John 13:34. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye LOVE one another; as I have LOVED you, that ye also LOVE one another.
Oh Friends, oh Friends, I’m here to tell you a few wonderful things this beautiful autumn morn! First off, that God LOVES you unconditionally, and that He will give you everything your heart desires, provided it lines up with His will. I’m here to also let you know that you are indeed heading in the right direction by being a sincere follower of Jesus Christ.
Wow! What a rush that brings! (smile) And following as a direct consequence of all that, the action of God is now flowing through you in a pattern of success! Therefore, please make it a habit to be happy; practice LOVE, practice being peaceful, because no one, or nothing ever becomes successful or succeeds without much practice. And thus ends the sermon for today! (smile)
Ah mih people, life is hard enough without us making it even harder by having sour, miserable, fearful and anxious attitudes. We need to laugh and be comfortable in our own skin, look at ourselves in the mirror and like what we see, not in a narcissistic manner, for we truly can’t like other humans until we like the one that looks back at us in the mirror. It’s just a natural fact of life. If we dislike ourselves, we’ll simply dislike a whole lot of other people, for dislike will come more naturally to us than like.
And one more thing, let’s stop wishing that we were other people, for God made us to be who we are, not somebody else. Forget the material wealth, the physical good looks, the powerful positions, or the celebrity status that they may have. Their material and physical attributes won’t last forever.
And believe me, if you knew the real truth about their lives, how they got what they have, and the messy situations in which they’re embroiled, you won’t give up your bland and simple but godly life. Plus they all have fears, anxieties and problems like you, they just hide them better behind their public facades.
Yes my people, we cannot be kind to, or LOVE others until we are kind to and LOVE ourselves, wherever and whatever we are. That’s what Jesus is saying in our Bit. ‘A new commandment I give unto you, That ye LOVE one another; as I have LOVED you, that ye also LOVE one another.’
He’s asking that we follow His example; just the way He LOVED us, we ought to LOVE each other. And as He so wisely continues: ‘By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have LOVE one to another.’ (John 13:35)
Ah Friends, that logic follows so logically, (smile) like the day follows the night, and vice versa. Jesus’ manifesto is LOVE! That’s what He came to earth to spread; the LOVE of our heavenly Father. He came to begin a serious LOVE Revolution, one that would revolutionize the entire world!
And as His followers, He expects us to continue building that LOVE Revolution, so that others will know we’re part and parcel of His world movement. But it’s obvious my brethren that we’re falling far short of Jesus’ expectations, because true or real LOVE is one of the hardest, if not the hardest thing to find in this wicked, deceitful, ungodly world.
And we’re not talking about romantic LOVE here, but a simple caring for each other, kindness to make sure that we all at least have the basic necessities of life. But Friends, we’re very very far from that utopian position, for too many are suffering from terrible want and abject poverty, while too few have too much, enough to last them several lifetimes, but they selfishly refuse to share with their unfortunate brethren in this life.
How sad eh! And that definitely doesn’t fall under Jesus’ directions. Remember too, when the Pharisees, in trying to entangle Jesus in His own words… What fools they were eh, how can mere mortals tangle up God! And sadly they’re plenty like them still around today.
Anyway, one of them, a lawyer – had to be – (smile) figuring he was so bright, asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment? ‘
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt LOVE the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt LOVE thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ (Matt.22:37-40)
There we have it again Friends: It’s all about LOVE, about sharing and caring and being kind to each other. First we LOVE the Lord God Jehovah, then we LOVE ourselves, and then we LOVE our neighbours as ourselves. But how can we LOVE our neighbours if we don’t LOVE ourselves? It’s not possible.
And unfortunately that’s what we’re seeing, that is the prevalent attitude in our world today. There’s a complete lack of real LOVE for self, but a selfishness that’s so great it cannot be measured. LOVING ourselves doesn’t mean being proud, arrogant and selfish, but strong, confident, caring, giving and faithful, walking in the footsteps of Jesus.
And we’ll end with some strong words from Bruh Paul to the Thessalonians, regarding his appeal for purity. ‘For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth (rejects), despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
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.4:7-10)
Yes Friends, the Thessalonians were getting the message of LOVE for each other and putting it into action, but Bruh Paul just wanted them to increase that action, spread it further and further. Now that’s exactly what we need to do today too my people!
We claim to LOVE God, but hate our brothers. As John so aptly puts it, that makes us liars: ‘for he that LOVETH not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he LOVE God whom he hath not seen?’ (1 John 4:20b) That says it all my fellow believers!
So today, let’s turn back to God and live in true LOVE nuh. Let’s put aside all the foolish things that lead us away from God and true fellowship with each other. Our world is in serious decline because it’s sadly lacking in true LOVE. And the only way we can advance Jesus’ LOVE Revolution is by spreading LOVE, not the negative emotions that are currently predominating.
So let’s take off our blinkers, put on our 20/20 eyes of faith and get out into this wicked world and sow some, no lotsa LOVE, as Jesus desires of us. Remember, we reap what we sow. You can’t plant corn and expect to reap peas. Much LOVE!
…you can only reap LOVE and its wonderful benefits…when you first sow LOVE…
SCRIP-BITS 