The Power of Love part 2
It's almost unfathomable how powerful love is. But I'll try to say it as simply as I can: "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). When we had nothing to offer... God gave us His only beloved Son. He gave us His very life. Everything He was and everything He had. Because love is not about getting. Love IS giving. And that's what makes it so powerful. Remember my verse that I believe is the best definition of love? 2 Corinthians 12:15 in the NLT, "I will gladly spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me." Even though. See, love is not conditional. If it's conditional, it's not love. Because when you put a condition on love, you give the condition more power than the love itself. Which is not to say that it IS more powerful. Remember, God (love) is ALL-power. Which means God (love) has ALL the power. But Jesus said it like this, "Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition..." (Mark 7:13). The power is still there, but we don't USE the power. That's why receiving is so important. The gift has been given. But if we don't receive it we can't experience it or enjoy it. Again, that's where the Holy Spirit comes in. Because, according to 1 John 2:20, "...ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." We know it all. We have it all. But we don't seem to understand what we know. We don't seem to realize what we have. Or realize how powerful it is. So the Holy Spirit--our love receptor--leads and guides us into all truth. We "know" it, with a head knowledge, but we need to KNOW it, with a heart knowledge. Look at Genesis 3:8. After Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (the tree of death) this happened: "And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden." A couple of things here: First, how could they hear the voice of the Lord walking? Because the Word was made flesh. That's Jesus. The Word of God. Love. And secondly, because they were ashamed of their nakedness, they HID from the presence of God. The presence was still there. God promised to never leave us nor forsake us. He moved into the neightborhood, into US, and He's never moving out. But there's a big difference between something being true, and that same thing being true... for you! The truth HAS set you free and made you free. But until you KNOW and BELIEVE the truth--that you are loved--you are going to act like a slave. Until you know where the source of love is, you're going to look for love in all the wrong places. Until you understand that the grass is NOT greener on the other side, and that there's no better place to be than in the outstreched arms of a God who would literally rather die than be without you... until you understand what you have... you'll always be trying to get something. You'll be willing to do anything for it. Even eat from a tree than can only produce death. Not because you WANT death, but because you think it's the only way to get what you DO want. But that's the lie. You already have it. You just need to stop hiding from it. And the thing is, love never fails. That's the power of love. It's not dependent on what you do. It's dependent on who you are. And on who God is. Father... and Son.