"The Real Agenda Of Love"

It seems too many miss the point of the love of God. Too many have love as warm fuzzies. The church has turned love into more of an honorable romance with others rather than God's real intention. Listen to John carefully: "By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so love us, we also ought to love one another." (I John 4:9-11)

Note carefully...God's love is a love of reconciliation. It's not a love of humane kindness. It's a love of life, spiritual life. It is true that we need to help those who need help. It is true that we need humane kindness (and we see it practiced by many in the world) but the love God is calling us to one another is a love of sacrifice for the spiritual well being of one another. We are called in these verses to embrace the love that is shown by Christ to us for one another. We are called to be a part of God's redeeming love with one another. 

I am not advocating to not look out for the needs of others. That has a very solid Biblical foundation. But we sometimes seem to over-step things, going too far in our humane side that we forgot it was God, calling the lost and sinful world to Himself through the sacrifice of Jesus. That was love in its height. That's the love we the church have been called to. To offer our help to one another and others without the redeeming quality of love offers is nothing more than just a handout and lacking depth. Maybe we need to re-focus on the redeeming quality of God and His love by sending His Son (not hand-outs) so when we decide to work a program, it is genuinely a program of love, the redeeming of the lost to Jesus. When we look to help one another in the body (the church), we will help with the love of sacrifice, to keep us in fellowship with the Lord and the work of Jesus on our behalf.