The Lord Jesus made God's priority the same for every christian in His/Her individual life and for every group of christians who gather together as a local church. This priority is
"Love God with all your heart, soul mind and strength and love your neighbour as yourself" Matt.22v37.
The reason love is God's priority is that through all of eternity The Father, the Son and The Holy Spirit have perfectly enjoyed loving one another! God is love the bible says and in this love God cherishes that which is patient ,kind ,and promotes the good of others.This is also the reason God HATES those things which are opposite to His love, things which damage relationship with God and others. The bible calls those things SIN.
Before Jesus comes with a mission to bring God's power to love back into the hearts of men and women, people had to strive in their own ability to Love God and One another. This is the heart and reason for the failure of the Old Covenant.
But now REJOICE! Jesus has come down from heaven and by his death on the cross made it possible for every person to be forgiven, cleansed and filled with God's Spirit of power that enables him to love. The Spirit actually grows the fruit of LOVE in our lives!
There is a beautiful grace verse in Phillipians that shows us what God is doing every day of our lives to help us grow in agape(self sacrificial) love:Phillipians 2v13 teaches us
"It is God who works in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him!" and what is it that pleases him? - Loving acts done for God and for people.
I would say that everything that is done in church life must fulfill this love test. Does it show love for God or love for people.
At New Beginnings Church we shall concentrate on receiving God's grace and power SO THAT WE CAN LOVE GOD MORE AND LOVE PEOPLE MORE AND SHUN THOSE SELFISH SINFUL WAYS THAT OPPOSE GODS LOVE!
This post was written by Pastor Stan Smith 1oth August 2019
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