Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere . . . (Ephesians 1:15 NLT)
This is an interesting combination of thoughts that Paul uses again with the Colossians: since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; (Colossians 1:4)
Strong faith in Jesus and love for God’s people usually go hand in hand. So, it is always suspect when someone says that they love God but don’t really care of their brothers and sisters in Christ. The Bible tells us that the love of Christ will compel us (2 Corinthians 5:14) and in 1 John 4:20, we read:
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?
So, we can easily see that the love of God will ultimately produce a love for His people. It is probably safe to say, then, that when that love for God’s people is absent, then there is probably a diminished amount of love of God going on as well. If we take this as a barometer for our lives, it becomes a good measure of how we are really doing in our walk with the Lord. If I am connecting to Jesus in an unfettered way, then I should be abounding with the love of God towards others. When my love towards others is waning, then it is time to seriously consider the connection of my heart to Christ’s.
It is so easy to convince myself that I am good with God; that I love Him and really want to live for Him. Yet, this love for others will always be the card that calls the bluff. Talk is cheap and good intentions don’t get me one iota down the road I want to go. In the same way I may want to stay at my desired weight with all my heart, if I keep eating out of control, I literally have a fat chance of doing so. But until my desire to be thin outweighs (pun intended) my desire to eat, I will be locked into the battle of competing commitments and losing the war at the end of the day. So, as much as I may want to impact the world for Christ, if my behavior does not reflect first and foremost a love for people, then I don’t have a prayer of doing so. Until my desire to make that impact grows stronger than my desire to have the last word, get the upper hand, be right – and all those other ungodly and unloving selfish ambitions, then I will always fall far short of the glorious goal of God’s plan for my life.
Yet again another attribute of faith that makes it crystal clear why faith is so important to God and why without it we cannot please Him. It is by faith that I am able to love the world in a way that leaves a lasting impact. The more faith I have in Christ, the more I will see the world through His eyes and not my own.
Lord, increase my faith, please. It is obvious to me now that my love falls far short of yours. My own earthly understanding of love must decrease and your Heavenly perspective of love must increase. Please give me the faith I need to impact my world today.
No comments:
Post a Comment