Called to love endlessly!

Reading: 1 Corinthans 12 & 13 chapters

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

We’re living in a time where strife, hate, terror is rampant. Amidst all the chaos, it is Christians, we believers who are called to love; to love unconditionally and endlessly. In the above mentioned chapters, Apostle Paul talks at length about diversity in the Church concerning the gifts of Holy Spirit. There’s one gift among all of them, the lack of which can make all other spiritual gifts incomplete. That’s the gift of love. While Paul encourages everyone to ‘earnestly covet the best gifts’ (1 Cor 13:31), he writes the next chapter and says – ‘I show unto you a more excellent way’. That, friends, is the way of love, which at the end is termed as ‘the greatest of these’.

The gift of love is undoubtedly the greatest but the toughest of all to practice because there are a lot of ‘personal’ factors that hinder us from practicing this gift extensively.
We’re called to love, and we need to live up to it, because, we’re commanded to do so —

• Jesus commanded us “Love one another”, He said “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” John 13:34-35
• “…you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. ” Mark 12:30-31
• We are called to: “Walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God” Colossians 1:10

When someone did question Lord Jesus “Who is my neighbor?” He illustrated the answer through the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:27-37). The parable implies that at any point, the person next to us is our neighbor, and we ought to show our love to our neighbor.

A sad witness among many Christian believers today is that love is lost within their personal intimate relationships like spouses, families, children, between other believers, between other members of church; forget our love for non-Christians and those who persecute us. We will also find many believers praying for lot of (spiritual / material) gifts, but only a few praying for the ‘grace to love one another more’.

To love, can only be learned from Lord Jesus Christ and none else. Who, knowing that were sinners, and also that we shall still falter in our walk with Him humbled himself to an extent that He left His glory, laid down His life for us even in a shameful death.

So, if you’re still wondering what you’re spiritual gift is, here it is: ‘TO LOVE’!

Simple as they are, here are some ways how we can exercise our gift of love for others today?

• Give up all your grudges against anyone. Pray for forgiveness from God, and if you can, reach out to the person. Mend your relationships. Begin at home.
• Volunteer to assist a friend in need, don’t ignore them.
• Avoid a situation in relationships which might cause you to sin
• Begin sharing the Word of God with friends
• Invite a friend to participate in prayer with you
• Be committed to being honest
• Reach out to your enemies
• Don’t forget to forgive. FORGIVE ALWAYS!

Finally, we can only love endlessly if we experienced the love of Lord Jesus personally in our lives. Only with the support of the Holy Spirit can we live a life worthy of him. So, we ought to:

• Grow in our personal relationship with Lord Jesus
• Spend more time in prayer.
• Study of God’s Word to strengthen our will to love as He loves us.

God can forgive any one, any time and any where!

Three Crosses were on the hill of Calvary. Hebrew name of the place was Golgotha (John 19:17). In Latin, the word is ‘Calvary’. Both words mean ‘Skull (the bone inside a man’s head)’. This was either because of the shape of the mountain or because crucifixions took place there.

Crucifixion was a cursed, cruel, shameful, disgraceful death under Roman Empire. Only slaves and criminals used to face crucifixion. Crucifixion was a severe form of punishment which meant a very slow and painful death by suffocation.

Three men were crucified on that day. These three represented whole world. The reasons of their crucifixion were sins. Two were dying in their sins (Lk. 23:41) and One on the middle was dying for our sins (Cor. 5:21; 1 Jn. 3:5). He was Lord Jesus Christ who died for your and my sins. Two criminals were on either side of Lord Jesus Christ. The words, ‘People counted Him among sinners’ (Is. 53:12) came true on that cross that day. He was not only treated as a transgressor, but he was numbered with them, even the worst of them.

As Lord Jesus Christ said, “Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing” (Lk. 23:34). There were two kinds of response. One blasphemed and laughed at Lord Jesus Christ but another thief responded “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom” (Lk. 23:42). This was the prayer of a dying sinner. He confessed that he is a sinner. At last moment of his life he repented before Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord Jesus Christ saved him with the word of assurance.

Lord Jesus Christ said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Lk. 23:43)

Friends, Praise God! He will be called no more thief. His Sins were forgiven by Lord Jesus Christ and he was saved. But finally we find there was only one thief died in his sins on that day.

When ever and where ever you ask for forgiveness He will forgive you. Our God can forgive any one, any time and any where.

Yours in Christ,
Rev. Varinder Kumar