The Love of God

July/Holiness

6 July 2010

Love of the living God washes the soul, contents the mind, magnifies rewards, casts out vices, renders the earth hateful, washes and binds the thoughts.

- Colman mac Beognai, Aipgitir Chrabaid (Irish, 7th century)

He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep."

- John 21.17

Does Jesus know that you love Him? It's a question worth pondering. Certainly Jesus pressed it on Peter firmly, by it coaxing repentance from him and cloaking renewal upon him. Sometimes that phrase, "love of God," is deliberately vague in the Greek of the New Testament. Does it mean the love God has for us? Certainly that washes us and brings contentment to our minds, as well as all the rest. Jesus' love for Peter renewed his soul and set his life on a course to change history.

Sometimes the phrase seems to mean, "the love I/we have for God." Peter had to be renewed by God's love for him before he could renew love for God. It is always this we: "we love because He first loved us," declared the Apostle John. The proper response to God's loving us is to love Him, and to strive to see that our love for Him measures up to the love He has for us.

God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to redeem us. He became a servant so that we, through His suffering, might be made whole. We love God properly in return when we yield our lives to Him to serve Him according to whatever He asks of us. Feed His sheep, reach out to the lost, comfort the weary, teach the young, give to the needy - whatever He asks, it's not too much for us to give. If we love God with anything remotely reflecting the love He has for us, we will do whatever He calls us to do.

Does Jesus know that you love Him? Do others? God's love for us was made visible in the gift of His Son. Our love for Him must be made visible as well, every day, in every situation in which we find ourselves. Let Jesus - and all those around you - see that you love Him, and watch how lives will change. Beginning with yours.

July Exercise: Download "Called to Be Witnesses." For the first week (July 1-11), read this little brochure over several times each day. On several days during this period, rate yourself - 1 to 10 - on the two areas, A Way of Life and Empowered for Witness. Talk with the Lord about why you rated yourself the way you did, and look for ways to improve these two aspects of your call to be holy.

Today in ReVision: A Friend of Liberty - Let us take John Witherspoon's counsel to heart.

This Week's Download: Called to Be Witnesses - Download this freebie and join us for the July exercise in the pursuit of holiness.

The new installment of Kingdom Civics is up on the website, the last in this first series. Next week we begin a series on Kingdom Documents, as we continue learning the ins and outs, the protocols and procedures, of living in the Kingdom of Christ. Visit our book store while you're at the site.

T. M. Moore, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.