Christian Love

The general importance of love is obvious to us all, but Paul takes us deeper than the general importance.

Hello, I'm Clarence, I'm the preacher. I invite you to take a look into that deeper level of love, starting right now.

Paul wrote: For the love of Christ compels us... 2 Corinthians 5:14 (NKJV)

Love is not merely at the core of our spiritual success, but love is the fuel of spiritual success. Love energizes. Love gets us moving. Love holds us to the path. Love presses us beyond our current comfort zone. Love carries us through difficulties. Love carries a marriage to the 50th anniversary and beyond. Love is why a mother and father sacrifice year after year to provide for their children. Love builds awesome church families rather than merely places of assembly. Love warms our hearts and motivates us to act.

And because it is love, it does not feel like a burden. It is not a "have to" but a "get to." Yes, it is hard at times, but it is a struggle we gladly embrace because we are in love. We love the process. We love the training. We love the joy, both here and hereafter.

We are not trying to get to the sideline and sit down on the bench. We are in love with fighting the good fight (1 Tim.6:12). We are in love with being as wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove (Mt.10:16). We are in love with bringing our bodies into subjection (I Cor. 9:27). We are love with learning how to bring every thought into captivity (2 Cor. 10:5). We are in love with the pressing on. We say with Paul…

12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12-14 (NKJV)

Why did Paul press on? Because the love of Christ compelled him (2 Cor.5:14). He had the fire burning in his belly. Paul lived a difficult life in many ways, but Paul lived an awesome life. We are still talking about him because of the ways he handled difficulties, not because he lived a soft and comfortable life. He lived a life empowered by a love that carried him through the valley of the shadow of death. That is the power of love.

When Jesus teaches us to love God with all our heart, he is not being a bully, he is giving us the secret of an awesome life. Love is the secret to living the best possible life here and hereafter. It seems so obvious at some levels, and yet so few people will truly embrace it.