The Power of Love part 1
There are some things that we seem to take for granted in the "church world." One of them is that God is all-powerful. But it doesn't seem like we make the connection that if God is all-powerful, and God is love... that means LOVE is all-powerful. It doesn't seem like we turly understand the power of love. Even though, according to 1 Corinthians 13:8 (NIV), "Love never fails..." It's like we still use love as last chance instead of first choice. Like... we'll try to do it ourselves, and then once we inevitably fail, we'll give God a chance. It's like we'd rather dig a hole and then hope and pray that God will help us out of it instead of including Him right from the start. And this really shows a lack of God-consciousness. Because if we think there's ever a time when He's not present anyway, then we've really missed another thing we seem to take for granted; God is omnipresent. He's everywhere all the time. And, more importantly, He's living in you! So wherever you go, there you are. And wherever you go, there HE is. There is no, "I'm leaving God out of this one." Even when Adam and Eve hid from the presence of God... He was still right there with them. He swore He would never leave us nor forsake us. What am I trying to say? I'm trying to say, "...God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7). In the NLT it reads like this, "God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." We can live fearlessly when we understand that perfect love casts out fear. When we understand that there is no fear in love. There is no darkness in the light. We don't have to run around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get something we think we haven't got, or afraid to lose what we think we have got. We can be still and know that He is God. We can be still and know that God is love. And love never fails. Now I preach and Rant on this a lot, but I want to mention it here because it goes along with my theme. When I say God (love) is all-powerful I'm not saying MOST powerful. I'm saying God (love) has ALL the power. God (love) IS all the power. Think about it. Jesus went to the cross and won the war to end all wars. Not by fighting, in the traditional sense, but by laying His life down. By surrendering. By giving everything He was and everything He had. Because that's what love is. Love is giving. Giving all you have and all you are for, and to, your neighbor. And just when death thought it had won the victory, life prevailed. Death could not hold life down. Death took it's best shot and proved itself to be absolutely powerless. And that's a good thing for those of us who have spent a lot of time and effort fearing death. The cross freed us from death. Because we WERE dead in our trespasses and sins. But not we are alive in Him. Because He is alive in us. Because LOVE is alive in us. And when life and death fought... life won. Abundant, eternal, everlasting, Resurrection Life won when Jesus laid His life down (both for us and as us) and then took it back up again. When Jesus rose from the dead. When WE rose from the dead in Him! There is nothing more important than love. And, luckily, there is nothing more powerful than love. No matter who, what, where, when, why, or how... love never fails!