Tuesday: Love Never Fails
According to Jesus, the two greatest commandments are love to God and love to neighbor (Luke 10:27-28). He also showed us who our neighbors are (Luke 10:29-37). No question, too, that Jesus’ life, from beginning to end, was an expression of the pure love of God, who Himself is love (1 John 4:16).
Image © Kevin Carden from GoodSalt.com
Thus, if we are to reflect the character of God, if we are to help reveal to others the reality of God and what He is like, we are to love.
Think about it another way. One of the greatest “excuses” that people have used to reject Jesus and Christianity as a whole has been professed Christians themselves.
What are some examples you can find in history, or even today, of how “Christians,” or at least people bearing the name “Christian,” have done some terrible deeds, sometimes even in the name of Jesus? Does not even the book of Daniel (see Dan. 7:24-25 or Rom. 2:24) warn about this?
It’s no wonder that many people, through the ages and even today, have been turned off by Christianity as a whole. Thus, the imperative to reveal Christ to others through our own lives should be stronger than ever. And nothing can do this more powerfully than the kind of love expressed by Jesus Himself being expressed in our own lives as well.
Read 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. What does Paul say love is? What does he say love isn’t? What does he say love does? What does he say love doesn’t do? In short, how is love to be expressed in our lives as Christians, and how does love fit in with how we are to be witnesses to our community? More important, what changes do you need to make in order to reveal this kind of love?
(23)
Lord, help me to love those in my life whom I consider to be 'unloveable'.
Amen that's my prayer too and when people irritate you may I have patience with them
Thank you Lord Jesus
One important thing that has been stolen from us is the thinking pattern which is heavenly We are supposed to always start with our FATHER GOD when we need to decide on anything but we go on without consulting HIM and we end up making mistakes If we would ask HIM before we decide we could be filled with love that doesn'thave any comparison of situations or people
Rom 2:24...brethren we are being reminded of our duty to live true to the Gospel of Christ. God wants to use us to attract the world to Him...if I am lifted up like the serpent I would draw the world to me...Jesus said that. This is a promise that Many people shall be drawn to Christ through the way we talk, treat them or others. Lets do unto others as we expect from others. Today I resolve to be true n honest to God inspite of for God has loved me inspite of. I will not be careless in my words, thoughts, n actions. Oh God help me..
Sometimes we seem to want to love the persons closest to us and not those that seem to rub us the wrong way. Lord help me to love as you taught us to love
I pray that Christ transforms my heart and implant his love in me, so I can reflect his character. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own. – {COL 69.1}
Esther
Yes. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a right spirit within me.
And let me love as Thou doest love, for God is love.
Love suffereth long and is kind. Lord help me to display these qualities.
My only concern with this lesson is that the lesson mixes verses that have different meanings for the Believer....for instance, the verses from Daniel refer to the Anti-Christ whereas the verses from Luke refer to non-Christians., verses from 1Cor13 refer to treatment of Christians....we need to be careful about not drawing conclusions from verses when the verses are not speaking to that particular group.
Mark, it appears that the lesson author brings up the passage in Daniel as an example of Christians doing terrible deeds in the name of Christ. And certainly that text is appropriate.
As to your concerns re the antichrist: It literally means "against" Christ. Seeing that is so, are believers not "against Christ" when they misrepresent Christ in their lives? So perhaps the comparison is valid? How important is the distinction really between misrepresenting Christ to other Christians or to non-Christians?
Amen! And then there is our own leadership that places little or no importance nor will they preach about the importance of strictly adhering to the counsel of Jesus in Matthew 18:15-17 and Matthew 5:23,24 counsels regarding those who offend us or that we offended or those whom we feel are out of line or out of our social circle. We go on and set up committees against someone rather than to counsel and advice to stay strictly by the steps of these counsels of Jesus Himself. EGW indicated in her day that the church needed to reform in this but I have been a SDA for over 50 years and have not seen any reform in this myself. So if Jesus is waiting for His Character to be perfectly reproduced, I do not see that this will occurr until WE reform regarding this counsel first and especially the leadership.
I heard someone testify saying that he didn't come to church through preaching. His neighbor showed him all the kindness in the world but never one day invite him to church nor tell him about Jesus. The kindness that this person showed him led him to attending that person's church and becoming a christian.
It was His love and kindness that pulled people to Jesus (Jeremiah 31:3). In the same way our love and kindness should draw people to our God.
Indeed Esther thats a very powerful quote. How can Christ claim us as His own when we are not fully His? How can we be fully His without surrendering and giving all to Him? May we daily make the choice to let Christ occupy the throne of our hearts and save us from our weak, unchristlike selves
I think that sometimes we paint a rosy picture of Christian love but we have to remember that the sort of love we are talking about is the love that drove Christ to the cross. Today's lesson is titled, "Love never fails" but it is not talking about singing or talking about it. Christian love has to be pretty tough. It moves us out of our comfort zone.
Any one of us who is a parent know that their is a time when your parental love is tested. I remember my kids as rebellious teenagers testing the boundaries of parental control. When they shout at you and call you names, and slam the door of their bedrooms - and this goes on for weeks sometimes; Do you still love them? Of course we do. Because familial love persists.
Here is a thought: There are a lot of ex Seventh day Adventists around. According to some statistics there are twice as many ex-Adventists as practising Adventists. I wonder how many ex-Adventists feel loved by those of us who still claim to be loving Adventists. Does the practice of tough Christian love persist towards those who no longer worship with us, or do we keep our love enclosed withing the walls of the church!
Profound thoughts indeed Br Maurice. May God help us step out of our comfort zone!
I think this is so often true... just as you say Maurice, "Christian love has to be pretty tough."
Many statements in the Spirit of Prophecy reflect this view. A good, clear, statement relating to this is,
"The sentimental and tasteful religion is not needed for this time." (2Selected Messages p.382)
Christian love is pure, and will never resort to outright [or even subtle] aggression, but still, Christian love is often made "of none effect" because it it based on sentimental niceties.
Let's be careful not to cultivate a "sentimental and tasteful" kind of love. Especially not now, as we go through these last days. That kind of love "is not needed", and more than that, it can, I think, very quickly misrepresent God and grieve away His Spirit.
In order to reveal God's love we have to go through self-denial and attain selflessness with the help of God. When we priorities God everything else will follow. We can show love to everyone by giving them our time and attention not only tangible things (which is also good). People will be more keen to know about your God when you have the "anyway" principle.
The parable that Jesus told of the Good Samaritan captures today's lesson title viz Love never fails beautifully. Samaritans were detested and despised by the Jews and yet in the parable of Jesus it was the Samaritan who showed mercy and love to a traveller in need. A true follower of Christ reflects the character of the Master (1 John 4: 16) and instilled in his/her's heart is the law of love.
The central tenent of true discipleship is, of course, to love God and to love one's neighbour by showing mercy to those in need. We are to help and assist all who are suffering without regard to race, creed or gender. The priest and Levite belonged to an elite Jewish class and they were supposedly religious people yet they showed no compassion to the injured traveller. They deliberately ignored the needs of a helpless, injured and suffering victim of crime.
I believe that Jesus wants us to be prepared to go to the lost, the outcasts and needy; touch the untouchable/ the unclean; show the love of God to all who are in need, whoever they may be, wherever they may be. The parable attacks unChrist-like behaviour such as racial prejudice and teaches the true meaning of love.
We know that God is truly working in us when we are able to love someone who has done us harm. Stephen asked God to forgive those who were taking his life away from him and in so doing demonstrated that he genuinely care for his enemies.
Paul is making the point in 1 Cor 13:5-7 that love if it's genuine will overcome all obstacles, hurt and pain and will therefore prevail. That's the lesson I believe that Jesus wants us to learn. As christians we hurt so many people and therefore bring a reproach to the gospel. We need to strive each day with the help of God to be light bearers so that like Daniel people cannot find fault in us, but instead would be drawn to us.
The world sees two types of love. I love you but I am not in love with you. There is only one type of love and that love comes from God. I love Him because He first loved me. If we have that type of love for our fellow man we will lift God up so He can draw all men to Himself. Otherwise we will draw all men to ourselves and drive men away from God.
May God help us to love one another despite the colour,tribe,country, content.