The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"The Calling and the Capability"
David saw it well, both the calling and the capability that makes possible the fulfillment of the first and greatest command: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God will all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength" (Mark 12:30).
"I will love Thee, o Lord my strength" (Psalm 18:1).
The Psalmist well knew the freedom required for love to be genuine and effectual: "I will love Thee, o Lord." However, He also knew that love, as defined by Scripture and and measured by its infinite standard, looms before the human heart as utterly impossible apart from the presence of the divine Heart - "o Lord my strength." "Without Me ye can do nothing" declared the Lord Jesus, which most includes the first calling of our being and existence, to love God (John 15:5). Thankfully, after our Savior's redeeming work of death, resurrection, ascension, and the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, an amazing gift graces the hearts of all who believe…
"The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5).
Receiving the love of God into the innermost depths of our spiritual being makes possible our response of love for Him. We must be born again into spiritual sonship and daughterhood through the entrance of the Holy Spirit in order to respond to our Lord's love. "We love Him because He first loved us" (I John 4:19). Believers can love God through Christ. As we trust and submit to the Holy Spirit's administration of His love within us, we do so. The response is not perfect in this present life. But it is real as God's love for us, that came to us, and now dwells within us, leads us to love as we are loved.
Consider the martyrs, who loved God by giving the last full measure of devotion. What would they tell us about their sacrifice of love? They would instantly direct our attention to His sacrifice of devotion, telling us that the freely given salvation of Christ grants the love of God not only as a presence, but as the power to love Him in holy response. "We knew in the moments of our departure that something beyond ourselves led us to see the flames as light rather than darkness and destruction. We were loved even as we loved, being honored by our Father to live even as we died." They would add in love and faith, "All glory and praise to Him!"
The Christ who so loves His Father lives in believers so that we may also love our Father. Only thereby can our "I will love" flow upon the current of "the Lord my strength." We thus set forth in both humility and confidence upon the journey that began when we believed, the eternal voyage to know the love of God, to be amazed thereby, and to love Him in the holy response made possible by the Holy Spirit. Our Father could have done nothing more wonderful for us, and we can do nothing more honoring to Him than to join David in consecration to the calling, and confidence in the capability, "I will love Thee, o Lord my strength!"
"I will dwell in them and walk in them… Walk in love."
(II Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 5:2)
Weekly Memory Verse
"He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water."
(John 7:38)
7554
No comments:
Post a Comment