Sermon Central
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New Year's Resolution To Love As Jesus Loves
Contributed by Paul Fritz on Dec 24, 2003 (message contributor)
Summary: Let us ask the Lord to help His love overflow from our hearts and minds as prescribed by the word of the one who said, "By this will all men know that you are my disciples when you have love for one another."
A New Year’s Resolution to Love as Jesus Loves
Illustration:A father wanted to read the paper, but was being bothered by his little
daughter, Vanessa. Finally, he tore a sheet out of his magazine, on
which was printed the map of the world. Tearing it into small pieces, he
gave it to Vanessa, and said, "Go into the other room and see if you can
put this together."
After a few minutes, Vanessa returned and handed him the map correctly
fitted together. The father was surprised and asked how she had
finished so quickly.
"Oh," she said, "on the other side of the paper was a picture of Jesus.
When I got Jesus in His place, then the world came out all right."
Illustration: One evening while appearing on CNN’s Larry King Live, Jack Kemp, the honorable congressman from New York, made an insightful comment about the religious right when he said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!” A book about how to overcome fears of and anger for the reactionary religious right, would be incomplete without a description of Paul’s teachings on love in I Corinthians 13.
Illustration:
When I first used WordStar, I did a spellcheck. It rejected ’Jesus’ as unrecognizable. I commanded it to accept ’Jesus’, which it did. Since accepting ’Jesus’, I haven’t had any trouble with the wordprocessor. - Pastor Norman Bromley
Illustation: Perfect love is able to cast away fear, anger or anything hindering communications. One day when the author was waiting in a hospital, the Lord taught me to overcome misunderstandings of His will through a little Nigerian boy named Nuhu. Having served as a missionary in Nigeria the Lord taught my many visits to the hospital in a variety of ways.
As I sat waiting for a blood test in a hospital in Nigeria, I noticed a small little boy sitting next to me. I asked him “What is your name?” He said in a muffled tone, “Nuhu.” I could see that the little fellow was very afraid of having his blood taken for the first time. When the nurse appeared in her white uniform, something strange happened to Nuhu. He turned and look at me with trembling lips shook his head and said, “Waiyo” – which in the Hausa language means ‘I am a goner! There is no hope for me. I will probably end up dead in a few short minutes. Even God cannot save me now!’
As I sat there watching little Nuhu walk into the lab with the nurse holding his hand I thought, that is the way most people view their relationship with God. When the Lord calls them through adversity, sickness or some set-back, they immediately think, “Oh No! What have I done to deserve this? God is really going to punish me now.”
Many people seem to fear God in an unhealthy way. Perhaps, they really do not know that God allows things to come into our lives for their best interests. When people really know the Lord, they understand that He allows hardships for their good so that He can give the treatment we need. He wants us to become more like Jesus. His ways are higher than our ways and His thought are higher than our thoughts. He works in ways we cannot see. Jeremiah 29:11 says,
“I know the plans that I have for you. Plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a great future and hope!” God does not delight when we are trembling in our boots at the thought of having to approach Him. Instead, He wants us to reverently respect Him, love Him and follow Him as our caring Shepherd. He knows how to lead us through any wilderness experience. Only love helps us overcome the enemy within our own sinful nature.
From the following list, try to note the comparisons and contrasts of love that apply to your relationships
WHAT LOVE IS versus WHAT LOVE IS NOT
1. Love is Long Suffering – Love is an uncommon force that copes with suffering. By enduring the pain, sorrow and anger we are exhibiting God’s unconditional love. People who are mature in love endure the pain of selfish, critical and immature scoffers.
1. Love is not in a Hurry - Love’s long suffering or patience does not accept evil or adopt an attitude of resignation that becomes fatalistic. Love is not blind to abuse, sin, or ignorance, but knows how to speak the truth with a love that accomplishes God’s purposes. Love does not naively accept suffering without finding out the lessons that God wants us to learn through our adversity. Love is not judgmental in rushing to criticize someone based upon your own set of assumptions and expectations.
