love

You and I are called to love Jesus with “love incorruptible” (Ephesians 6:24). Such integrity is for his glory and to our good and that of everyone we influence. This is why we must not compromise with the “Canaanites” in our “land.” Satan wants us to think that sin is serving us when we are actually serving him. Then, one day, we will inevitably say with David, “My strength fails because of my iniquity” (Psalm 31:10). Our witness will be ruined and others will be forced to apologize for our moral failures.

Evangelist Nick Hall encouraged the hundreds gathered in Dallas for the Together '22 event to "see" those people around them and "go out there and listen" and "go out there and love."

Being change agents in a broken world requires more than a willingness to be used by God—it requires loving those we are called to serve. Paul grieved so deeply for his fellow Jews who rejected their Messiah that he could wish himself “accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Romans 9:3).

My greatest desire as a father is to love my wife, our sons and their wives, and our grandchildren well. However, as author Jon Bloom notes, “The most loving thing we can do for others is love God more than we love them. For if we love God most, we will love others best.”

Memorial Day is a sacred day to reflect and give thanks to these heroes who have purchased with their lives the lives we enjoy today. For Christians, It’s the greatest modern-day illustration of how much Jesus loves us and wants us to be free from sin, pain, and death.

We need not choose between truth and love. In fact, we must not choose. They always go together, because they are both grounded in the same Source, or specifically, the same Person.

We have focused this week on the work of the Holy Spirit during Holy Week. Let’s close today’s reflection with the fact that the Spirit not only convicts us of the sins for which Jesus died (John 16:8), but he also participates in our forgiveness and restoration “by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).

Whenever cultural flashpoints are used to judge the faith of others, the same script tends to be followed. An appeal is made to the Church’s witness and reputation in the wider world.

We have been exploring this week the implications for Christians of our status as the “children of God.” Yesterday, we noted that if we are children of one Father, we are members of one family. We are called to love each other as sisters and brothers and to serve each other as we serve our Lord. Today, let’s consider a corollary fact: as the children of God, we are to love the world as God loves the world, whether the world loves us or not.

If all Christians were more like Christ, could our post-Christian and even anti-Christian culture remain the same?