Praise the Lord! This week we continue our study on the power of love with a focus on a few Biblical characteristics of love and the benefits of walking in love.
Love is not proud
Pride goes before a fall. Proverbs 16:18. To be proud is to have an inflated view of yourself. Such a view of yourself will only cause your downfall. “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:6. This Scripture is worth noting because imagine God Himself opposing you; you will certainly have no hope.
On the other hand, when we are humble at heart and walk in humility, God rains His favor on us. So what will you prefer? God’s opposition or His favour? I want God’s favor! I don’t know about you. And the Bible says that God’s favor is for a lifetime. Therefore to qualify for God’s favor, we must be humble. The verse 7 of 1 Peter 5 encourages us to humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift us up in due time. Humility is a priceless virtue we all need to pursue. When we humble ourselves under God’s mighty Hand, He will lift us up when the time is due.
Forgiveness
Love keeps no record of wrongs. 1 Cor. 13:4. The Bible says we should leave no debt outstanding except the continuing debt of loving one another. For whoever loves has fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8. Exercising the love of God is such an important part of our Christian walk because it is key to our health and prosperity. We must erase from our minds harmful and toxic memories of ill treatments from other people. We must go to God and ask for the cleansing power of His Blood to erase such memories from our minds because God’s love keeps no record of wrongs.
The Bible says that the Blood of Christ will cleanse our conscience from dead works so that we can serve the living God. Heb. 9:14. We must also be willing to let go of grudges and hurtful feelings in our hearts. One cannot walk in love without exercising forgiveness because people often step on our toes but the love of God in our hearts will compel us to forgive every time. Do not mark people’s sin in your mind or take them to heart.
Part of walking in love is to make a conscious effort to delete people’s wrongdoings from our hearts and minds so that we can still be good to them and love them. And that is how God loves us. Psalm 130:3-4 says “If You, Lord kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness, so that we can with reverence serve You.” Imagine if the Lord kept a record of your sins, how can you survive? You certainly will not have any hope! But thank God that He doesn’t. When we ask Him for forgiveness, He wipes all our sins away; He casts them into the sea of forgetfulness.
When God forgives, He forgets. God said in Isaiah 43:25: “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” Why does God not keep a record of our sins? It is so that He can bless us.
In the same way, we also should deliberately decide to erase people’s wrongs against us, so that we can love them and be good to them because love is the command of the New covenant. As believers, the only debt we are allowed to owe is the continual debt of loving others. The love of God is a command from God. Just before Jesus left the earth, He gave this command to His disciples which was to love one another as He had loved them.
““A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.””
John 13:34-35 NIV
Beloved, the love of God is a command- it is the command of the New Testament/ covenant. We know that it is obedience to God’s command that makes us attract His blessings.
You do not have to worry yourself about any Old Testament commandment; all you have to do is walk in the love of God because when you are walking in love, you have fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8: says that love is the fulfillment of the law.
There is a slight difference in Jesus’ new command to His disciples, which extends to us. In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our souls and with all our minds. The second is to love our neighbour as ourselves.
However, in John 13:34, Jesus’ new commandment is to love one another AS HE HAS LOVED US. It is new in the sense that we are no longer to love our neighbour as ourselves, but rather to love them as Christ has loved us. How did Christ love us?
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8 NIV
Christ loved us in our sin, whilst we were still powerless and incapable of loving Him back. That means we shouldn’t wait for people to act right or be their best before we love them. No, we must love people in their shortcomings. That is how Christ loved us.
Our Lord Jesus also demonstrated His love by laying down His life for us. We also ought to lay down our lives for our brethren.
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”
1 John 3:16 NIV
How do we lay down our lives for our brethren?
“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
1 John 3:17-18 NIV
It is by the giving of our resources to support those who are in need.
Walking in love is key to divine health
“He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.””
Exodus 15:26 NIV
We have already established that love is the command of the New Testament/ covenant. We could therefore say that according to Exodus 15:26, if we keep God’s commandment of love, He will not allow the devil to afflict us with sicknesses and disease because He is the Lord our Healer.
The Lord also says in Exodus 23:25-26:
““So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.”
Exodus 23:25-26 NKJV
When we serve the Lord our God, He blesses our food and takes sicknesses from our midst. The key to good health is walking in love and serving the Lord. Miscarriage is forbidden for the one who loves God and serves Him. Barrenness in any form will not be allowed in that person’s life. Walking in love and serving the Lord will make us fruitful in every endeavor. Another important promise to take note of is that we will fulfill the number of our days. That means God will give us a full life span. Walking in love is key to long life. To enjoy long life, we must walk in love and serve the Lord wholeheartedly.
Beloved, the love of God is a defense against the ills of life. If you want to stand tall in your Christian walk and in all areas of life, be a passionate lover of God. The Bible says love does no harm to a neighbour. Romans 13:10. Therefore if you want to walk in all the commandments of God, you must walk in love because love is the fulfillment of the law. Walking in love is part of godliness and the Bible says godliness is profitable in all things. It has promise for the life now and that which is to come. 1 Timothy 4:8. That means when we walk in love, we will profit in all things. We may have challenges, but we will certainly overcome them in Jesus Name. Walking in love is profitable! It’s profitable for divine protection, long life, prosperity and good health. So Beloved, make the love of God your greatest quest in life and you are sure to be on the path to a life of conquest. God bless us!
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