Gotta Whole Lotta Love – Part III

So, what does LOVE FOR GOD look like? 

1) The ones who love Him, KNOW Him! 1 Cor 8:3, 1 John 4:7

2) The ones who KNOW and LOVE Him, obey His commandments. 1 John 2:2, 5:1

3) Love for God is expressed in a rejection of the things of the world. 1 John 2:15
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4) Love for God is expressed in loving one another in the faith. 1John 4:7
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What does LOVE FOR PEOPLE look like? 

1) Laying down our lives for the brothers and sisters in Christ. John 13:37-15:13

2) Preaching the gospel by healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons and binding up the brokenhearted. Luke 4:18, 19

3) Looking like and acting like Jesus.
Paul takes the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 13, to describe what “LOVE” practically looks like.

What does it mean when we see it?

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
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Based on this criteria, I think it is obvious that most of the church is very far away from where we need to be. At the very least, shouldn’t we admit it, humble ourselves and ask God for grace to learn how to love? The church knows a lot, but loves way too little. We are puffed up so this prevents us from growing up ( 1 Corinthians 8:1). Like the conductor in the movie Polar Express said to “Eddie Deezen”, the know-it-all kid, “A smidgen of humility would serve you well.”
I think we could use MORE than a smidgen in our day!