FAITH CAPSULE: With faith, there is love and Jesus questioned if there is faith when He comes back.
1 Corinthians 13
Have you taken some time out to search your heart if indeed you love God? Do you love God? What does it mean to love God? The word of 1 John 5:3 identified what it means to love God, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.”
Keeping God’s commandment is loving God. It takes sacrificial commitment to obey God’s commandment.
Loving God is a sacrifice. Sacrifice is not cheap but it is giving unto God what is costly. King David once stated in 2 Samuel 24:24, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.”” King David was responding to Araunah who had offered him a free land to make a sacrifice to God. The sacrifice was meant to deliver the children of Israel from death that was caused by David’s census. At that time, David’s census was against the command of God. David’s rejection of free land was a clear demonstration of what a costly sacrifice before God should be. A costly sacrifice is a proven mark of love for God.
Sacrifice to God is worshiping God. To be faithful to God is worshiping God and faithful is loving God. Jesus’ questioning faith is also questioning love. He questioned, “…when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” With faith, there is love and Jesus questioned if there is faith when He comes back. Is there love between children and parent; between husband and wife; between children; between neighbors between believers? Exchanging gifts in the name of valentine is not a testimony of the love which Jesus want to see when He comes. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 described love, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…”
Worshiping God, loving God is supposed to be a non-stop engagement if there is breath within us. God did not just ask for love rather He gave us a standard of acceptable love when He stated in Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” To love God means to give Him our all. Through the pages of the Bible, men and women that gave all in love to God live to the glory of God. Men like Abraham, Joseph, Daniel and other giants loved God with all their heart, soul and strength.
Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to love God with heart, soul, and strength.