Sep 26, 2014 Words of Grace – Love Defined
We started our church-wide discussion on love several weeks ago with 1 John 2:15, “Love not the world nor the things of the world.” Now we read in John 3:16 that God loves the world. Shouldn’t we love what God loves? Should we love, or not love, the world?
The answer is not found in redefining “world” by saying that we are not to love one kind of world while God loves another kind of world. The world is the world – in rebellion against God and under the judgment of God.
The answer is found in clearly defining love. The kind of love Christians are told not to have for the world is self-indulgent and participates in the self-exaltation of the world over the lordship of God. This kind of love for the world prefers things to God.
God’s love is giving, sacrificing, and dying love. God’s love provided the way of salvation in Christ and calls people in the world to repent, believe, and have life. God’s love is the kind of love we are to have for the world.
What we need is the love of God to awaken in us love for God. The love of God for us and love for God in us will expel the wrong kind of love for the world. Then, we are in the position to rightly love the world.
This weekend, slow down, sit down and read John 3:16-21. Ask God to work his love deep into your soul.
I hope to see you Sunday.
– Scott