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The Greatest of These is Love

If we could sum up The Lord God in one word we would have a hard time finding any word better than Love. However, I pray and hope that we are learning that it is not love as the world defines it or lives it out…quite the opposite.

We’ve come full circle…over the last 20 weeks or so we’ve focused on Love from the priority and perspective of God’s Word and His Covenant Order found therein. We began with the prayer and goal of fulfilling God’s commands by focusing on the two greatest commands that sum up all others…1) Love God with all our being and; 2) Love all others as we love ourselves.

This requires us first knowing God and He has been more than transparent in making Himself known in Creation and through His Son and His Word as well as His Spirit. In His Word we found that he explicitly revealed Himself through 75+ names that showed us the totality of His character. Not only do His Names reveal Who He Is and His character but with beautiful and powerful timing, provision, guidance and whatever else was needed. He wants us to know Him so we can truly know His Love and love Him…this was the purpose of the first series, The Names of God.

The second consisted of 10 or messages where The Lord revealed once again through His Word who we are as we are born again and recreated in Christ for His purposes and His Kingdom and Glory. The purpose of this second series was for us to be able to push aside and override how the enemy, the world and even our own sinful flesh likes to proclaim who we are so we could see truthfully who we are in Christ…The Identity in Christ series!

Finally we are wrapping up the third and final series, “One Another” in which we have found that there are by most counts at least 59 “one anothers” in Scripture that all point to how we are, as Christ’s disciples and in His Love, to treat others in that love. In most cases these commands were a call as to how to bless, encourage, build up, teach, forgive and humbly serve others as well as many others. In a few of the commands it became obvious that they were given as negative commands…what not to do or stop doing…in order to battle against the natural tendencies that we must admit to found in the negative and sinful nature of our own flesh…do not slander, don’t lie, and other related ones.

Ultimately each of these…what we are commanded to do with and for one another and what we are to refrain from doing point to the ultimate “one another” and that it how we are to “love one another” summed up in yesterday’s episode.

With that summary we are wrapping up our “one anothers” today and my prayer is that you’ve taken some time to go deeper in God’s Word and in prayer, in His Spirit, over the past few months as we’ve focused on the 1st and 2nd Greatest Commands (that sum up all the commands (law) and teachings of the prophets), again…1) Worship God alone and love Him with all your being (Mark 12:29-30) and; 2) Love others as you love yourself and as He has loves us (Mark 12:31; John 13:34)!

As you are led by The Holy Spirit and so inclined go back starting with Names of God, episode 1, and you will see the development according to God’s Word of these great commands beginning with the Names of God to know and love Him with all our being. Then you’ll find our Identity in Christ so we can know and love…be confident and content in…who we are in order to die to self (give our self away) for the sake of loving others…found in this last series, “One Another.”

My prayer is that you are choosing to follow His teachings in line with His Covenant Order and praying/desiring yourself to mature as a Christ follower in fulfilling the greatest commands ever given in order that many will come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord through your living out His Truth in Love. I also pray you are blessed of The Lord and that you are His blessing to others by showing them what His Love really entails…much higher, deeper and wider than anything that we call love in this world!

Allow The Lord to have His way in your life as His Spirit in Christ draws you to Himself to love Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and that you would see who you are and love who you are in Christ so you can show others God’s Love…the Love of Christ in and through you. May many come to know Jesus as Savior and walk as His disciple with Him as Lord as you live out the greatest of these…His Love!

Food for Thought…We’ve covered a lot in this “One Another” series and I hope you’ve followed along and/or will go back and check them out to see how you’re doing when it comes to loving others as you love yourself and as He has loved you. The greatest power in all the universe is God’s Love rooted in His Truth which leads to His Truth being lived out in His Love. If you know Jesus as Savior and Lord continue to walk out His Love by His Spirit so the world will know. If you don’t yet know this incredible Love by knowing Him as Savior and Lord why not today? Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com for more info and to find out how you can know Jesus as Savior and Lord, know God’s never-failing Love and share it with others.

Action Steps…

1. Spend time with God and in His Word, prayer and listening every day…begin with the Scriptures in this message.
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
3. Honestly assess how you have seen love depicted in your life and in our culture and how that has affected what you think regarding love.
4. Determine to know and love God according to His Word and from there learn to truly love yourself (who you are in Christ) so you can love others like He does. Find out what it means when His Word says, “the greatest of these is love.”  

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus… Heavenly Father, thank You for making it so obvious what love is and how we are to love in Your design and Covenant Order. Forgive us when we fail to follow Your Truth and try to love from our own flesh and desires. Help us to love You with all we are and in so doing learn to know and love who we are in Christ so we can love others as we love ourselves and as You love us. In Jesus Name. Amen.