Text: 1 John 5:1-5
What Does Your Love Say?
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
College, she went to our pastor and asked
him what questions
she should ask me to make
sure I was a
good man. He instructed her to ask
me if I
tithed. He said, "If he says he
loves
the Lord and
does not give to the Lord, then
likewise he
will tell you he loves you and not
give to
you." This is very sound wisdom and
I've have
seen many a spouse say they love the
other, but
their actions state the opposite.
Just like in
our text, if we say we love the Lord
and we don't
obey, give, and serve Him, then
something is
amiss. Love is more action than
it is
feeling; so how is our love manifested
in
our lives? What
do our actions say about our
real love
for the Lord? 1 John 4:20 states, "If a
man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he
is a liar!
for he that loveth not his brother whom
he hath
seen, how can he love God whom he
hath not
seen?" There needs to be a
consistency
between what
we say and what we do.
So, as I
look at my life today, is what I say illustrated by my
actions? If
not then I need to confess my lack of consistency. Then
I need to
make this a part of my daily prayer life; analyzing and
asking God
to speak and empower my love be genuine.
Matthew 6:24,
"'No
man can serve two masters: for either he will
hate the
one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and
despise the
other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
Pastor Jerry
Beaver,
Tabernacle
Baptist Church,
Roswell, NM
Ezekiel 17,18,19; Hebrews 13