February 2018

Share the Love!

 

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)”

 

Happy February!  If you own stock in candy or greeting card companies, I know you look forward with great anticipation for this particular time of year – it’s the “love month.”  With a wife and two girls, February is an incredibly important time for this husband and dad!

 

For the Christian, though, every month ought to be a love month.  After all, love is at the center of our relationship with our heavenly Father, and with each other.  We are called and challenged to, above everything else, love one another.  Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross was a direct result of God’s love for humanity, and Christ’s love for His Father, and us, too.  The love that Paul wrote of in Romans 5:8 goes way beyond friendship.  Here, he wrote of agape love – something intimate, something connecting.  One definition I read said, “With reference to God’s love, it is God’s willful direction toward man.  It involves God doing what He knows is best for man and not necessarily what man desires.”  According to Romans, it is a profoundly selfless love.  And, it came to us, when we deserved it least.

 

We, too, are challenged, even commanded, to love others in this way.  One of the best ways we can share the love God has given us is to bring as many folks as we can into His family.  Sharing the Gospel is an extreme kind of  love – not because it is so hard, or takes so much

 

much time and energy on our part – but because we share it with everyone we meet, even when we feel they deserve it least.  And, like agape love, it can’t be imitated, or faked.  When you love someone, genuinely and honestly, they know it.  And, like we talked about recently in worship – if people don’t know that you love them, they aren’t going to listen to you share the Gospel.  Authenticity first, the Gospel second. 

 

February might be the best time to start sharing the love of Christ with others – after all, it’s on our minds already!  The real goal is to use this time as a springboard to a daily, monthly, and yearly commitment to witnessing.  Eternity is on the line, and we have the antidote to forever without God – shouldn’t that be reason enough to love?

 

In His Love,

Bro. Heath

 

 


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