[1 John Series 6] Love in an Age of OutrageChikamu

Love can change everything for good

What happens to us when we begin to walk in darkness and live with a heart of hate? We don’t like anybody but us. Darkness and hate begin to inhibit our relationship with God and our relationship with other people. Darkness brings blindness; we lose clarity of direction and we start stumbling just like when we stub our toe while wandering through the house with the lights off.

Whenever you sense that a disagreement is turning into a feeling of hate, whether it is toward someone on TV or someone around you, you need to get back into the light. If we walk in the light and in love in an active relationship with Jesus Christ, we begin to see the path clearly. Then we trust God to fight for us and allow Him to do His work in our lives.

When the world is trying to keep us in hate, Christians look different because, through the cross of Jesus, we want to remain in the love of God. Love is defined in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. Love was shown by God sending His only Son to give us everlasting life. Love is produced by the Spirit who lives inside of each believer.

When we are friends with nonbelievers, even if they stand on the other side of things, we will have many opportunities to shine the love of Jesus to them. Maybe we can even get to pray with them, letting them to experience God personally. Loving nonbelievers doesn’t mean we have to negate our faith or compromise into some universalistic thought. Jesus will work in their lives in an amazing way. Let’s go with the love of Christ and the light of Christ and not let hate just form in our hearts.

Is there hate in your heart towards someone or something? Are you staging fights in your mind in kind of a fantasy fight with them? Maybe what you feel is not all the way to hate, but it is getting closer and closer. Would you take just a moment and confess your sin?

If your grades on your love tests aren’t the ones you want to make, here is the deal: Jesus has already taken every test for you and He got a 100 on all subjects. Let us say, “God, I’m still going to stand for what is right. Would You love others through me?”

[This reading plan is based on the 1 John series preached by pastor Gregg Matte. To watch the whole sermon this plan was taken from, please follow this link: https://houstonsfirst.org/message/love-in-an-age-of-outrage]