Love!

Love!

2 John 1:6 AMP

[6] And this is love: that we walk in accordance with His commandments and are guided continually by His precepts. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should [always] walk in love.

John, called the apostle of love, was writing to the 'chosen lady and her children'. Whether this was an actual person or a symbol of a church, it is not clear but the message in the letter is clear and unmistakable. John was writing about the topic of love. To the natural man, love is that feeling that makes your heart beat faster when you see the subject or object of your affection. To others under the same human influence, love is proven by the things you do to or for other people. As dealing with the natural man is not an exact science, you find sins like fornication and adultery labelled as 'making love'. It shows that the natural man can only understand love from the perspective of what it can see, feel or receive. That is why the natural man cannot be the source of anything Godly. The natural man is unable to grasp the scope, height, or depth of the love of God, because it cannot receive, respond, or submit to it. 

The spiritual man is the one that is able to receive and respond to the love of God, which is the focus of the verse above. The verse lays the right foundation of love as a relationship with the One called Love Himself. The verse above makes a categorical statement: love id proven by walking in accordance with His commandments. How do ypu align with the commandments of a God you do not know, recognise or submit to? How can you be guided by the instructions of an authority you do not recognise, or claim the benefits of an authority that you do not submit to? These are fundamental questions that require honest review, so you know where you stand, or what you can look forward to receiving from God. God is merciful, and sends His rain on both the good and the bad, but like all natural men, no matter how nice they are, when it comes to writing a will, their natural children who have stayed faithful are the first priority, before any outsider is considered. 

The verse above also makes it clear that love is a command. This tells me that this is not one of those negotiable options; it is a command that demands allegiance and total obedience. How can you even partially obey God? It is as good as disobedience. God commands His own to love, and of course, the proof of love will be seen in the outflow of my life. Can men come in contact with the Love of God in my life? Does Jesus shine in and through my life too? Is His light evident in my life in a way that men can see the results of His presence in me, which are good works that bring glory to His name? Do I let the world define my view of what love is, or is God sitting in full control of the strings of ny heart, defining its pursuits and priorities? I must also note that there are permanent and eternal ramifications to my response to the love God offers. May it not be that it is at the throne of judgment that reality dawns that the wrong version of love had been pursued. May God help me find Him, and find life. God's time of favour is here.