Today the sermon in my church was on the ‘more excellent
way,’ advocated by Apostle Paul, “love.” It is a beautiful passage on love,
taken from The First Epistle written by Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians,
chapter 13, verses 1 to 13.
It relevant portion goes like this:
“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.”
Aha, what a heavenly experience just reading this! But, where
do you get a love like this? Where among human beings can you find a love like
this? Is it humanly possible for us to love others like this? Perchance we may
love our children like this, but what about the others!
Yet, Jesus showed a love like this, in that he sacrificed his
life for the good of others; to redeem others, he became a victim of the
system. Three more quotes from the Bible and then I am done.
“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten
Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting
life.” John 3:16
“God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we
were still sinners Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us
and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10
So God is capable of loving us like that, unconditional love,
self-sacrificing love and love wholly for the good of others, seeking nothing
in return.
What about us, the fallen human beings, whose inborn tendency
is to hate, fight, take revenge, feel envious, boast, divide, destroy and so
on, so forth? How do we learn to love like God, love even strangers and those
who hurt us?
Well, He has not let us without help. Christ, as He promised,
on his resurrection and return to Father in heaven, sent the Holy Spirit, who
is our Counselor, Comforter, Advocate and Helper. He resides in those who
believe in Jesus Christ and leads them in the right path. When we pray to God
to help us in this matter, that is, to love every one like God, He helps us
through the Holy Spirit.
“…the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the
Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:5
All that we need to do is to ask God to give us more of this
love and He will oblige. Oh, how good it would be, if the whole world is
engulfed in love, love for one another! It will become a much better place to
live and to be happy. It will become heaven indeed, a heaven on earth!
Should we not try this? Let us…
Amen. If every one of us could love like Christ loved us, this earth would indeed be heaven.
ReplyDeleteWe may not be able to make the whole earth a heaven but we can start with the people around us.
May God give us the heart to love others like Christ loved us.
Amen. If every one of us could love like Christ loved us, this earth would indeed be heaven.
ReplyDeleteWe may not be able to make the whole earth a heaven but we can start with the people around us.
May God give us the heart to love others like Christ loved us.
Amen for that!
ReplyDeleteLove is giving and sharing to others with a pure heart like a mother and her baby, without expecting any reward, but as we grow the selfishness creep in and the love slowly disappear. Only Our Lord can give us a good heart to love others in our action. We must pray to get a good heart. Suryakumar Paul.
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