“I’m Going To Let You Have It!”
Have ever you been driving down the road and you’ve come upon a car with Ohio tags driving 25 mph in the left lane? Maybe you've experienced the feelings that surge through you when you’ve run to Publix to pick up 1 or 2 items and you're in the 20 items or less lane and there's a guy with 40 items! Or maybe you have the neighbor that seems to prefer his dog uses your yard rather than his lush, green paradise that he spends 50 hours a week working on?
Every day there are opportunities to lose it! Opportunities to get mad. Those moments when you want to "let them have it"! Well, you can't. It's just not worth it when it comes to your walk with God and I’m going to tell you why!
Faith Works By Love
In the book of Galatians it tells us that “faith works by love” (Gal. 5:6). Knowing that faith is that which brings you the things of God, we must understand that love is the highway on which it travels. If there is no road for faith to travel, faith will not work.
God Is Love
Now you may be asking ‘why’? How can this be? To answer this question we have to understand what or who love is. In 1 John 4:8 we find “God is Love”. God doesn’t just give off love, He doesn’t simply speak love, GOD IS LOVE. He’s the source of Love!
With this new revelation you will now understand why “Love cast out fear” in 1 John 4:18 and why 1 Corinthians 13 refers of those that don’t love others as “making meaningless noise or clanging cymbals”. Paul goes on to say it’s doesn’t matter what I’ve done, if “I have not love (God's love in me), I gain nothing.” Of course, because God is Love! No Love, no God!Love vs. Hate
So many Christians are defeated because they don’t realize the absence of Love is hate and the absence of hate is Love. We like to think that hate is when I want to take baseball bat and hit someone over the head with it! Yes, that’s hate! But hate is also anything less than Love. If you want to know the truth, here it is. When we allow ourselves to lose compassion, genuine Love for another individual we’ve stepped into hate. There is no middle ground when Love vs. hate! Once you step out of Love you enter hate and once you step out of hate you enter Love.
Have you ever heard someone say, “I don’t hate them, I just don’t like them”? Or maybe you’ve even said, “that person bugs me. They’re not my type!” Your type? Are we God’s type as we speak of others in this way? No. Both of these statements come out of hatred! Don’t believe me? You certainly wouldn’t think these were Love statements, would you? Remember, Biblically there is no middle ground.
It’s Dangerous Out There!
As Christians, we must understand the reality of true Love and walking in Love with those around us. When we allow ourselves to get outside of Love we put ourselves in a very dangerous place...a place where our faith won’t work! And faith is the only way we will ever receive from God!
So start today walking in Love. Repent for those times where you’ve allow hate to creep in. Choose to Love people, even your enemies! Decide today that you are going to live, speak and walk in God’s Love no matter what happens! And don’t be surprised when you begin seeing your prayers answered and things beginning to work out for your best...because faith works by LOVE!
I love you all... I really do!
Charles
