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THE HUB OF ALL THINGS s we live in God’s Kingdom we may soon discover that our efforts to keep all the rules are not just frustrating but also not what God requires. Out of frustration you may wonder if there is a single thing that will cause all other things to effortlessly fall into place. The answer is yes, there is a cog which turns the whole wheel. That cog is a love for Christ that is pure and undaunted. Listen to what Jesus says is the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:35-40. “One of them was an expert in the Jewish Law. So he tried to test Jesus by asking, ‘Teacher, what is the most important commandment in the Law?’ Jesus answered: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like this one; and it is, ‘Love others as much as you love yourself.’ All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets are based on these two commandments.” The greatest commandment, according to Jesus, is ‘all love’. If this is in place, all the requirements of the Law and the prophets will be met. We should love God with all our emotions, thoughts and actions and do to our neighbours and for our neighbours all we would want done to and for us. It is imperative that we understand that our whole existence, all we do or say, must flow out of a heart that is entirely, 100% full of God’s love. HOW DO WE LOVE? Love must go beyond mere feeling or talk. If love does not produce action then that love is false. “...God’s love 8
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April - June 2015
has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit...”[1] so all we need to do now is to allow it to also influence our actions. Read and understand 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and Galatians 5:22, then pray to the Lord and ask Him to help you, and begin to do what you have read. Begin to love.
WHY DO WE LOVE? John gives us the answer. 1 John 4:7- 8, “My dear friends, we must love each other. Love comes from God, and when we love each other, it shows that we have been given new life. We are now God’s children, and we know Him. God is love, and anyone who doesn’t love others has never known Him.” We love because we are born of God who Himself is love. Kindly note that John started out by instructing us to love one another, because having love in our DNA does not mean we will automatically go on to practice it. Before we were dead in sins but now we are alive in Christ to love, hope and have faith. We now have the ability to love God and others in a pure and genuine way. Do not be afraid and quench love. Go on to practice until this love is perfected. Remembering how God loves us greatly motivates us to return that love to Him and to others. 1 John 4:19, “We love because God loved us first.” Finally, we love because it is required by God. Our Father requires His children to love each other and not to be fighting, back-biting and
destroying each other. God’s family must be a loving family. Listen to this... Ephesians 3:14-19, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
“Love is the grease that oils the gears of life.”