THE LOVE OF CHRIST IN US.
1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-8 “Love is patient, love is kind, it does not— Love never fails—‘.
Behold what manner of love- it is spontaneous, it burst up in extraordinary ways in us and shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
The spring of love belongs to God and in God, not in us. It is absurd to look for the love of God in our hearts naturally, it is only there when it has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It is only there, when we believe and we surrendered our will to Him. If we try to prove to God how much we love him, it is a sure sign that we do not love him. The evidence of our love for him is the absolute spontaneity of our love, it comes effortlessly. In looking back, we cannot tell why we did certain things, we did them according to the spontaneous nature of his love in us. The life of God manifests itself in this spontaneous way because the spring of love is in the Holy Spirit that is in us and controls us.
There is nothing of mathematical certainty in the category of love. We cannot say- “now I am going to think no evil, I am going to believe all things, I am going to be kind, I am going to keep no records of wrong, etc. The characteristics of love is extemporaneity. We do not set the statement of Christ in front of us as a standard, but when His Spirit is having his way with us, we live according to his standard without knowing it and on looking back we are amazed at the disinterestedness of a particular emotion which is the evidence that the spontaneity of real love was there. In everything to do with the life of God in us, its nature is only discerned when it is past. If we don’t have the love of God, whatever we do for him is a mere show and will never be approved and rewarded by him. When we become advocates of a creed, something dies.
1 Corinthians 13:1 “If I could speak all the languages on earth and of angels, but did not love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” The manner of love we are called to follow is the love that embraces all the characteristics stated in verses 4-8.
May God help us to stay true to that love if we have found it. May His mercies be made available to all those seeking to find true meaning in that love that is in Christ Jesus. Amen.
2. WILFUL SURRENDER.
John 13:13 “You call me Teacher and Lord. And you are right when you say that. You are right, because I am your Teacher and Lord.
Behold what manner of love- it is the love that never insist on having authority. Our Lord never insists on having authority. He never says, YOU MUST. He leaves us perfectly free, so free that we can spit in his face, as men did, so free that we can put him to death, as men did. But when his life has been created in you by his redemption, the manner of love will instantly make you recognize his right of absolute authority over you. It is a moral domination. It is only the unworthy in you that refuses to bow down to the worthy.
By the miracle of redemption, Saul of Tarsus was turned in one second from a strong-willed, intense Pharisee into a humble, devoted servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not natural to obey, nor is it necessarily sinful to disobey. There is no moral virtue in obedience unless there is a recognition of a higher authority in the one who dictates. If our Lord insists on obedience, he would become a task master and he would cease to have any authority. He never insists on obedience. The revelation of our growth in grace is the way in which we look at obedience. Jesus’ obedience was as redeemer, because he was a son, he did not obey in order to be a son.
When I stand face to face with Christ and say I will not, he never insists, but I am backing away from the re-creating power of his redemption. The redemption means that Jesus can put in to any man the disposition that rule his own life, and all the standards God gives are based on that disposition. The reality of God’s presence is not dependent on any action apart from wilful surrender and determination to set the Lord always before you.
At this critical moments, it is necessary to ask guidance and break our ignorance and for us to realize our absolute futility and poverty which brings us to the moral frontier where his love will work and dominate our willingness to obey and accept his authority. Who is the authority over you- YOURSELF OR CHRIST? This question and its answer determines chiefly your state and spiritually stand in Christ. May God help us to surrender willingly to the one that loves us and have eternal life. Amen.
Kommentarer