GOD IS LOVE

The bible made us to understand that anyone who does not love, does not know God, because God is love:

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love (1 John 4. 8).

In the dictionary, Love is defined as “a strong feeling of deep affection for Somebody or something”. However in recent times, the word “love” is being misused by some persons, making it very meaningless to many. These days,. when " people say “I love you” it does-not connote any in-depth affection for one another. The wOrd 'love' to many people nowadays could mean different things. Some people feel that . the word love is merely used only when people want to lure each other 1nto sexual relationships.

Girls use the Word 'love‘ or 'I love you' mostly when they want to collect enough money from their male friends. Such girls Usually wear Tee shirts with bold inScriptions “NO MONEY NO LOVE”. They believe that there is love only when money is available. These Tee shirts are not only made for girls. In Nigeria and many other African countries, boys also put on the Tee'shirts to show that the statement NO MONEY NO LOVE is acceptable to all. Others feel that love does not exist any more But even though love has been misunderstood misused and bastardized by many people all over the world: the true love of God for man still exists, this is called the ‘Agape‘ love. This is the kind ,of love that really means LOVE in all its ramifications; Love that means deep affection for another. The kind of love that forgives freelywithout any condition(s) attached, as the bible says:

For by grace are ye Saved through faith; and not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast (Ephesians’ 2: 89).

For example I, who has now been given the commission to preach the message of forgiveness all over the world, am not the most righteous man for this type of commission. It is only by the special Grace of God that this privilege is given to me, to be the Minister of this great commission of “Jesus Forgiveness Ministry”. This is the true love of God for man. The whole world is experiencing many problems today because of pride in the hearts of people and because of lack of love, remorse and humility. Everybody is claiming rights, as no one likes to accept his or her fault to say 'I am sorry even among family members (Husband and Wife).

In the good old days when people meet each other in transport vehicles, they exchanged pleasantries with love in their hearts. They enquired of each other's health and family conditions This always created great excitements and joy with hearts full of love towards one another, making life very meaninglul and enjoya ble. But nowadays, the story is different people no longer have love in their hearts towards one another Even when they step on each others toes as they try to enter the vehicle, there is no apology for such actions or mistakes because of the anger they have in their minds towards everybody around them. Recently there was a story of a certain government worker whom a man Who was in a rush to enter into a commercial bus, stepped on his shoes while he was boarding a bus to work. But instead of the government wOrker to forgive the man for that minor error, decided to give the man a hard slap on his face and the man fell down and died on. the spot. Instantly the government worker was arrested and detained, he was later charged for murder. Forgiveness may seem difficult sometimes but it is better and cheaper for us, since it will not cost us extra pain to love and forgive. Although it may seem easy and interesting in our minds to fight back, but it eculd be costly on the long run just like this government worker may spend the rest of his life in prison, for failing to love and . forgive his offender.

Many people now go about with-bitterness, malice and. hatred in their hearts towards one another. That spirit or state of bitterness of mind has been transferred into .messages now preached in some churches at the moment, thereby creating enmity within the church which often times results in the prayers of “ENEMY FALL DOWN AND DIE”. Such preaching of 'enmity' has become so widespread and deep rooted in many churches today, so much, that people now see one another as enemies, thereby fulfilling the bible prophecy in Matthew 24: 12 that says that in the last days the love of many will get cold.

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold (Matthew 24: 1-2).

The bible said that in the last days the love of many will wax cold because of the wickedness that will abound in the hearts of people, which is now true. But such wicked mind, if not changed, will not take a Christian far, especially into heaven.

Nowadays, people relate to one another with great suspicions in their hearts. As a result, they create . unfounded enmity, malice and bitterness within themselves.

Those thoughts result from some of the preaching from the pulpit which makes them believe that anybody around them is a possible enemy and that such a person or enemy must die, or must be killed with prayers of fire before they themselves are harmed or killed. When you hear of programs like (a) The pharaoh must die (b) The goliath in our lives must die (c) There is a war at the gate etc, people always have the feeling that the Pharaoh and the Goliath must be the people around them, thereby increasing suspicion in their hearts towards everyone around Some of such messages create unnecessary panic and fears in the hearts of worshippers, making them to be combat ready and always willing to revenge, which is not supposed to be a character of a good Christian with a loving heart.

I remember a story that one of my friends told me. He said that a certain preacher once told him that“ on your way to
fulfilling your destiny, everybody is a suspeCt including fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, friends and relatives. All are suspected enemies” .Now according to him, the question that had been bothering him is that, if all these people mentioned above are all under suspicion, then Who should he relate with in life? He. said, since hearing that message, he had been living in fear and feeling very unhappy with people and life generally becauSe he now sees everybody around him as enemies. But the truth is that everyone around him cannot all be his enemies as he was made to believe by that preacher.

It is good for any Christian who is supposed to be a child of God to know that it is a sin for anyone to suspect people and be angry with them without a cause as many do today. Even
if people offend us, the real love of the Almighty God in our hearts should make us to forgive them. It is better for Christians who are called the children of God to know the attribute of God's love, which Will make them to be the real children of God the Father Who is in heaven. The bible says;

Beloved, let us love one anbther: for love is of God and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God (1 John: 4: 7).

One of the greatest attributes of God revealed to man is love.That is why Jesus Christ said in the seriptures that we, Hisfollowers, should love our enemies because that is what can identify us as children of God. Matthew 5: 44–46 says:

But I say unto you Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven. for He maketh His 'sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the Just and the unjust. For if ye love them that love you what rewards have ye? Do not even the publican the same?”

It means that to love is God's will for us His children. For you to be a child of the Father who is in heaven, Jesus Christ said. we must emulate Him. In the bible Jesus Christ said, if we love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us and pray for them who despitefully use us and persecute us, then we are indeed the children of God because

He does not discriminate against people. When He sends ' water from heaven to us through the rain, everybody benefits

from it because God, does not want any to perish. Likewise, When He makes the sun to give us the needed heat and light, He gives to all because He loves us all. Jesus Christ told us this to make us know that love is the heartbeat of God and it will be wrong to say we are children of God when there is no love in us. According to Jesus, the greatest of all the laws in the bible are summarised in love; “love God with all your heart, soul, mind together with all strength and to love your neighbour as yourself” (Mark 12:29-30). In verse 33 Jesus concluded by saying that, loving God and our neighbour is more than all wholeburnt offerings and sacrifices.

When we show love, we are displaying the character of God our heavenly Father. This will make Him to be happy with us as His good children. In 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3, Apostle Paul said that even if we Speak with the tongues of men and of angels but do not have charity, we are like a sounding brass or tinkling cymbals. He went on to say that even though we have the gift of prophecy, understand all mysteries and knowledge including faith that can move
mountains but have no charity, it amounts to nothing. Even if we feed many ' people including the poor without having charity, it is fruitless and would not attract any reward from God. This is . because it is not the giving that matters but the motive for giving or the state of your mind at the time of giving.

What this means is that some people can give because they 'feel compelled to give without the love of giving in their . hearts. Such people complain. after giving toother people. because what they have given out was not given out of charity. Onlookers may see such people as being kind but deep within them, there is no charity. Such people feel that if they do not give, people would complain and call them wicked personsslf that is the reason behind their giving,
such is Without charity or love and therefore cannot be rewarded by God because God is love. These types of people. are merely menpleasers. Jesus asked Peter “do you love me?” three times to be Sure if Peter really loved Him. When. Peter Said that he loVed Him Jesus told Peter that if he loved Him, he should feed His Sheep (John 21: 1517).

So when they had dined, Jesus Saith to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonas, loveSt thou me more than these? He Saith unto him, Yea Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him Feed my lambS(John21:15).

Jesus asked Peter because if We Say that we love God and His Son Jesus Christ, We must first of all love the people We See around us daily.

Love will make us go the extra mile in helping and feeding people Without any grudge in our hearts. We Should always help Others, not because we are expecting payback from the ’people We are helping, but because this is the attribute of God our Father Which we muSt emulate (Matt 5: 4-18) if we Want to remain His children. In 1 Peter2: 12, the Bible tells us that if We have honest conversation among people, even . though they erroneously speak against us as evildoers because they do not understand us as they also did to Jesus when they see the good works that We do, they Will glorify God. So let us do good to others With a heart of charity, Which is an indepth love of God from Which there! will be glorification to God from unbelievers who are always around Watching our steps and actions daily. Abraham our father,
known as a man of great faith, also had the attributes of love even towards strangers, as recorded in the bible:

Let alittle water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet And rest yourselves under the tree. And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts: after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant And they said so do, as thou hast said (Genesis 18: 4-5).

There We see how Abraham entreated strangers to wash their feet and asked them to have a rest under the tree. He also volunteered to provide them a morsel of bread before he would allow them to leave This is because he (Abraham) had. the Godkind of love. By such love displayed, Abraham gotgreat blessings.

With these blessings in mind, many Christians always sing a song that says “Abraham's blessings are mine” but without . understanding that the blessings of Abraham came as a result of his love for others. Someone Who professes to be a child of God but does not have the attribute of love may not 'get the fullness of the blessings from the heavenly Father who IS the God of love. God almighty 1n a display of His love to mankind sent His only begOtten Son Jesus Christ to come and die for our sins that through His (Jesus Christ) death and resurrection, we Can have life everlasting 1 John 4: 10 says

Herein is love, not that toe love God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to belthe propitiation for our sins

This is a display of love which came to Us even before repentance. There is a great lesson to draw from this kindness of God toWards us all. The lesson is that we Christians should not wait fer our offenders to come to us before we forgive them because God did not wait for us to repent of our sins before He sent Jesus Christ, His only begotten son to come and redeem us from the bondage of sin.

But God commendeth His l6ve towards us, in that while We were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8).

This shows that we can forgive in advance, knowing fully well that people Will always Offend us. Forgiving one another is ' what can link us with God because loving the people you see is appreciating the work of God, and With that you are also loving God the creator.

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brather whom he hath seen. how can he love God whom he hath not seen (1 John 4. 20).

This is because if someone says he / she loves God but does not love the people God created that he / she can see 6r sees day by day, then the truth is not in such a person. Jesus Christ spoke extensively. on the need for us to show love towards one another. In John 14. 15, Jesus Christ said if we love Him, then we must keep His commandments among. which is “love your neighbour as yourself”.

In the book of Mark, Where Jesus Christ fed the multitude it was because of His deep affection for the people:

I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: and kf I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for diverse of them came from far(Mark 8. 2-3).

If Jesus had not fed them, nobody could or Would have been . angry with Him; after all, Jesus was not known to be a cook . or caterer that provides food for people. But because of His love for the people, He fed them. That is how we, the followers of Christ are supposed to love and take care of people, even though they are not our blood relations as Jesus did. In James chapter 2: 8, the bible says:

If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scriptures, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself ye do well.

This means that for us to fulfill all the laws, we must love our neighbours as ourselves, including all the pe0ple who Offend us knowingly or unknowingly, even if they do not come to render apology or repent before us. Jesus Christ commanded us in many places in the bible to love one another.

The command to love one another is a very important commandment to Christians. If you want more love in the world, create more love in your heart. Love for instance, is generated by our heart Out of the desire to love someone else, unless such a desire exist in us, love will not be generated or felt. So for any-one to get' more love from others, he or she must endeavour to generate love from his or her inside. In the physical world, we need to have, so we can give. Yet in the intangible world of love, we need to give so we can have. Therefore let's give love to others, so we can have it. If we wait to have love from others before we give it, we will never experience it. Today, let's look for ways on how we can love those around us in spite ‘of what they do. Remember, we are also doing it for ourselves, because when you keep love to yourself you lose or it becomes un-useful, but when you give love out to others, you get mOre love back from them. The more love we give the more love we get back. Often love . generates smiles, and smile expresses love faster than anything else. Smile, is one of the special gifts of God 1n us that can not be stolen, begged or bought from anybody but if we give it out, makes people happy. Therefore in addition to any other way, let us express our love to others with a smile.

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