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Love is better than sacrifice
What if I love God with all my heart – not just feel-good type of love, but unselfishly choose what is best for God with all my heart? How does that compare to going through the outward appearance of obedience but without our hearts’ engagement? Jesus made it very clear in Mark 12:33, “To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
God’s love is based on His character – not who we are. We all fall far short of perfection, but God loves us anyway, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" 1 John 4:10-11.
In 1 Corinthians 13 we are given the ‘most excellent way’. Using our God given gifts and abilities, coupled with the character and heart of the love He shares with us, allows us to give ourselves completely with no thought of receiving anything in return. Christ is our guide, His sacrifice is our love model that shows us how to love unselfishly, choosing Him and others before ourselves. 1 Corinthians 13:3, “If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
The works that we do in obedience to Christ do not make us righteous before God, it is our faith that saves us (Ephesians 2:1-10). Real, saving faith is demonstrated by us through our obedience, flowing out of our love for Him. If we love Him, we cannot be willfully disobedient, or our faith would be false. “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them” John 14:21.
When our faith is true and we are yielded to Christ, Romans 8:38-39 becomes a beautiful place of rest for us, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life...nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Reflection: Oh, the joy of receiving God’s love, the adventure of learning to love Him back, and love others as He loves us!
About this Plan
Sometimes we get caught up in the world’s efforts to do enough good things to save ourselves. But does that really work? What does God truly want from us? Join us and explore some Biblical aspects of how our service and sacrifice to the Lord should transform our hearts and lives.
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