Characteristics of Love: Love is Faithful
Hosea 2:20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.
Hosea 2:20 (NLT) I will be faithful to you and make you mine,and you will finally know me as the lord.
Introduction: Glory be to God who has kept us thus far. O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord. Psalm 117
🙏 I pray that His words will not be parable unto us as we study at His feet in Jesus name.
📎 The 22nd characteristic of God’s kind of Love this week is: Love is Faithful.
▶️ God is Love
1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
God is faithful
1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
If God is Love, and God is faithful, therefore, God’s kind of Love is Faithful.
My wife asked for my opinion on the post that says; “A man who has never lied to a woman has no respect for her feelings” I told her that it is the opinion of man. I will rather dwell on the opinion of God by His words on liars.
❓The question is, am I justified before God by lying so as to respect feelings of my wife?
Because it is impossible for God to lie, we are to be conformed to His image. Lies should be detestable in Christian’s marital relationship. You can only find lies in human nature which we all possess.
Romans 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
I can therefore say that worldly or valentine’s love is unfaithful because the prince of this world is a liar.
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Hence, being faithful or unfaithful is a function of whom we choose as father; God or Devil. In other words, anyone who obeys God serves God, and will be faithful but anyone who obeys Devil serves Devil and will be unfaithful.
It was obedience to Devil at the Garden of Eden that put man under the control of the Satan, after which God made available Jesus Christ the Saviour.
🛑 Anyone who wishes to be delivered from captivity of Satan must come to Christ and obey His words even though it seems foolish to human nature.
1 Corinthians 1:18 (NLT) The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.
Scriptures speak concerning whom we choose to obey.
Romans 6:16(NLT) Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.
🛑 A true Christian, believer indeed, or chosen one possesses God’s kind of Love that is devoid of deceit in every aspect of life.
John 1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
Because God is faithful and we are His children, lies or deceit should not be found in us since we have overcome the world due to absolute faith in Jesus Christ.
1 John 5:4-5 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
The whole world lies in wickedness only those who believe in Jesus Christ and dwell in Him Who is true will remain faithful.
1 John 5:19-20 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
The Spirit of God and spirit of error is known through the manifestations of the kind of Love being exhibited.
1 John 4:6-7 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
We often believe that love is reciprocal, i.e. if you love me I love you and if you don’t love me, I will not love you. This is the orientation imbibed as Human beings. To change this orientation, divine knowledge of God’s kind of Love is needed.
Romans 5:8(NLT) But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
If you find out that your spouse committed adultery, will you also do the same in retaliation? God’s kind of Love does not operate in “an eye for an eye”.
Hear the Master as He taught His Disciples
Matthew 5:38-39(GNS) You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’But now I tell you: do not take revenge on someone who wrongs you. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, let him slap your left cheek too.
Hear Apostle Paul to Romans church
Romans 12:14(NLT) Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them.
❓What practical steps are we to take as we walk in love this week?
Love is a choice, not a feeling. It is an initiated action, not a knee-jerk reaction (reaction without thinking). Choose today to be committed to love even if your spouse has lost most of their interest in receiving it. Say to them today in words similar to these, “I love you. Period. I choose to love you even if you don’t love me in return.”
✍ Finally brethren, let us possess the character of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour who is faithful and remains faithful to those who keep His commandments.
Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
Let us remain faithful in loving our spouses as we commit our souls unto faithful Creator.
1 Peter 4:18-19(NLT) And also, “If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?” So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.
✋ Maranatha.
