Lovey dovey love is what this month is all about, and it’s all lovely and beautiful; but at times it becomes very superficial. Love isn’t, shouldn’t be superficial. Love isn’t just valentine's day cards and a box of chocolates once a year. People shouldn’t be told or shown that they are loved once a year. Love should always be in the air; 365 days a year, 24/7.
We can’t love if we don’t know what love is, or better said WHO love is. “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Without God we are incapable to love, because He is the source of love. He is love. So, the real question is “Who is God”? “God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, He is not proud. He does not dishonor others, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. He bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. God never fails” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8). God is Love, and because Love lives in us it should shine through us.
Be a Love ambassador with me this month (and every month after that) and accept the challenge to Love Boldly today, tomorrow, and always.
“Love the Lord your God with all our heart and with all your soul and with all our mind. This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38).
To love others, we need to fall in love with the giver of Love Himself.
All love begins with a relationship. The same is with God. We need to build a relationship with Him. We need to not only know about God, but know Him on a personal level.
In my own life, I have found that the deeper I get into my relationship with God, the easier it is for me to walk in love. The whole book of 1 John talks about Love. Love towards God and others. Because essentially walking with God is all about loving Him and loving others. That’s why Jesus came down to earth in the first place, because He loved (loves) the Father and loved (loves) us. Jesus came down to earth to not only die for us, but to be a prime example of how walking in love looks like. It’s a walk of self-sacrifice and obedience. As I’ve been reading 1 John, the following verses have stood out. “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love; whoever dwells in love dwells in God, and God in Him. (now this is the verse that really stood out to me) Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have BOLDNESS in the day of judgement: because as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:16-17).
In Him LOVE is perfected in us, because we are to "be perfect as He is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). When we choose God, we are not only accepting the challenge to strive for and live up to perfection in Him; but we are commiting to Him, to perfection. (Not that we are perfect or that we will be perfect here on earth, but that we will work towards it.)
Guys, we need to stop staying over with God and start dwelling in Him as He dwells in us. Dwell in His Word. Dwell in His presence; because walking with God, walking in perfect love in a world that is filled with so much hate and darkness is not easy. It wasn’t easy for Jesus, and it won’t be easy for us; because as He was in this world so are we. If we dwell in God like Jesus did, we too can overcome it. “…In this world, we will have trouble. But take heart! He has overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Jesus overcame the world with BOLD LOVE. Bold love for the Father, and Bold love for us. His love for us took over the world, and now it can shine brightly through us. And because of His great love, we too can and will overcome the world one heart at a time; but first we need start with our own heart.
“We love (Him), because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
My first challenge for you and for me is to accept God’s love. Let’s let His love perfect our hearts and overflow in our lives so that we too can overcome the world with BOLD LOVE. He BOLDLY (in a confident and courageous way) loves us, guys. BOLDLY LOVE Him back with all your heart, mind, and soul. Seek Him with all your heart. Know Him with all your mind. Love Him with all your soul.
