04/15/2018: HOW HARD LOVE?

Posted on Jul 1, 2018 in General |

WEBSTERS DICTIONARY
Not act
Love: 1.†Strong affection or liking for someone or something
2.†a passionate affection for one of the opposite sex.

Can you love a pizza like you would a member of the opposite sex, or is there a difference? We hear all the time that people ìlove usî but do they really? It is our hopes that they do, and that they are not the kind of people who would verbally attack our names behind our backs, or ridicule our ways or words. I am reminded† as I am writing this back to the time when me and my siblings were little and our Dad got upset with us for whatever, and he would break out his belt and as he was giving our belt of instruction he would tell us that he loved us and this was why he was doing what he was doing, and then he really laid it on thick when he said ìit hurt him more than it did us!î HA FAT CHANCE THAT ONE WAS TRUE.

 
 How hard is it truly in your everyday life to Love someone? I have heard it said over and over again that ìI Love this person but I hate what they do.î Love the soul hate the sin. That is it in a nut shell. But how hard is it for you to love one another? If a thief comes in the middle of the night and steals all of your belongings and monies, steals your Identity and gets away with it all, could you love them?
How about that drunk driver that just wrecked into your car and maybe injured or even killed a family member, could you find Love for that person? Or even yet FORGIVENESS?
 

Jesus was tried by men, was found innocent from any wrongs but yet they flogged (scourged) Him to just a little more than raw meat, then they made Him carry a log up the Via Del a Rosa (way of sorrows) and they nailed Him to that log, then they raised Him up and dropped that cross into a hole where it stood for several hours. As He (Jesus) hung there in pain and agony, with pain so awful that I canít even begin to phathom, He looked up and saw that His Heavenly Father had turned His face away from Him, at that moment I believe Jesus felt all alone. However, Jesus never lost sight of His purpose for visiting this planet, He looked up and in His Words He cried out†ìFATHER FORGIVE THEM!î

1 CORINTHIANS 13:4
Love is patient, love is kind, and is not
Jealous; love does not brag and is not
Arrogant, 5 does act unbecomingly; it
Does not seek its own, is not provoked,
does not take into account a wrong suffered,
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness,
But rejoices with the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes
all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails.

1 CORINTHIANS 13:13
But now abide FAITH, HOPE, LOVE,
These three; but the greatest
Of these is LOVE.

 
It was not Godís plan for mankind to hate one another, that came after the fall of man, when sin entered into the picture. Hatred is an emotion that God put inside of us and it has gotten control of our lives, we have to learn how to Love because Love is not truly taught in the homes anymore. Well, not in all homes that is. If it were there would be less murders, thefts and so on. Argue if you will, but if your eyes and ears (spiritual) are open you will know that I am telling you the truth. †We as Parents and Grand Parents were given the task of raising our offspring in the Word and ways of the Lord God Jehovah. Now, I aint perfect like many out there, I didnít raise my kids in the ways of God, I did what I thought was right in their rearing. I did not know the Lord like I do now, I sometimes wished that I had known Him all those years, but hindsight is 20/20.
 
Take a lesson from Joseph, Jacobís son, his brothers laughed him to scorn and then they jumped him, threw him in a hoe, sold him to pilgrims, thrown in prison on trumped up charges, so much happened to him in those short years, but did he hate those who did him wrong? No, not even the woman who charged him with the false charge. He CHOSE to not hate, did he love them? Who knows for certain other than him? I presume he did, after all look how he did with his brothers. Love, how hard was it for Joseph, he turned around and went into a private place away from prying eyes and he WEPT because of his love for them.
 

HOW HARD LOVE????? Can we say the same about our lives? Will Rogers, an Oklahoman resident from days gone by had a statement that he was famous for, he always said: ìI never met a man I didnít like!î I made a slight change to that statement, I say:
ìI never met anyone that I canít love!î†Why? Because ìGOD SO LOVED ME THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON FOR ME!î
And if God could love me that much, who am I to not Love others as much as I can or am able to love. Love hurts, love heals, love never fails.

PRAY THIS PRAYER
Lord, I am asking You right now that You teach me
How to Love the way You love me. I would to love
And You know how much I have to protect† my heart
And so I am in need of Your guidance in Love.
I Pray this in the Name of Jesus Christ
AMEN!

Pastor Larry Pinkerton