll realize that this is the most important part of your thinking and application, love being the guidance system for your behavior, both as a child of God and as a Christian.

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Just to remind you, we looked at God's love for man, and Jesus' love for man, and I began talking about how we can and must show our love for God and Jesus, as well as our fellow man. Let's look at 1 John 2:3-6, where a test for knowing God is given:  "Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked." 

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So what are these verses about? They are all about testing our geniune fellowship with God and with Christ  through obedience and worship. You can call yourself a Christian--and many do--but there are proofs of Christianity which will tell your story. If you love God, you will keep His commandments. If you're a follower of Christ, you will be an obedient servant and love your fellow man. How can we show that we love our fellow man? One way is found in Mark 9:41: "For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward." Matthew 10:42 uses these same words. The point of these verses is that we show our love of Christ and fellow man by providing people with their needs--whether food, clothing or shelter. Our country was a better place when churches provided for the poor and needy on a larger scale. 

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And what about our own thanksgiving, which comes from a grateful heart? 1 Timothy 4:3-5 talks about receiving all food created by God "with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." In other words, we're all to be grateful for our food, which has been given to us by God. Do you say a prayer of thanksgiving before you eat? You may already know that some Jews bless their food before and after the meal. That practice takes piety a step further, but sometimes we need to shake up our idea of showing how very thankful we are. 
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One of the rewards for showing love for God by keeping is commandments is that He gives us a helper. John 14:15-18 says: "If you love me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you."  What encouragement for all of us! I think we forget sometimes that God is very interested in us and our lives here on earth. And His promises are always fulfilled. He promised a Savior and He sent His own Son. We cannot imagine giving one of our children to save someone else. But God did it for us.

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 In fact, 1 John 4:19 reminds us: "We love Him because He first loved us." How much clearer could that message be!? It is a stunning gift from God to save us from our sins. The very least we can do is to be thankful and love Him in return. And we're told in Romans 12:1-2 that a part of that love and thankfulness is seen when we offer ourselves as living sacrifices. In these verses, Paul says: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

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To get a good picture of what that meant in Jesus' day, read Luke 9. In this chapter, the twelve are sent to preach, five thousand are fed, Peter's confession of faith is given, and before the transfiguration of Christ is described, a description of the true cost of discipleship is given. You've probably heard these words many times in your life: "Then He said to them all, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels'." 

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Hmmm...it seems to me that most folks are trying to gain the whole world! So it would seem a good idea to reflect on your life to see where your treasure lies. Hebrews 10:30-31 reminds us that we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And again, 'The Lord will judge His people.' It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."   

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It may be that we no longer fear God as we should. Only you can answer for yourself, as we all must. I am always praying that something said will touch your heart and cause you to look at God's will for us who are His children in a fresh light. Remember that 2 Corinthians 8:8 tells us that God is testing the sincerity of our love for Him. May we all meet that test! 

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Blessings...Mimi  

  

  

The Hill of Love ~

Good evening~ I feel that you and I are making this long journey together through the valleys and up the hills of life. This study takes us up the Hill of Love, a hill which has many challenges even though we may assume it's an easy one. As always, we take a deep breath as we make the plunge into a deeper spiritual life.

You may be surprised if I ask you, "What is the greatest gift?" And you already know that the answer is love. In one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible that question is answered. And even though you've heard it many times, I wouldn't let any conversation about love go without mentioning it. It's in 1 Corinthians 13, which says:

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
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Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails....And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 

Those words speak a definite conclusion as to what is the greatest gift. This is such an important subject because I'm not sure there is much true love in the world today. And without going into all the reasons why I feel that way, I'll simply say that love has to be practiced and practiced again. It isn't always easy to show love or to give love, but doesn't it seem to you that it is--at the very least--a requirement for following Christ? And in an effort to give us another look at the way love behaves, it may help us to look at some scriptures on love. 

                                      

First, let's look at some thoughts about God's love for man. Ron has something to say about this: "God has demonstrated His love for us. What a hill to look up to as we walk through the valleys of life! How uplifting to our spirits! Some things about which we are concerned become so trivial when compared to what God has given for us. Often we must meet someone with greater problems than our own before we appreciate the blessings we have, e.g., the man who had only one hand met a man who had no legs." This graphic mental picture reminds us to count our blessings every day. And Ron has also been with people in Russia, South America and Mosambique who have few choices in food, or places to live, or ways to stay warm. We are truly blessed!  

Then looking at Ephesians 3, beginning with verse 17, it says: "...that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." Now what exactly does all that mean to us? Width refers to the fact that God is available to everyone who believes in Him. Length refers to how far God would go for our sakes: to the extent of giving His only begotten Son. Depth refers to the fact that our very souls are pulled out of hell so that we will not perish. And height refers to how high we may rise: we will be exalted to heaven's glory and to eternal life. Breathtaking in its simplicity and profound in it's message!

Now let's look at Jesus' love for man. Besides the verses in Ephesians we just looked at, which include comprehension of the love of Christ, we can look at John 15:13: "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." And that's what Christ did for us.  He gave the ultimate gift of Himself! Matthew 27:35 tells us: "Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: 'They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots'." Jesus died for you and He died for me. Not in the lap of luxury or convenience, but among criminals and thieves. Christ paid for our sins. What are we willing to do for Him? Are we "looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith"? It was Jesus "who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." While Jesus was on earth, He endured poverty, humiliation, insults and pain so unjustly. All of this, He did for us because of His love for us. And now that He is in heaven, we can look up to Him for salvation.

Now we've looked at the love that God and Jesus have for man. What is involved in showing our love for God and Jesus? We take for granted that our inward man must love God completely. How many times have you read these words: "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 neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Everyone who is a child of God must embrace its meaning and live by it.

And that's not quite all we need to be doing to show our love. 1 John 1:3 says that we should have fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. Later, in verse 6, he says, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." So, basically, it's sharing our lives with the Holy Ones. And not only do we have fellowship with God and Jesus, but we have love for others. Later on in 1 John, it says: "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also." Almost everyone I know believes it's different for them...God won't notice that they don't get along with others--perhaps feeling self-righteously that God will understand because it is them. Do they have a right to feel the way they do? Haven't they been wronged and mistreated? We should all give more thought to our relationships.

Because this study is getting too long, I'm going to stop and say more later--perhaps giving a more complete idea about how we can more easily show our love for God and Jesus, as well as other people. Climbing the Hill of Love sounds easy and familiar to us because we hear the word love so often, but practicing true love is harder when we look at it from a deeper context. More on this another time.

Have a wonderful day!

Blessings...Mimi