Resolved to Love

How fitting that the first sermon this year at MVBC is on the nature of God's love. 1 John 4:7, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God."

Based upon that verse, there is nothing more important than knowing genuine, Christian love. It is the kind of love that John says is "from God." And if we have this love, then we give it away.

There is, sadly, a beastly side to all of us. It is the side that tends to keep love to ourselves, for ourselves. We can be miserly when it comes to love. We hoard it in our heart, constantly looking for others to love us instead of loving others. Like a nation experiencing a trade deficit, we import love from others without exporting it away. That is not the Christian way.

Many of us this New Year have made wise resolutions to be more faithul to read the Word, to enjoy it, to share it, to teach it. That's good. But are we resolved to love more? How can we do this? 

1. Pray for a heartfelt concern about others. We need God's grace to love others. Love is not natural to the fallen human heart. We need God's grace in our lives. We need God's Spirit filling us with God's love. And so we must pray, "Lord, help me love others."
2. Communicate a heartfelt concern for others. Love is more than words, but it is not less. We are communicative beings--we are designed to speak. Our words should do more than communicate data: "Your lunch is on the table." "You have a 2pm appointment with the doctor next week." Our words should communicate love: "I'm thankful for you." "You are a gift from God to me." "I love you."
3. Rejoice in God's heartfelt concern for you. I end here, but this is where it all begins, does it not? Our God loves us. That's amazing. Though we did not deserve God's love, he gave it to us. God's heartfelt concern was never more beautifully or finally expressed than on a tree in Golgatha nearly 2,000 years ago. 1 John 4:10, "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

This Sunday at 10:30am, our own Dustin Butts will be preaching from 1 John 4:7-12. Pray for him as he comes to preach. But pray for all of us, that we would be marked by the kind of love that God, through John, demands of us.