WALKING IN JESUS LOVE

God in the Old Testament loved what He created in the world, but His love was not reciprocated by the people He created. God found in Abraham a man who believed in Him, and He blessed him and the descendants who believed in God. Time and again, they defaulted and God promised that He would send someone to earth who believed in Him and Him alone.

Jesus Christ, God's manifestation on earth appeared as predicted in the Old Testament by the prophets and showed us the true meaning of love.by His example of sacrificing Himself to die on the cross to redeem us from sin.

Love is universal for all the people in the world, from the aborigines to the highest civilized society in the world, the poor and the rich, the privileged and the unprivileged, the Christians and the non Christians. They all loved in their own way. God the creator of the universe created universal love to all species of society, from human to the animal kingdom. Everyone is capable of love, but whether he is capable of extending his love to all societies of human beings is another matter.

Since man sinned from the very beginning of Adam and Eve, the following generations that followed lost touch with true love and became concerned only with their own welfare and cared nothing for the others.

It is only in the New Covenant that Jesus, Son of God appeared as a man who fully endorsed the doctrine of Universal Love to His followers to redeem man to God.

The Number 1 quality that God would like to get into our souls and personalities is love. Even nonbelievers, atheists and agnostics can see the power of love and how it has the ability to change people and change lives.

The quality of love is truly universal for it literally transcends peoples, nations and religions. Love is the universal language of this world and people from all different walks of life recognize it for what it is and understand the power that it holds.

From the Bible, you see the major emphasis God the Father is placing on it when He tells us that He wants us to love Him, love ourselves and to love one another.

If love is recognized by all peoples and all nations, then why is it that throughout the course of our human history there has been so many wars, so much hatred, so much crime and so much inhumanity done to our fellow man? If everyone knows what love is, then how could so many people throughout the course of our human history commit so much evil and atrociities?

The Bible even tells us that the love of many will grow cold in the latter days. Things are going to actually go from bad to worst in the coming years.
 

Christians know that part of the answer why men cannot love one another is due to the sinful nature that we have all been born into this world as a result of the curse of Adam and Eve. Every single one of us has been born into this world in sin and iniquity and this is why Jesus had to come to die for all of us because we have all sinned and have fallen short of the glory of our God. Jesus is the only way to God for He had sacrificed Himself on our behalf. Blood sacrifice of animals was the way of expiating sins in the Old Testament, but the sacrifice of Jesus once for all took away our sins and draws us closer to God.

The two great commandments are not new commandments but are taken from the Old Testament Ten Commandments and combined into two. The first four commandments are to love God and the last six commandments are to love man.

Matthew 22:37-40

• Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
• This is the first and great commandment.
  
  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
• On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Jesus said that the whole law of God hung on the commandments to love God with everything you had, and to love your neighbour as you loved yourself.

Romans 13:9

Paul pointed out that all the commandments are summed up in the saying,"You shall love your neighbour as yourself."

Ephesians 5:1-3

• Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
• And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
• But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints.

Love here means the kind of love that God has for us. It is a self-sacrificing love that endures pain and seeks the benefit of the other person, and nothing to do with sexual love or the kind of love friends have between them. It is called agape love which is God-kind of love.

This means that understanding how to love as God wants us to is really important.

It is so important that Paul basically says in 1 Corinthians 13, that even if you move in all the spiritual gifts, including gifts of revelation and power, but do not have love - God's kind of love, you are nothing.

This kind of love is not an option. A life which manifests without love for others is a life where the seed of God is not developing and maturing. The basic motivations of such a person are all wrong. A person whose principle motivations are to develop themselves to satisfy their fleshly desires is plain selfish. Such a person, whether he claims to be a "born again Christian" or not, is on the path that leads to destruction,

Romans 8:5,6

• For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the spirit.
• For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Galatians 5:21

• Those who live like this shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

1 John 2:15,16

• Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
• For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,is not of the Father, but is of the world.

WALKING IN LOVE WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

We are unable to walk in love unless we have the Spirit of Jesus Christ in us for we are born in sin. God was so disgusted with human beings that He destroyed the world except Noah and his family.

The Holy Spirit imparts nine different qualities of love in us when we truly believe in the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. It is only when the Holy Spirit starts to release His love into our personality as one of His 9 fruits can we truly begin to love our God, love ourself and love other people in the way God intended.

THE FRUITS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Galatians tell us that there are 9 specific fruits that God can transmit up into our personalities through His Holy Spirit. In this verse from Galatians, the very first quality that is listed as one of the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit is the quality of love!

9 Fruits of the Holy Spirit

1.Love
2.Joy
3.Peace
4.Longsuffering
5.Kindness
6.Goodness
7.Faithfulness
8.Gentleness
9.Self-control

We may not have all the 9 fruits of the Spirit, but we may pray to God to give us all the qualities.

INDICATIONS OF YOUR LOVE

To be a follower of Christ, one must be completely faithful to Him in all things and also search one's heart to find out whether one has any anger or grudge against another person.

1. How Deep is your Love?

Proverbs 10:12 says, "Love covereth all sins." I Peter 4:8 says, "Above all things have fervent love among yourselves; for love shall cover the multitude of sins." We are to love to the limit, which involves covering a "multitude of sins." Sin must be dealt with, but must also be forgiven. That's what "cover" implies. We are to completely blanket over past sin and start afresh. You are only a Christian in name, but not in deed.

2. Do You still hold Grudges?

Do you hold a grudge against someone? Remember that Jesus already paid the penalty for whatever that person did wrong. Your inability to forgive shows your lack of faith and love. This lack of forgiveness shows you are not a real Christian, for you still harbour grudges against people

Those who have the greatest sense of forgiveness by God are quickest to forgive others. Self-righteous people usually have the most trouble forgiving others. There are some who have gone to church all their lives look down on those with evil pasts. Yet the sin of religious piety is just as bad if not worse for they know they have been forgiven much but are unable to forgive much.

LOVE GOD

To love God is to worship Him completely, exclusive to all other objects, especially worshipping idols. Our whole being is to concentrate on God, body, soul and mind, and keep His Commandments. What God did, we must follow without question for He has our good in mind.

The Fourth Commandment "Remember the Sabbath" was an example of what God had in mind. Very few denominations observe the Sabbath Day, and only 525 churches out of thousands keep the Sabbath Day. They do believe that they are obeying God. Their minds are veiled and not able to perceive.

LOVE FELLOW MAN AS YOURSELF

It is harder to keep this commandment rather than the other commandment, to love God. It is easier to love God because when we obey Him, He gives us benefits like status, and other necessities of life. He is just and does not favour one person over another and God listens to our prayers. He is always around when we need help and at all times.

Men are not that just, and have moods. They are not always fair, and may hold grudges against us. Fellow beings are sometimes unpredictable and may turn the tables against us if we cross the line. Men like to excel above their fellow beings and may do what they are capable of to achieve their ends.

To love our fellow men as ourselves, first of all, we have to forgive them for doing wrong and not bear grudges. We must be completely forgiving for their even minor faults and forget about complaining.

Children are easier to learn behaviour than adults, and should be taught not to envy others and to forgive for wrong behaviours. They should be taught to make up and forgive others. When learnt young, they would instinctly follow their habits of younger days. So forgiving will be just a process.

Ephesians 4:26

• Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down upon thy wrath:

Every one on earth is given one life to live and given free choice to choose good or evil. How he chooses qualifies or disqualifies him meeting his Saviour in heaven. May he choose wisely!