How Intense Is Your Love? 

Honestly, I must admit that I don’t always love fervently nor do I always do so with sincere love.  In this life, I have found that it’s very easy to become deceived or misled by emotions and other desires that literally wage war against the soul. My walk in Christ is not always what I want it to be and thus I know I must pursue the Holy Spirit daily if I am ever to hope to live how Jesus intended for his followers.  

1 Peter 2:11 

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.

Isn’t it amazing that even though Jesus enabled us to be born again and become children of God we still are imperfect in this world. I once thought that after a few years walking with Jesus I would be able to overcome all the negative issues in my soul but at almost 73 years old I realize the only way I can be as my Heavenly Father desires me to be is to be constantly connected to him though the Holy Spirit, which is a challenge for me and all believers.

The apostle Peter challenged believers to realize why we have been saved.  Salvation is not for our benefit exclusively but so that we might be a reflection of the Father’s love to the world.  How sad when we start thinking that salvation is all about “ME” instead of all about our Heavenly Father’s will and desire to affect the world for good.   

1 Peter 1:22 

Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,

Peter says we were purified in our souls because we “Obediently” responded to the truth of God’s word and heart. That purpose, Peter says, is to love others, which we were designed by God in our DNA.  It is interesting that Peter does not shy away from how important the human choice is in salvation, unlike many today that preach that salvation is all of God and none of man. How foolish are we to deny our part in choosing Christ?  If we deny the importance of our choices in salvation, we most assuredly will neglect the importance of our choices after coming to Christ.  Is there any wonder why so much of church Christianity is selfishly absorbed in personal pursuits rather than kingdom pursuits.

Peter finishes his thoughts about obediently choosing to surrender to the truth of God and his words say we should “Fervently” love one another. For me, that’s the sticky point. I can attempt to love others as myself as Jesus taught in Matthew’s gospel and  feel justified I am doing as God requires and desires.  Yet, I still fail because I don’t do so fervently. The word he uses is having love that is intentional, not arbitrary. To be fervent is not so much about intensity as it is in purpose. In other words, we are called of God to be intentional about the love we extend to others. By doing that, we avoid “Pretending” we love people when we really don’t.

A good example of this is in the book of Revelation where Jesus confronts a church who has left its first love, namely Jesus. Now think about what Jesus is saying to this church. They, as a whole, have left their sincere love of God! How does a church as a whole get into such a place in their souls? Was it bad teaching? Was it bad role models in the church leadership?  Or was it just that fact that without constant infusion from the Holy Spirit we all will go back to living carnally as we did before Christ. The scary thing is it can happen to all of us by losing our first love and not even recognizing it. This church walked away from Christ in their souls and didn’t realize it. I’m sure they sang good songs in their Sunday celebrations and gave each other Christian hugs, yet they drifted because they thought they could walk this Christian path purely by human will power and intelligence.  

Revelation 2:4 

But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

This life is tricky and if we are to live as God intended we have to regularly evaluate how well we are doing this walk lest we end up like this Ephesian church. Remember, Jesus didn’t just address some of the people in this church but the entire congregation. The people we fellowship will either motivate good hearts and behavior or they will condone bad behavior as normal Christian living.

Let me finish with the last thing Peter says in this important verse. He says our love needs to come from the heart. In other words, he says don’t get fooled by human love alone. Human love can and often looks like God’s love when it is only a reflection of love. Godly love from the heart not only does good things, its purpose is to influence for Father God. Human love always has strings attached to its action, even in the best of cases. Do we love because we want to be loved ourselves or do we love so people will think well of us? The love from the heart that Peter is talking about is love that is pure and undefiled. 

Ask yourself today if you love the way God wants you to love or are you loving with human strength only. Don’t let your soul be satisfied with love that is less than God intends. Love from the heart with intentional love that always makes a difference in others and ourselves.

Questions:

1) Is your love the kind of fervent love that God desires? God spoke to Solomon about how God searches the heart and he wants us to see ourselves as we really are. ( 1 Ch 28:9 )

2) Does your heart need a “Tune-Up” so that you don’t end up like the Ephesian church believers? Being filled with the Holy Spirit daily will keep your heart on target ( Eph 5:18 )  

Pastor Dale