(Continuation of the discussion of the Last Eve)
By Pastor Sharron Scott
10-31-11
God's
most important purpose for us now
is to learn to love unconditionally. In the Garden1
we walked together with Father God. Love was pure and
unselfish—perfect, until man's one, selfish gesture that changed
the course of the world, bringing corruption and selfishness into
existence. 2
We
can't be in God's presence if we don't learn to love unconditionally,
with God's love3—something
that is only possible through dying to self (baptism) and receiving
life again in and with the Holy Spirit. We still must choose daily to
move toward perfect love. How many times in scripture does God teach
us about love?
“Perfect
love casts out fear4”
“Love
is patient, Love is kind5”
“And
the greatest commandment is this—that we love one another6”
We
don't yet grasp how incredibly important this is to God. Again, the
greatest purpose to life (now), as Jesus taught us in what many of us
call the Greatest Commandment, is to LOVE. Prior to the sin in the
garden, life's purpose was to walk with God as companions. Know Him
intimately. Be His friend.
We
were made out of His love. By Him, for Him.7
Why
is love so important? God originally made us in His image. Our
decisions corrupted that. Through the centuries He has shown us over
and over and over again how to correct our mistakes and change our
way of life, through guidance of His prophets and Solomon8,
correction (harsh and gentle), and even to the extreme example of the
sacrifice of His own Son. 9
God's real love is ESSENTIAL. Until we know, understand and
experience love at it's purest, we can't truly know God. Because GOD
IS LOVE10.
You
may argue that as long as we are in human form this isn't possible. I
would remind you that the gift Christ gave us was new life-- we are
no longer “just human”, but “new creatures”,11
born again in the Holy Spirit.
One
of the Fruits of the Spirit is self discipline12.
To walk out the greatest commandment, as we said above, we must die
to self. God saw that this was not possible on our own, so He sent
His Son to die for us. Then He gave us HIS VERY SPIRIT to make it
possible!13
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”!14
We
must choose to die
to self. We must develop our relationship with God, sitting quietly
in His presence. the only way to know someone's heart is to spend
time alone with them. God('s heart) IS love15.
He wants us to know Him intimately. If we spend our time on this
earth only 'living life', 'doing good', and do not seek His heart,
HIS will, we are only living for our 'self' (selves). As long as we
concentrate on our own 'needs', we are not concentrating on Him.
Yes,
we must live life. But we have a choice:
We
can cause great change to happen in this world by living our lives as
they did in the Garden before
the fall, walking with God as our Friend. Or, we can be
well-intentioned, who tithe and work hard and try to be good people,
but squeeze God out of the equation.
Spend
time with God. LISTEN to Him. Get to know His heart. Live according
to HIS desires. TRUST AND BELIEVE in Him. Learn to love purely, as He
does. Bring Heaven to earth—He will show you how.
In
Ecclesiastes the Teacher says “everything is meaningless”16.
We can now add (because of Christ) “aside and apart from LOVE”.
Because
GOD IS LOVE.
A
couple of years ago I saw my only sister for the first time in 30
years. We had gotten back in touch via the internet and phone, but we
hadn't seen each other face to face. When she was standing within
arm's reach of me in the airport terminal, I didn't recognize her.
But there was something in her eyes--it was pure, unconditional LOVE.
That was when I saw her for the first time.
When
I die, how close to God will I be? When I see Him face to face, will
I recognize Him? Will I recognize LOVE? Will He know me? Because He
loves us, He leaves the choice up to us. What will your choice be?
Footnotes:
31
John 4:12
4
1 John 4:18
51
Corinthians 13:4
6John
13:34, 15:12, 15:17; Romans 13:8; 1 Thessalonians 4:9; 1 Peter 1:22;
1 John 3:11; 1 John 3:23; 1 John 4:7, 11, 12; 2 John 5
7Genesis
1:26
8Isaiah,
Elijah, Elisha, Solomon (Proverbs & Psalms)
91John
4:10
101
John 4:8; 1 John 4:16
112
Corinthians 5:17
12Galatians
5:22
13Acts
2
14Philippians
4:13
151
John 4:8; 1 John 4:16
16Ecclesiastes12:8
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