SCRIP-BITS

1 John 4:7.    Beloved, let us LOVE one another: for LOVE is of God; and every one that LOVETH is born of God, and knoweth God.
 
Oh Friends, as the Sunday morning dawns, our world continues to be a totally messed up place. But today we’re going to try to improve it by talking about the most powerful and positive emotion in the universe – LOVE! Not the romantic thing that we call LOVE, though that does have its place, but LOVE on a higher level, the kind that stems from Almighty God, our Creator and Provider.
 
And we’ll set the stage by quoting a few verses of scripture, starting with our Bit:  ‘Beloved, let us LOVE one another: for LOVE is of God; and every one that LOVETH is born of God, and knoweth God. He that LOVETH not knoweth not God; for God is LOVE. In this was manifested the LOVE of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
 
Herein is LOVE, not that we LOVED God, but that he LOVED us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so LOVED us, we ought also to LOVE one another.’ (1 John 4:7-11)
 
And that’s undeniable truth Friends! The reasons for LOVING each other are loud and clear. First, because God is LOVE; it’s an essential part of His nature, of who He is. Then He LOVED us so much that He sent His only Son, the only sin free person there was, to sacrifice Himself to pay for the dastardly sins of mankind.
 
Now if that isn’t the most powerful reason for us to LOVE each other, then I don’t know what is!
 
And Bruh Paul concurs with John when he declares to the Roman church. ‘But God commendeth (demonstrates) his (own) LOVE toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’ (Rom.5:8)
 
And the scholars explain that by saying: ‘His death was vicarious. That is, He did not die merely for our benefit but in our place. His was a substitutionary sacrifice.’
 
Now that we can never repay my people, and we should be forever grateful, but unfortunately too many of us are not, we only pay lip service to it, because we treat our fellow man so shabbily.
 
Earlier on, John also tells us: ‘He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that LOVETH his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of (no cause for) stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and knoweth not wither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.’ (1 John 2:9-11)
 
Yes Friends, once Jesus paid the price for our sins, because of His great LOVE for us, we were released from the bondage of darkness, the blinkers were taken off of our eyes, and we were able to see the bright light that’s Jesus. Now that means we should be showing LOVE to each other, not merely saying it, otherwise we’re still children of darkness and there’s no truth or light in us. We can’t say that we’re of Jesus and hate our brother.
 
As John says: ‘In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that LOVETH not his brother. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should LOVE one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew (murdered) his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.’ (1 John 3:10-12)
 
See Genesis 4:8 for Cain’s actions. Meanwhile the scholars inform us that ‘Cain killed Abel because their conflicting allegiances (Cain’s to Satan, Abel’s to God) were plain to see by their respective actions. John seems to be saying: “If even wicked Cain could see that a man’s character is revealed ultimately, not in what he says he believes, but in what he does, should not Christians be able to see this as well?’
 
And the answer to that is a resounding YES, my people!
 
Oh fellow believers, wickedness and darkness don’t go with, have no place with LOVE and light, they just don’t mix well at all.
 
Now listen to Bruh Paul talking to the Thessalonians on the subject. ‘But as touching (concerning) brotherly LOVE ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to LOVE one another. And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more.’ (1 Thess.4:9-10)
 
Oh Friends, oh Friends, I implore us to take that last bit of Bruh Paul’s advice and implement it with all seriousness and action. I’m talking about increasing our brotherly LOVE more and more, because our screwed up world so desperately needs it, and only we believers are capable of working such a miracle, obviously in conjunction with Jesus Christ. 
 
And we’ll close with a definition of LOVE from Uncle Charles (Charles Stanley of In Touch Ministries). Some of you might have heard it before, but it will do you good to hear it again. (smile) 
 
‘LOVE: A commitment to the satisfaction, security, and development of the one LOVED and a commitment to the fulfillment of their needs, whatever they are, always asking what’s best for the other person.’ 
 
Now that my Friends is gospel truth! And the most important word in that sentence is COMMITMENT! It’s what we are called on to have in following Jesus, and without it, we’re still being led by the forces of darkness, regardless of how much we protest to the contrary.
 
So let’s think on it and try our best to live it out nuh, because that’s what we need to do, if we want to be called true believers in Christ. Much LOVE!
 
…to walk in true LOVE…one must walk in lockstep with Christ in the light…which entails…LOVING one’s fellow man…