The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Love and Truth - a Defined Path"
If "God is love," then our understanding and experience of love must be defined according to His nature, character, and way (I John 4:8; 16). Anything other or less will not meet the test of reality and truth.
"And this is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it" (II John 1:6).
To "walk after His commandments" means that we have known the love of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, have received His love into our hearts through the indwelling Holy Spirit, and are thereby being guided and empowered to live by faith in the promises, and obedience to the mandates of Scripture. We walk a defined path of love that reflects the character and nature of the Lord Jesus, as revealed in the Bible.
"The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5).
"Walk, even as He walked" (Romans 5:5).
"Lead me in Thy truth… Thy Word is truth" (Psalm 25:5; John 17:17).
The Apostle Paul offered a vital prayer in this regard for the Philipppian believers of His day:
"For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ" (Philippians 1:8-10).
It is one thing to desire to love God and others. It is another to do so according to "knowledge and all judgment." How can we ensure that our attitudes, words, and actions flow with the current of genuine love, as proceeding in us from the Fount of all genuine devotion? Scripture informs us as we seek confirmation and correction by the Holy Spirit's application of its truth to our hearts and minds. "Order my steps in Thy Word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me" (Psalm 119:133). To walk even as Christ walked in the love of God requires His personal indwelling within our hearts, and His propositional illumination of our minds. We require both the living Word and the written Word. Otherwise, we will misinterpret love in understanding, and misapply our false concept in life.
The Apostle John's twice- repeated affirmation that "God is love" requires the entirety of Scripture for definition and the enabling of our proper response to this most sublime of all truths. No issue of our being and existence compares with this privileged responsibility to know the love of God, as confirmed by the first two commandments:
"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these" Mark 12:30-31).
The Spirit of God and the Scriptures of God unite to reveal the love of God. Only thereby can we be sure we are living in the light of our Lord's primary character and nature. Devotion to both will guide us in our quest of ongoing discovery, and our life of genuine love for God and others. Yes, love and truth exist as united realities in His heart and way, as they must in ours…
"Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love."
(II John 1:3)
Weekly Memory Verse
"For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh."
(II Corinthians 4:11).
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