Unrelenting Love
The DNA of the human anatomy is the complex collection of information, that still baffles doctors understanding of the inter workings of our body’s ability to function, regenerate, heal and take care of itself.
I heard a while back if you were to write down the genetic code of each person, the length of the description of the human anatomy would Travel many times to and from the moon.
Doctors are still learning and discovering of the bodies complexity on a daily basis, today I would like to talk about something with even more complexity to our understanding. And that would be gods unrelenting love that he has for mankind!
Is there a more complex word than love? Some would argue, but I don’t think so. Society talks about everything from loving God, to each other, to movies, to cars, to football and food.
We hear about love on the TV, and the lives of those who portray love on TV with all the games and cruelness masquerading as what the world would have us believe is true love.
And once in a great while we are fortunate enough to see the real thing on display and we’re moved by real love, to the point of speechless with no words to describe the beauty of love!
It’s no wonder the world takes the word love for granted! Society is obsessed with love, but rarely witnesses or experiences what real love is. If true love is so unfamiliar and elusive, it makes one wonder why so many try to write, guide, talk and experience it?
Because there’s an empty void in the human heart and we are all in need of being loved! Love could be described as oxygen, the very air we breathe in or need of sustaining life.
The first thing a newborn baby craves and wants, is to be held and assured that it is loved. And that continuing feeling and commitment of love, brings a lifetime of blessings into the child’s life.
Without that commitment and feeling of being love, most every time leads to a lifetime pursuit of being loved and all the risks associated and involved in the pursuit there of.
The Bible has a lot to say about love in fact the word love is mentioned some 567 times in the Bible. All the way from Genesis to Revelation every story of the Bible is repeated through God‘s unconditional and relentless love for mankind.
When someone becomes a Christian, at that moment the very love of God is poured into and takes up residence into their heart.
The Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is love! To bear fruit, a tree must extend and give sustenance for life. God’s love isn’t just a spiritual wonder, God’s is a working Love with the amazing ability to produce results.
God’s love causes people to help and hug the lonely, the hungry, the helpless and the hurting! God’s love puts boots and wheels on supplies, and sends them around the world to help all those in need.
Gods love working in the hearts of mankind is what’s sending loads of relief and supplies to every area of the world in crises this morning, at this moment.
Until a tiny little baby was born in the town of Bethlehem, this kind of love was unknown to the world.
The worlds concept of love defines love as being self-centered and always demanding something in return when love is extended. But the gift of Jesus and Gods grace changed all that and made God’s selfless love available to everyone on demand, without any retribution required in return. Such a genuine and pure love had never been seen before.
God’s love is the highest form of love, a love everyone wants to receive but few and far in between are willing to give because of the sacrifice involved.
1st John 4:7-8 KJ
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
So anywhere you read the word love you could insert Gods name. Most of us think we know about love, but did you know there are actually four types of love?
Four words in the English language describe Love...
Philia is love between friends
Eros is the sense of being in love
Storge is Affection, love of family
Agape is unconditional love, Agape is Gods kind of Love!
There is nothing like the love of God. The Agape love, the true essence of love that God offers unconditionally. God’s Love given the chance has healed every heart, every hurt and everyone His Love has ever come in contact with.
Chapter 13 in the book of Corinthians is often referred to as the love chapter Paul wrote as a reference point for human comparison in the Bible. Although the Bible mentions love 567 times, this by far is the most descriptive description!
1 Corinthians 13:1-10 Msg.
13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Illus. from the staff at Sermon Central
Did you hear about the pitiful man whose fiance broke their engagement and shredded his tender heart? He later received a letter of apology and desire for reconciliation.
It read:
Dearest Jimmy,
No words could ever express the great unhappiness I've felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you'll take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you, I love you, I love you!
Yours forever, Marie. PS: Congratulations on winning the state lottery!
Anybody can offer love to just about anyone when they know that (1) they won't really have to do any more than what is necessary or expected, and (2) they'll ultimately get more than they have to give.
Does anyone remember the hit song by the late, great Aretha Franklin?
There ain't nothing
Like the real thing, baby
There ain't nothing
Like the real thing
The agape love that God gives and extends towards mankind is the real thing and the real deal! No strings, no commitment, no expectation of return....just pure Love offered and extended on a non stop, never ending basis!
In the fast-paced world we live in of social media;
Everybody wants to get the word out.
Everybody wants to say their piece.
Everybody has a cause.
Everybody has a go fund me page.
But of all the stuff, all the things that we hear and read about on the news. Where is the love in the message, Where's the Love or the promise of any goodwill given in return. There isn’t any, because the accuser has all but blinded the areas of media willing to make them available to be seen!
The world has totally disregarded the words of Jesus when He was asked what was needed to inherit eternal life.
Luke 10:25-37 NKJ
25 And behold, a certain [h]lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”
27 So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
28 And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”
29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among [i]thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 On the next day, [j]when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ 36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”
37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
There has always been a reluctance to go and do likewise, but never more so than there is today! So much political hatred and negativity everywhere in the world you look, displayed on the 24/7 news cycle.
There is nothing common about what should be the common sense thing to do, because doing the right thing has become such a rare and uncommon thing to do or say!
Whoever thought we would be talking about aborting a living baby, or calling hospice in to euthanize our elderly loved ones as being common place?
The accuser little by little has push society so close to the edge of the cliff so often, that when someone falls off it’s no big deal.
Tempers are short, Patience is thin, Our time seems to be more valuable then everyone else's, or so we think. What a self absorbed bunch of Godless people the world has become.
Illus. Dan Ethier
Back when the telegraph was the fastest method of long-distance communication, a young man applied for a job as a Morse Code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the office that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, busy office filled with noise and clatter, including the sound of the telegraph in the background.
A sign on the receptionist’s counter instructed job applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office. The young man filled out his form and sat down with the seven other applicants in the waiting area.
After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door of the inner office, and walked right in. Naturally the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. They muttered among themselves that they hadn’t heard any summons yet. They assumed that the young man who went into the office made a mistake and would be disqualified.
Within a few minutes, however, the employer escorted the young man out of the office and said to the other applicants, "Gentlemen, thank you for coming, but the job has just been filled."
The other applicants began grumbling to each other, and one spoke up saying, "Wait a minute, I don’t understand. He was the last to come in, and we never got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That’s not fair!"
The employer said, "I’m sorry, but the last several minutes while you’ve been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse Code. ‘If you understand this message, then come right in. The job is yours.’ None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did. The job is his
The world is in need of Good Samaritans who are willing to help spread God’s love to the world. To be Gods arms, Gods legs, Gods voice to a lost and dying generation! Far too many hear the call but few are willing to heed the call and step into their destiny!
If you think about it, our time is our most valuable possession
Because it's the one thing that we have so little of and the one thing we can't control how much of it we have? And the one thing everybody hates to waste unless it's someone's else's, is time!
James 4:14 HCSB
You don't even know what tomorrow will bring...what your life will be!
For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes.
The king James refers to it as a "vapor" So with so little time and the preciousness of it. What are we actually doing with it and why aren't we doing more with it? The only thing that will matter when we stand at the judgement seat, is what we did to spread the love of God to our fellow man!
Everyone else cannot have a relationship for you with God.
Everyone cannot walk your journey.
Everyone cannot go where you're going.
Everyone cannot accept where God is taking you to!
Everyone else may never have the opportunity to have and experience all those things either, if you never share the good news within the circles of your world!
Far too many in life only feel as though they are only entitled to the status quo life has to offer, because the status quo is all they have ever be exposed to! Far to many have been cheated from God’s goodness and the abundant life He has available for every man woman boy and girl who wants to enjoy it!
Illus. The Rain...
It was a busy morning, about 8:30 , when an elderly gentleman in his 80's arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an
appointment at 9:00 am .
I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour
before someone would to able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound. On exam, it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.
While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another doctor's appointment
this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife.
I inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she
was a victim of Alzheimer's Disease. As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not
recognized him in five years now.
I was surprised, and asked him, 'And you still go every morning, even though she
doesn't know who you are?' He smiled as he patted my hand and said, 'She doesn't know me...but I still know who she is.'
There are a lot of people in life who don’t know we are, but we know who they are. We see them on the street, we see them at the grocery store, we see the need in their lives and the look of despair on their faces.
What we need to do is expose them to the love of God we claim and profess we have in our hearts!
We hear a statement like that in immediately just as in the story of the good Samaritan, excuses come to mind as to why we can’t and the sacrifice it would take if we were to do what Jesus said was required!
To love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and body, and to love your neighbor as yourself!
I would also remind you sacrifice, with obedience offers great reward!
The Lord asked a question;
Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?
Then I said, “Here am I! Send me”
Let us pray
