“…God is love.” -1 John 4:8

As Valentines’ day quickly approaches, love is in the air. How are we to think about love? As 1 John 4:8 makes it very clear, love is not just one of his attributes it is his very nature. Many people like this attribute of God the best and speak of it often. The tragedy remains in the local church that many people receive lousy teaching on the topic of God’s love.

I have often heard it taught that God loves in a unique way, and there was a word invented to talk about this type of love, the Greek word "agape." This is not the case. "Agape" is the transliteration of the Greek word for love. Agape simply means love. It is not from the word itself that we can gather any particular information, but from the context of the Word of God. I would like to draw out three essential aspects of this attribute of God.

First, God’s love is uninfluenced. By this, I mean that there is nothing in the objects of His love to call it into exercise, nothing in the creature to attract or prompt it. God's love is unique from our love. By comparison, we love others because of different reasons: physical attraction, the other person thinks like us, the other person is our opposite, they're complimentary to us, etc… In each case there is something that prompts us to love someone else. We see in Deut. 7:7-8, one sees that God chose to love Israel in spite of who they are, the fewest in number.

Second, God’s love is sovereign. That is since God himself is sovereign (meaning under obligations to none, a law unto himself, acting always according to his own pleasure.) God is God and He does as He pleases. Since God is sovereign and since he is love, it follows that his love is sovereign. So God loves whom he pleases. We see this in passages like Romans 9:13 where is says “Jacob have I love, but Esau have I hated”. There is no more reason to love Jacob over Esau. Both were born at the same time to the same parents and the prophecy given before either had done anything good or bad.

And finally, God’s love is holy. The fact that “God is light” (1 John 1:5) is mentioned before “God is love” (1 John 4:8) in 1 John. God’s love is not regulated by impulse, passion, or sentiment, but by principle. His holiness overshadows all his attributes. God does not wink at sin, even in His people (Heb. 12:6). If God did wink at sin, Christ died for no reason. God continues to manifest or show his love for us.

Let’s not forget that God’s love is also eternal (Jeremiah 31:3), infinite (Eph. 2:4), immutable (James 1:17), and gracious (John 3:16 & 34). I recommend The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God by D.A. Carson for further study on this matter.

A Penny Saved Is Bringing Glory To God!

This month I would like to share with you Penny Heaton’s story. God brought her back from the brink of death. It is best if I let her tell it. So here is Penny's story in her own words, Penny writes:

“I just want to take a moment to tell you about the Miracles God recently performed in my life:As some of you know, eight weeks ago I got up for church and felt sick (got sick). I told my husband to help me back to bed and to go on to church, and I would be fine! About 11:45 am I felt deathly sick and barely made it to the bathroom, I threw up blood everywhere and did this for almost 45 minutes, I tried to crawl to the bedroom to get my phone to get help and passed out in the hallway, I woke up throwing up blood again. Scott came home, and I told him to call 911. The ambulance arrived, they picked me up and I passed out again, I woke up in the Emergency Room with 6 nurses trying to get IV’s in me, but, my veins had collapsed and I had no blood pressure, they finally managed to get an IV started and began squeezing bags of fluids in me. It took an hour and fifteen minutes to get me stabilized. Come to find out, I had two large ulcers to rupture at the same time, and I had lost 4 1/2 pints of blood, and my hemoglobin levels were down to 3.5. From there I was moved to ICU and given a blood transfusion. The next day the doctors did an EDG scope on my stomach. When the doctors got the camera in my stomach, they found that the bleeding had stopped and the ulcers had sealed themselves!!! The doctors were amazed; I was in the hospital for the next three days.

Two weeks ago I had another EDG scope, and the ulcers were completely gone, and my blood level is back to 11.5, once again my doctor was amazed. I felt like I needed to share this because GOD laid his hands on me and listened to all the prayers you prayed for me. I am saved and truly blessed by the hands of God.”

It is great to hear how God is continuing to bless and answers the prayers of His people! Have a blessed day!

What Resolutions Should Wise Christians Make This New Years?

The top ten resolutions are in and losing weight is number one again. It makes sense we all just ate tons of food and candy for the last month or so. We need to take the time to reflect on what we need to work on and make a plan. I have outlined seven central reflections for any follower of Christ to consider.

1.    Reflect on the state of your soul. Your soul is more important than your weight! Unlike our bodies, our souls never die. What is the condition of our soul? Am I in right standing with God? Have I accepted God’s gift of grace through faith, not trusting my own merits? Do I have a good conscience?

2.    Reflect on the use of private and public “means of grace.” A “means of grace” is anything God has given us to grow in our Christian life. Have I been reading and meditating on the Word of God, The Holy Bible? Do I have a prayer list? Am I spending time in prayer daily? How has my attendance at the stated meetings of the local church been in 2017? Have I made all efforts to gather with the saints?

3.    Reflect on stewardship. How have I been spending my time and money? Have I been a cheerful giver as God called me to be? Have I spent more of my money on entertainment or missions? Have I faithfully given to my local church? Can I improve my use of my time and money?

4.    Reflect on family relationships. Men do you love your wives as Christ loves the church? (Eph. 5:25) Wives have you loved your husbands as God called you to do? (Eph. 5:22) Children, have you honored your mother and father this past year? Parents, have you provoked your children to anger this past year? Have we been faithful to the family alter to teach our children biblical truths?

5.    Reflect on our Christian testimony and evangelism. Does all our family and friends think of us as just lovely Church going folks? Do others know that Christ means more to us than anything this world has to offer? Do we make intentional efforts to give others the gospel?

6.    Reflect on our use of Christian liberty. Are we labeling some things that may be questionable as liberty? Paul reminds us that all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable.

7.    Reflect on my love and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. Do we spend much time thinking about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Do we think about who Jesus is and what He has done for us? Do we count Him as precious like the apostle Peter and the early church did?

This is a good start for making some solid New Year’s Resolutions. Take the answers to these reflections and make yourself a plan in 2018. Let’s make 2018 the year that we grow closer to Jesus Christ than ever! Happy New Year!