LOVE IS EVERYTHING

I suppose love is a universal heart-cry.  To love and be loved is the deep yearning of even the heart of God Himself.  It is, without doubt, the heart-cry of every Christian believer; it is the plea of everyone who is without Christ…you read it in their writings, it is the theme of most of their music. Even in its convoluted form, it is the essence of their greatest preoccupation.

All love originates from God.  When the bible says, “God is love..” it is not a mere reference to His character, to His nature or an attribute…it is His essence.  God is an all-relational Being…exemplified by an eternal, interactive, loving relationship between The Father, The Son and The Spirit, without regard to anyone outside the God-head.    

Because you and I are created in His image we are, likewise, “relational” beings
capable of making moral choices and entering into loving relationships. 

The Ten Commandments is far more than a moral code. It is the canon of relational law…our relationship with God and with one another.  Jesus distilled the ten down to two…loving God with all we are and loving others as ourselves. This is the quintessential essence of Christianity.  That is why I say, “Love is Everything.” 

When Jesus set forth the one, single, criterion by which it could be decided if a person was His disciple, He did not give a tenet of Faith, nor some other religious marker, He set forth a “relational standard.”  “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” This kind of love existed between the Father, Son and Spirit from eternity past, then it spilled over onto us through Christ and “..is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” (Rom.5:5) It is the love that the world must see exhibited in the Body of Christ. 

The Apostle Paul says we should, “..clothe ourselves with love which binds us all together in perfect harmony.”  (Col.3:14nlt)  That is why I say, “Love is
Everything.” 

1 Corinthians 13 lists the characteristics of this love: patient, kind, not jealous or boastful or proud our rude, it does not demand it’s own way, it’s not
irritable, it keeps no record of being wronged, it does not rejoice in
injustice, it never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and
enduring.  

Andrew Murray says, “..it does not demand its own way,” actually “sums up [love’s] whole nature.”  Dr. Gordon Fee says, “..is
not self-seeking..,” “in some ways…is the fullest expression what
Christian love is all about.”  That’s why I say, “Love is Everything.” 

God created us, wanting for us, the loving relationship that exists between
Himself, the Son and the Spirit. 

Paul, concludes the “love chapter” saying, “These are three things that will
endure…faith, hope and love…and the greatest of these is love.”  Love alone will last forever.  Prophecies will cease; even “faith” will no
longer be needed…but love will endure forever because it will be the relational environment of eternity future. Because “God is love.”  That’s why I say, “Love is Everything.” 

You see, I can tell you how much I love God… but you can’t really know that
because it is an exclusive relationship which no one else can evaluate.
However, you can see how I love the people around me…that being the
evidence as to how much I love God.  The Apostle John said, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother he is a liar…” (1Jn. 4:20-21)

Love God…love one another…”by this…by this…by this…shall all men
know…”  That’s why I say, “Love is Everything.”