Characteristics of Love: Love Makes Sacrifices
1 John 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1 John 3:16 (NLT) We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters.
1 John 3:16 (MSG) This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves.
Introduction: Mercy of God has kept us thus far. Left for the enemy, we would have gone underground. I thank God for those who regularly read, ask questions and contribute on this platform.
🙏 I pray that His words will keep us on the narrow path away from the wide and broad way that leads to destruction in Jesus name.
Today is the 28th week that we started looking at characteristics of God’s kind of Love so as to differentiate it from worldly or valentine’s love that is celebrated worldwide in February.
🛑 Devil is getting more hotter with various arsenals against Christian couples. Satan’s potent weapon is social media with dissemination of lies and half-truths that are sweet and convenient for the hearers, especially lazy Christians that find God’s word tedious and His commandments unachievable due to pressure of sinful nature.
Eloquent and smooth talkers are sending confusion into Christian marriages with enticing words of men or flesh.
Remember, kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent ones are attacking it. There is no shortcut to blissful marriage except through the narrow path of the originator of marriage. Following the crowd this end times leads to destruction, but majority follow the crowd and reject godly advice even on marital relationship. Few Christians that see the narrow path become “a voice in the wilderness” as majority follow the broad way to marital destruction.
Hear what God told His chosen ones when it comes to making life decisions
Jeremiah 6:16 (NLT) So now the Lord says, “Stop right where you are! Look for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!’
Hear Message version of Jesus’s advice to His Disciples
Matthew 7:13(MSG) “Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do.
📎 The 28th characteristic of God’s kind of Love this week is: Love makes sacrifices.
1 John 3:16 (MSG) This is how we've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves.
The most difficult area of life is living sacrificially for others including our spouses. This is because of the inherited human nature.
I am convinced beyond reasonable doubt that if Christians are intentional on living sacrificially for their spouses, it is achievable. I have seen few people who live sacrificially but immediately they listen to comments from people on the broad way, supported by the flesh, they change. This is a natural phenomenon.
The truth is, there will be a change from living a sacrificial life immediately we shift focus from Jesus Christ to the world system and belief.
Matthew 14:28-30(NLT) Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you by walking on water.” ” All right, come, ” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he looked around at the high waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.
🛑 There is no way anyone will look around the waves of worldly occurrences, counsel from social media and hear experiences from others, that such a person will not be terrified.
❓Then, are we excusable and justified to abandon sacrificial life as Christian couples?
🛑 The answer is NO! because we are to follow the steps of Jesus Christ who sacrificed His life for us as a token of love.
John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
We are therefore commanded to love the same way.
John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
My wife was sharing with me a sad experience told by a lady on radio, where the lady used her school fees and allowances from her parents to finance education of boyfriend while she abandoned schooling and her boyfriend became a graduate. My wife couldn’t hear the conclusion of the issue but your guess is as good as mine. The boyfriend abandoned her for another woman thereafter. This is a story from worldly or valentine’s love as the lady lied to her parents and cohabited with a man thereby lived a life of lies and fornication.
🛑 Show me anyone who obeys God’s commandments and I will show you the one that God loves and knows the mind of God.
John 14:21(NLT) Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal myself to each one of them.”
🛑 There is never anyone who obeys God completely and suffers for living sacrificially. If anyone says he/she lived sacrificially with obedience to God’s word and ended in disgrace, such a person has not told the truth.
Romans 3:4(NLT) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.“
Jesus Christ our perfect example lived sacrificially for us and God highly exalted Him. Therefore, anyone who follows in His steps shall be exalted by God.
Philippians 2:5-9 (NLT) Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross. Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name,
Don’t expect reward of sacrificial living from your spouse just obey commandments of the Lord and Saviour, and see how much God will rate you above all men.
John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
❓What practical steps are we to take as we walk in love this week?
▶️ What is one of the greatest needs in your spouse’s life right now? Is there a need you could lift from their shoulders today by a daring act of sacrifice on your part? Whether the need is big or small, purpose to do what you can to meet the need.
✍ Finally brethren, let us as Christians continue to show God’s kind of Love that covers multitude of sins. Keeping offences in our hearts gives room for bitterness and erase sacrificial life among couples as commanded by the Lord.
1 Peter 4:8 (NLT) Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.
✋ Maranatha
