Love Is the Greatest Gift!

Army National Guard Maj. Shawn Faulkner wanted to reach out from his post in Afghanistan and do something special for his wife's birthday. Since his wife loves Mellow Mushroom pizza, he contacted their corporate offices and asked them to deliver a pizza and a $50 gift card to their Jacksonville, Florida home.

Well, the local Mellow Mushroom franchise did better than that! Their chef made a heart-shaped pizza and even added heart-shaped pepperoni slices. Then their delivery guy dropped off the pizza, a bunch of flowers and balloons, and the $50 gift card—all for free. Josephine Faulkner said, "I was surprised and excited and overwhelmed and all of that. It was so nice." The General Manager of Mellow Mushroom emailed Maj. Faulkner and said, "We got you bro." - PreachingToday.com, February 18, 2013, Matt Woodley and Paul Pastor

Love is the greatest gift of all time. You cannot have a greater gift than truly to be loved. In fact, the Bible says that faith and hope and love are three great things, but faith will be gone one day. Hope will be gone one day, because we will see the Lord, but love will never end. Love will exists for all eternity, because God is love and that love is what is the expression of the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In John, 15:12-17, Jesus talks about obeying his Father's commandments of pleasing the Father because obeying his commandment and that the love that they had with one another was expressed by Jesus' obedience and in the same way he says, "I want you to show your love for me by obeying my commandments and by loving each other." The proof of our friendship is demonstrated by our loving one another in the family of faith.

Please understand this important point: Jesus equates friendship with Him on the basis of how we love each other, as well as Him! Jesus did what he did for us without coercion. And that's a great question to ask ourselves when we are trying to judge our own actions. Am I doing what I am doing freely? That's a test of whether it's really Christlike love. Do we give to others freely or begrudgingly? Do we find ourselves saying, no one appreciates me around here? Or, why do I even bother? You know we say things like that, that can sometimes betray the fact that maybe we are not giving as freely.

I know it is frustrating to be feeling like you are carrying one end of the log and nine other people are carrying the other end, but the point is that love, if it is truly divine is given freely. God loves a cheerful, free giver. So love is given freely and that means that it is something that is given. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, that love is patient and love is kind. In other words, it's an expression of something. It is active goodness.

Some people say, well I am showing love because I don't hurt anybody. I am not bothering my neighbor. Well, that's good, but it is not the kind of divine love that Jesus is talking about. The divine love that He is talking about is active goodness.

Thus, our obligation to love one another is part of God’s plan to fill the earth with His glory. So, 1 John 4 provides us with four links between loving God and loving our neighbor:

1. If we love each other, we are obeying God's command. Christian love is learning to treat each other the same way God treats us. Love is a matter of the will, not of emotions.

2. If we love each other, we are fulfilling God's Law. In the Old Testament God gave many laws to govern the land, to guide relationships to property and neighbors and to guide in worship. Jesus taught that love fulfills the law and covers all the important issues of life.

3. If we love each other, we are following each other, we are following God's teaching. To be able to live the life of holiness we must love each other.

4. If we love each other, we are expressing God's nature. Time and time again, throughout the Bible we see that “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) When we invite Jesus into our hearts, his Holy Spirit puts God’s nature into us. We become His children.

So which is harder? Loving God or loving your neighbor? Both are radical. Both are impossible apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. But with the work of the Spirit, the two go side by side. For if we know God, we will trust Him. If we love Him, we will want to be like Him.

John Piper says: "There is a sense in which the second commandment (to love your neighbor) is the visible goal of the whole Word of God. It's not as though loving God is less important [than loving your neighbor]; rather loving God is made visible and manifest and full in our visibly, practically, sacrificially loving others."

So how will you do this? How will you make your love for God visible? How will you love your neighbor as yourself?

Scripture: John 13:34; Romans 8:28; Philippians 2:3-4; 1 Corinthians 13:13; Matthew 22:37; Micah 6:8; Proverbs 17:17;

Prayer: O my God, I love you above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because you are all-good and worthy of all love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of you. I forgive all who have injured me, and I ask pardon of all whom I have injured. Amen
  
-many thanks to Ronald Keller

May your day be blessed,

Cyndi