Full life in love (Part 2)
Faustino de Jesús Zamora Vargas
SUMMARY: The key to experiencing joy and happiness is to know and love God. We cannot truly love others as the Master wants us to without first discovering His love. The church's failure to practice the love of God is one of its most notable problems. We must learn to give the love we have received from God and intercede for the Spirit to work in others. Our strength and joy come from God's love, and we must share it with others.
The inventor of love looked down from heaven and tore his garments. He saw the crown of his creation in the confusion that liberality brings and found a strange kind of faith, as if woven with some synthetic, plastic fiber, empty of love. It was a single commandment that left men and it seems that it is becoming more and more difficult to fulfill. While man lays the foundation of his life in knowing and loving himself as the first step to be happy, the Lord remembers that in order to experience joy and happiness, the essential thing is to know him and know his love. The Lord speaks to us through the prophet Jeremiah: - “If anyone is to boast, let him boast of knowing me and understanding that I am the Lord, that I act on earth with love, with right and justice, because it is what a I like it — affirms the Lord—. " (Jer 9. 24).
So things. If glory has meaning for us on earth, let us seek it in the knowledge of ALL that He is, in the blessed adventure of experiencing His love. And still more; the Lord paired eternal life with the knowledge of Him: "And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17.3). The God who named the stars, arranged in his divine agenda a space to get your attention, so that you would know him and discover his love through Jesus. While humanism tells man that his success is guaranteed if he first learns to know and love himself, God whispers in your ear and invites you to be part of His life so that you know true love. Loving Him will be the first step for you to rediscover yourself loving others as you never experienced it. It is not possible to love others - as the Master wants - if we do not first discover his love. If we really love him, it is because our heart first had an encounter with Jesus. "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19).
The world will judge us as we express God's learned love through Jesus. Doctrines, Bible studies, and theological scholarship mean nothing to the world if we do not show in practice that love is all that 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 says (patient, kind, not selfish, not proud, neither spiteful, not envious, nor boastful, who excuses everything, believes everything, expects everything and supports everything…).
One of the most notable problems of the church (us) does not generally lie in the content of its Christian message, but in putting into practice what is preached, what we have learned about the love of God. We have not been able to powerfully influence secular culture with the Christian worldview. In practice the opposite happens; it is the church that is influenced by the fashion trends and tastes of the world. Why? Because we have not learned to give the love that we have received from God. We work hard to get people to decide for Christ, but we don't love them enough to make the leap from "decision" to "conversion." This is accomplished by interceding for the Spirit to work and offering a good dose of the love that we have received from God in Christ Jesus. You and I are instruments of God to show the love that does not extinguish or cease, because it comes from the Lord. Joy comes from God's love and that is why it is our strength. That is full life in love: giving to others the love of God.
God bless you!
Author's note: I thank with all humility the comment on the final paragraph of the reflection "Full life to be messengers of the only gospel" and to the brothers who sent me the correction. It should say: "he has given us the authority in the name of the Father to tear down all kinds of strongholds contrary to the Kingdom of God" (he said: 'kingdom of darkness'). To the brothers Guillermo Parraguez, Jose Luis and Álvaro Silva who noticed the error, thank you very much and blessings.
So things. If glory has meaning for us on earth, let us seek it in the knowledge of ALL that He is, in the blessed adventure of experiencing His love. And still more; the Lord paired eternal life with the knowledge of Him: "And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17.3). The God who named the stars, arranged in his divine agenda a space to get your attention, so that you would know him and discover his love through Jesus. While humanism tells man that his success is guaranteed if he first learns to know and love himself, God whispers in your ear and invites you to be part of His life so that you know true love. Loving Him will be the first step for you to rediscover yourself loving others as you never experienced it. It is not possible to love others - as the Master wants - if we do not first discover his love. If we really love him, it is because our heart first had an encounter with Jesus. "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19).
The world will judge us as we express God's learned love through Jesus. Doctrines, Bible studies, and theological scholarship mean nothing to the world if we do not show in practice that love is all that 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 says (patient, kind, not selfish, not proud, neither spiteful, not envious, nor boastful, who excuses everything, believes everything, expects everything and supports everything…).
One of the most notable problems of the church (us) does not generally lie in the content of its Christian message, but in putting into practice what is preached, what we have learned about the love of God. We have not been able to powerfully influence secular culture with the Christian worldview. In practice the opposite happens; it is the church that is influenced by the fashion trends and tastes of the world. Why? Because we have not learned to give the love that we have received from God. We work hard to get people to decide for Christ, but we don't love them enough to make the leap from "decision" to "conversion." This is accomplished by interceding for the Spirit to work and offering a good dose of the love that we have received from God in Christ Jesus. You and I are instruments of God to show the love that does not extinguish or cease, because it comes from the Lord. Joy comes from God's love and that is why it is our strength. That is full life in love: giving to others the love of God.
God bless you!
Author's note: I thank with all humility the comment on the final paragraph of the reflection "Full life to be messengers of the only gospel" and to the brothers who sent me the correction. It should say: "he has given us the authority in the name of the Father to tear down all kinds of strongholds contrary to the Kingdom of God" (he said: 'kingdom of darkness'). To the brothers Guillermo Parraguez, Jose Luis and Álvaro Silva who noticed the error, thank you very much and blessings.
