Whats my job? Im a lover!
PureHeartChildren’sFund
(Me about 3 decades ago, BCC (before I planted Calvary Chapel Managua)
Lover
1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is kind, love does not envy, love does not boast, love is not conceited
I heard a pastor recently say that when people ask him what his profession is, he says ‘I’m a lover’! That sounded so weird at first, but it grew on me after he explained himself. He said ‘I receive God’s love and I share it with others.’ I delighted in it’s simplicity. So true. So ideological, yet actually easy to do if you embrace it.
Oswald Chambers put it this way. When we live a life of busy-ness in doing things for Jesus (the great commission), a lot of intimacy is lost with Jesus. As a result the love diminishes (which is the great commandment). As we are loving Jesus, and loving one another, we are in God’s favor and simultaneously complete God’s great commission more effectively with little effort. God does it for you.
You’re only responsibility is to receive God’s love and pass it on. You are just a conduit of His love. Be a lover, not just a ‘liver’. We can exist in this world, (just live) and just get buy as comfortably as possible. Or we can be radical, relentless, reckless conduits of God’s love, receiving and giving His love that He has (past perfect) shed abroad in our hearts.
Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
The more we give out the more we receive. Spending time in church, the Word, in prayer doesn’t help anyone very much IF you don’t go out and apply what you learn to your own life and to the lives of others. Warm and fuzzy feelings are not what God wants for us. He left us on this world to love others into God’s eternal kingdom of Glory. Word, church, praying is great and world changing IF we are doers of what we have learned. We are saved to do, not to just to live and absorb. We are conduits of God’s love, not just sponges. The more you give of God’s love, His finances, His talents, His faith, His knowledge, His Wisdom to others, the more you get. If you have to tell people that you are a Christian, or what you believe, you are just a sponge not a conduit, because others have to squeeze it out of you. People will know you are a Christian if you are a conduit of love, pouring out love wherever you go. In otherwords, be a easy, free flowing lover.
The difference between loving and just living is the WORD ‘I’. ‘I’ is also the word in the center of ‘pr’I’de’. I always thought that the opposite of love was hate. Then when I became a believer, I evolved and considered the word ‘indifference’ as the opposite of love. (Actually the opposite of God, because God is love). But just now I have realized through the Holy Spirit that the opposite of love is really the word ‘pride’. And the word ‘I’ is right in the middle of it.
Looking back, pride is the cause of every unloving thing I ever did. Being upset with another pastor for being an hour late for example. I can justify it by saying ‘my time is valuable’,,, But really it’s just Pride! Getting upset, frustrated, angry always is a result of protecting my pride in one way or another. I would never do those things to protect my love. Love is God’s character. Pride is Satan’s. In fact, it’s the first sin, ever! And it was committed by it’s father, Satan. Read Ezekiel and you will see pride used so many times in reference to Satan. Pride is not a good thing.
Ezekiel 28:17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness:
Pride and ‘I’ go together. They imply willing to do something that is contrary to God’s will. ‘I will’ is a prideful statement. James said in James 4:13-15 not to use it. You may do something if God permits you to do it. ‘‘I’ will’ more often than not is expressing a prideful desire. Look how Satan used ‘‘I’ will’ in Isaiah.
Isaiah 14
13 You said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;[c]
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.
When talking about Christian living, ‘‘I’ will’ is rarely expressed. The key to being a Biblical Christian is OTHERS! Loving them more than you love yourself. Loving them unconditionally. But HOW? Without conditions! That must mean you are not offended, upset, hurt, disappointed etc. Here’s an example of loving unconditionally. Two people will always get along better when one of those two decides to not voice an opposing opinion, or at least win the argument! Take the high ground! Concede if it really isn’t that important an issue.
THAT is unconditional love; preferring one another.. we are told to lay down our lives for our brothers. We are told to give whatever is asked of us, joyfully. We are commanded to love one another, to prefer one another and to forebear one another. There’s no room for the words ‘I’, ‘pride’, ‘hate’ or ‘indifference’ when ‘love’ is in the house.
I want to be a lover, don’t you? How would your kids and spouse describe you? If it’s not as a ‘lover’ there is pride involved somewhere. How do your coworkers describe you? The guy in front of you at a traffic light or the old lady dragging her feet in the line in front of you?
Be a professional lover!
John 15:12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Dean
WhatIsTheLoveOfGod.com
Sponsor a Child Today
Copyright © 2021 Pure Heart Children’s Fund, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website.
Our mailing address is:
Pure Heart Children’s Fund
Pure Heart C/O Grace Life Outreach
190 Seminole Ln Apt 302
Cocoa Beach, FL 32931-3394