Loving God's Way: Part 1

We have so many ideas & opinions of what "Love" is. “Love” is one of the most common, yet misused and misunderstood words in the English language. On the bookshelf, “love” is synonymous with “romance” and seldom used without a sexual connotation. In our society, love is depicted by programs on television to pattern one’s life by. Commercials tempt the audience to try ehormony and other single search sites to find true love or your soulmate, where companions can be matched. Some of us even have a very fuzzy grasp of the meaning of love. The lyrics of all too many contemporary Christian songs use the word love in a way that falls far short of that which the Bible defines and describes. Some of these contemporary songs have no mention made of God Himself, of who He is. There is no mention of the chastening of the Lord as a manifestation of His love for us (see Heb. 12:3-13). There is no mention of our subordination or service, to God or to others.

Love is a subject of vital importance, not only because of our ideas about what love really is, but because love is a matter of highest priority: “But now abide faith, hope, and Charity, these three; but the greatest of these is Charity”. (1st Cor. 13:13) For a number of reasons, Paul regards love as greater even than faith and hope. To show the magnitude of the importance of defining what God's love is, allow me to summarize these:

(1) Love is greater than faith and hope because love is eternal, while faith and hope are temporal (see 1 Corinthians 13:8-13). Because that which God has promised cannot presently be seen, faith and hope are necessary in this life. But when the perfect comes, when our Lord returns and we are living eternally in His presence, we will no longer need faith, for we shall see Him and experience all that He has promised. Our hope will be fulfilled. Our love for Him, however, will last for all eternity, inspiring our worship and service in His presence.

(2) Love is the appropriate response to God’s love and grace, in Christ (see Luke 7:42, 47).

(3) Love is the great commandment and one of the distinguishing marks of a true disciple of our Lord (Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:33; Luke 6:27-36; John 13:35; 15:12-13).

(4) Love facilitates and contributes to Christian unity (John 17:20-26; Colossians 2:2; 3:14).

(5) Love is the lubricant which greatly reduces the friction which can build up between us and others (Ephesians 4:2; 1 Peter 4:8).

(6) Love is a key motive for our obedience to our Lord’s commands (John 14:15, 21, 23, 24; 15:10; 21:15-17; 1 John 5:2; 2 John 1:16).

(7) Love is a stabilizing factor in our lives (Ephesians 3:17).

(8) Love is the goal of Paul’s teaching as it should be the goal of all Christian teaching (1 Timothy 1:5).

(9) Love is the one command which encompasses all aspects of our Christian life (Romans 13:8-10; 1 Corinthians 16:14).

(10) Love makes our service more profitable to others and to us (1 Corinthians 8:1; 13:1-13).

(11) Love is a key element in our defenses against Satan’s attacks and devices (1 Thessalonians 5:8).

(12) Our love can and should be constantly growing (Philippians 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 3:12; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; Hebrews 10:24; 2 Peter 1:7).

(13) Our love can grow cold, especially in difficult times (Matthew 24:12; Revelation 2:4).

The vital role love must play in our Christian experience, and the concept of love prevalent today, makes this topic of great urgency and importance. We will show you according to the Bible what love is and how love behaves itself.

Pastor Hodges

April's Thought: Have You Dissembled in Your Heart?

To paraphrase Jeremiah chapter 42 - the children of Judah asked Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord, and all that the Lord told them to do, they would do - whether it be good or evil. They promised they would obey the word of the Lord. They wanted God to show them the way wherein they must walk, and the thing that they should do. God promised them that if they would obey, He would build them up, and not pull them down, and He would plant them and not pluck them up: God repented of the evil that He did to them. God told them that He would be with them to save them and to deliver them. God told them that He would show mercies unto them. However, if the children of Judah did not obey the voice of the Lord, God told them the consequences: they were going to die. They were going to die by the sword, famine and by the pestilence, and none of them would remain or escape from the evil that God was going to bring upon the land.

But in verse 20, God explained that he knew the people had dissembled in their hearts. (Dissembled: false appearance in order to conceal facts, feelings or intentions; to put on the appearance of something not actually felt or true; to hide real beliefs, feelings or intentions through misleading speech or behavior.)

God told them what He would do for them if they would obey, and He told them what He was going to do if they did not obey. They still dissembled in their hearts. They didn't plan on obeying God. Notice how they did not say they weren't going to obey, but their actions spoke louder than their words. In Jeremiah 43:2, the children of Judah told Jeremiah he spoke falsely. Now here comes the action. They were determined to do things their way in spite of what Jeremiah (the voice of the Lord) told them to do. In Jeremiah 44:16-17, they told Jeremiah as for the word that he spoke to them in the name of the Lord, that they were not going to hearken to it. They were going to certainly do whatsoever thing that goeth forth out of their own mouth and so forth and so on.

Saints, how are we doing? Are we dissembling things in our hearts? Are we saying, "I'm going to obey this, but I'm not going to obey that - it doesn’t matter if God told me to do or not to do - I'm going to do whatever I want to do!" Watch our now! We had better be careful. What about our love for one another, being in unity with one another, our church attendance, the dress standard, gossiping, etc.? We need to repent of such things and get down to business with God before He allows evil to come upon us and afterwards destruction.

Whatever God has checked or corrected us on, we need to obey God and the ministry (the voice of the Lord). If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.

Be blessed!
Pastor Eddie Hodges, Jr.

March's Thought: To What Are You Devoted?

It is a sad truth in our lives that we sometimes become more devoted to other things than God and His glory. Devotion is all around us in the world. Some of it is good and some of it is not. Good examples of devotion can be found in the love of a mother for her children and a father for his family. Bad examples can be found in extreme devotion to cars, houses, appearance, money, movie stars, sports teams and possessions. It is in our nature to become obsessed with things. Now, there is nothing wrong with being devoted to something -- unless that devotion becomes an obsession.

If it does, it pushes out proper behavior and proper admiration of God. This then becomes sinful. There should be nothing that holds more devotion in our lives than the Lord. Everything else must follow far behind. When you look at your own heart and look at what is most important to you, what you devote the most time to -- what will you find? To what are you most devoted? Though there are things that require greater amounts of time than worship and adoration of God (i.e. work, sleep), what is the most critical? What is the most important? We must evaluate what is most important to us and once again look to the cross of Christ where his love and patience abound.

The Scripture says, "If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself." 2 Timothy 2:13. Another scripture states: "For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?" Romans 3:3. Lastly, another scripture states: "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 Corinthians 1:9.

The priority of our devotion should always be God first. Notice the last verse above where it states that God desires we have fellowship with Jesus Christ. This fellowship is the Greek word "koinonia." It means "intimacy and communion." God wants this intimacy and this communion with us. He wants our devotion to Him because it is only in this intimacy with the Lord Jesus that we can truly know what proper devotion really is and thereby experience the wonderful joy of the Lord's grace in a great way.

We need to look to the cross where we see the wonderful demonstration of God's loving devotion to us. It is there that we see a perfect devotion, a perfect devotion combined with perfect love -- that brings glory to God.

Are you seeking God? Are you devotion yourself to Him? It is high time to seek the Lord and be devoted and dedicated to Him.

Pastor Eddie Hodges, Jr.