Love is a Choice
Love is a choice, but also a COMMAND from God above. In John 13:34-35, Jesus says that we are to love each other as He loves us. That means UNCONDITIONAL love! This is far-reaching and meaningful in the Bible when we question what is meant by unconditional love. It is spelled out in Matthew 5:44-45 “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” Nowhere in the scriptures does it tell us to react in hatred, but at ALL times and in ALL situations we are to LOVE EACH OTHER.
Loving each other unconditionally does not mean we are going to LIKE everyone. Nor are we expected to live with abuse or other unacceptable, non-godly behavior. It means we are supposed to love and pray for those who ACT as our enemies and then all will be right inside of us. We won’t let hate fester and cause us to sin and act out in ways unpleasing to God.
In discussing love, we will be talking a lot about hate which is the antonym to love. The opposite. It comes from the opposite place; hate is from Satan and Love is from God. Thinking about this logically, who do you want to worship?
We are currently being taught to hate each other based on SKIN COLOR! This falls into the Bible saying that in the end of times, HIS meaning of love will be distorted. Timothy 3:1-5:
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”
Isaiah 5:20 tells us what God thinks of those who are spreading such lies and evil among His children: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” When God uses WOE it means that they will pay an eternal price for their deceit and lies. Again, do you want to follow God and be His child or do you want Him to consider you a child of the devil, doing his work and spreading ill will?
Think about it this way…skin color doesn’t make a difference any more than the many other differences that make us unique individuals. We are different and that is a good thing so we can use our differences to serve Him and humanity better. We are to meld into one for the purpose of doing all that is needed to perform His missions on earth and to evangelize His message to every person as commanded in Acts 1:8. “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.” (See my April 7th sermon where I discussed our different gifts)
We are ALL created the same, other than the few anomalies that nature has perpetrated on humans…I am talking about genetic deformities. When I say we are all created the same I mean from the same template. We are normally all born with a brain, a heart, a liver, two kidneys, and lungs. Inside we look the same except the size of these organs may differ a bit depending on the size of our body and what is needed to make the body perform as God created us. We also have two ears and two eyes, which vary in shape, color, and size, but they perform the same service to our body.
Our skin color falls under the same situation. It is made to protect our blood vessels and other tissues. It wasn’t made to identify any difference other than pigmentation. Even within the category of “color” people have different tones. All people who are considered black, brown, white, etc. are not the same shade of that color. I am considered white, but am I? My actual skin tone is beige, which isn’t even considered a color. Hmmm…
We have other distinct differences. For example, each fingerprint is different, enabling us to be distinctly identified. Does that give us a reason to hate each other rather than love? We don’t look the same either. Our eyes and hair are different colors and textures. We act, walk, talk, and have different habits, but on a surface level is that a reason to target an individual to hate rather than love? I could go on and on, but by now you get my point.
God made us all equal in His eyes and if we are to consider ourselves His children we must do as He does. He never planned for us to hate each other, but knew someday evil people would try to force such doctrine upon us and wanted us to be wise enough not to fall for their tricks. That’s why He addressed this issue MANY times in the Bible.
He said we are to love others better or the same as ourselves depending on the scripture verse. Philippians 2:3 “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.” This requires us to ACT in love and humility rather than being vain and full of hatred. Romans 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” James 2:8 “If you keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.”
As you can see in scripture, I am teaching you as God wants you to learn. His Word is the truth, not the lies of evil-doers who would find any number of ways to not only separate us from each other (so we are weak) but also to separate us from God, which makes us completely powerless.
So heed my words to you for I have done the research for you in telling you LOVING each other is a choice and a choice YOU must make to be in the will of God. It is His will that we love and we love completely. As difficult as it is to ignore the “noise” around us, we must do so if we want to hear the beautiful angels singing in heaven someday. For to God hatred is sin and sin separates us from God. Amen.
Join next week for my Love Conquers All sermon to gain some insight and tools on how to love when your heart is hurting. Lisa ><>
If you enjoyed this sermon check out our others here or if you have questions please send us a message.