And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: 1 Thessalonians 3:12
And may the Lord increase your love until it overflows toward one another and for all people, just as our love overflows toward you. (TPT)
And as for you, the Lord cause you to increase and superabound in your divine and self-sacrificial love for one another and toward all, even as also we have this divine and self-sacrificial love for you, to the end that He might stabilize your hearts blameless in the sphere of holiness in the presence of our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints (Wuest)
Someone recently penned the following statement: “All the love you had you gave”. This is a profound thought. It says that we can only give what we possess … and this includes love. And we all have what you might call a “love bucket”, an internal well that can only be filled by God. This will be the launchpad for something never before understood; that we are the ones (and not the Lord) that limit the effectiveness of God’s love to work in our lives and in those around us.
The Love Check & Our Neighbor
Let’s start off with a simple question that most already know. But, just in case we need to ask it: where does love come from?
Love in all forms (four commonly known in the Greek language during Jesus’ day were agape, eros, philio, and storge) comes solely from one source – God. Because God IS love (I Jhn 4:8,16). God being the source of love might we wonder how to get more of that love? Is this not something we all would want? I hope so.
Well, Jesus answered that question for us. Where? Right here:
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Matthew 22:37-39
If our love is to increase it must derive its source from the proper channel of flow – from God, through my neighbor and lastly, to myself.
Most people will say they have no problem loving God, it’s only the people He surrounds us with when things begin to unravel. What does this mean? Maybe this thought never entered your mind, but there is one thing lying between you and your source of love (God) – according to Jesus, it’s our neighbor.
And our neighbor is anyone within our mental proximity (physically or spiritually) in life who can affect, or who can TEST one thing – the state of our love. Period.
No, it’s not the family living next to us with the uncut lawn and shabby vinyl siding. Nor the family a couple of houses down the street hosting wild parties, whose teenage children run the streets all hours of the night.
It’s the driver in front of us distracted by their cell phone when the traffic light turns green, and we’re delayed pressing the accelerator pedal 450ms (love check). Or the one not keeping up with the traffic flow when we think they could do a better job in getting us to work faster (love check). Or the one at the grocery store checkout line using food stamps (the payment transactions are electronic now) and delaying things even further by switching over to a second payment method to cover the $450 grocery bill, $75 of which is junk food (love check). It’s the person at church who we know is a hypocrite, deceived by self-righteousness (so we think), and does not meet our standards of spirituality (love check).
It’s the close family member who is never thankful no matter what we do for them (love check). The dental assistant who punctures our gum during a dental procedure (literally just happened) who we know for certain they did it intentionally as we exit the office with a mouth bleed (love check). A co-worker who is given a raise which includes a new office (love check). The girl or boy sitting in class with a clear complexion while we suffer from our latest acne outbreak (love check). We see the Lord blessing a fellow brother or sister in church (love check). _________________________ (fill in the blank – love check)
And the list goes on. A continuum of love check after love check.
This is all God’s doing and it’s how He works. He daily wants to know the state of our love in the love bucket. It’s not how much we have, how presentable we make it, how well it can be marketed, how much it’s boasted about, how often we are called upon to exercise it, or how well we believe we have it mastered.
It’s all about how pure the love is we claim we have in God (I Cor 13:1-13). And our neighbor will let us know.
Because he or she always sits between us and the love source.
Forgiveness – The Key To Keep God’s Love Flowing
Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? John 21:21
The scripture above is a discussion snippet between Jesus and his disciple Peter about (can you guess?) – love. Peter miserably failed Jesus when Jesus needed him most. And Jesus wanted to let Peter know that he was to “love” those Jesus was about to place into his future ministry. Who were they? They would be Peter’s neighbors.
No sooner had they ended this discussion Peter is confronted with a dilemma. He sees another disciple of Jesus nearby, one who sat closest to Jesus at their Passover meal (Jhn 13:23), the only one who “leaned” into Jesus’ chest (Jhn 13:25)! That my friend is being very close to the Savior. A little bit of jealousy? A little bit of envy? A little bit of “unforgiveness”? Oh yes. And Jesus knew Peter would have to pass his own personal love check with his neighbor. A check Peter must pass to allow the flow of love Jesus knew he would need to fulfill God’s will for his life.
An interesting aspect of life is one can forgive and at the same time not truly love. But one cannot truly love and simultaneously be unforgiving. It is impossible. Sincere and complete forgiveness reveals the presence of true love. This is the love God requires and the only love He will accept.
We cannot expect to receive MORE of God’s love to flow into the bucket until we first pass the love check that involves forgiving our neighbor. That neighbor in our life that we just will not forgive!
“Sincere and complete forgiveness is the fruitful evidence of pure, God-given agape love“
(Still not sure that the gateway leading to God’s love is only possible by forgiving and loving our neighbor above ourselves? These scriptures may help you: Php 2:3; Mat 6:14-15, 18:21-22, 35, I Jhn 2:9-10, 3:15-17, 4:11, & 20-21)
One of Jesus’ last tests on earth, his last test to show he was truly the Son of God (God in flesh) was the test of forgiveness:
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. Luke 23:34
Forgiveness is the key to keep a continual flow of love between us and God. Unforgiveness, a root of bitterness, bad attitudes, or resentment will stop the flow dead in its tracks. May the Lord help us to repent of these things, allow the flow of the Spirit to again revive us, and let us live again! Jesus is the vine and we are the branches (Jhn 15:5), if we’re not cut off by unforgiveness.
Wells Of Everlasting Life & Love
The Word of God compares the Spirit to water, a well of living water. Water is an essential element of life. No water, no life. Yet it is amazing how some people who sincerely love God and study the Bible resist the notion that the Spirit of God is essential for salvation. Red flags are raised with shouts of “They are deceived by false doctrine”. “That person is just caught up with the latest wave of spiritual emotionalism and fanaticism”. “For them, it’s all about an emotional experience with God and not about the Word of God”.
But how can one have a walk with God without spiritual water, God’s Spirit? Is there scripture for this?
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) John 7:37-39
For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. 1 Thessalonians 1:5
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63
We must have both the “word” and the “Spirit” to be fully developed in our walk with the Lord to face the evil and darkness of this age with steadfastness and be an effective vessel for the Kingdom of God.
May the Lord help us keep our “love bucket” continually full, granting us the strength and power through his Word and Spirit to be the overcomers he desires us to be.
In Jesus’ Name. Amen
Messes To Masterpieces 