“…the love of God is
toward His Spirit born-children. ‘Much more then, being now justified by his
blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled,
we shall be saved by his life’ (Rom. 5:9-10); ‘Christ also loved the church,
and gave himself for it’ (Eph. 5:25). He loves His own even though they are
wandering away, as is revealed in the return of the ‘prodigal son.’ ‘If we love
one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us’ (1 John
4:12). By this divine compassion the Christian proves his reality before the
world: ‘A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have
loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye
are my disciples, of ye have love for one another’ (John 13:34-35). Such divine
love is also the test of our brotherhood in Christ: ‘Hereby perceive we the
love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother
hath need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the
love of God in him?’ (1 John 3:16); ‘We know we have passed from death to life,
because we love the brethren’ (1 John 3:14).” He That is Spiritual, L. S. Chafer.
For last several years, the Lord has been quietly dealing
with me about the things we are so richly blessed with. This caused me to look
upon those who are in my path who are in need.
It is strikingly obvious to me when there is a need as the prompting from the Holy Spirit says quietly to me; “You
have the ability to help this person.” It is then I decide if I want to be
obedient to the prompting or not. I have tried pretty hard in the past few
years to be obedient to those times of prompting. Let’s face it, there are too
many times in my past whereby I saw it and ignored it. Now I’m not talking
about the people who are standing on the street corners begging for food or
money in this case (the Lord knows who are genuine in their needs and those who want us to support an
addiction). What I’m talking about are those who are in genuine need that pass us each and every day and
we fail to open our closets, our hearts, and sometimes even our wallets to help
them.
Just think of what society would be like if everyone did
their part to help the less fortunate. There would be no hungry people every
day, no young families who struggled to clothe their children, and no people
struggling financially to get by in their daily lives. Government programs such
as welfare, food stamps, and other means to support and help people would go
out of existence. What a great experience that would be? What about older
widows and shut-ins who would never have to worry about being cared for, fed,
or even have chores done around their houses without having to pay someone? In
fact what about a family which would take in their loved ones? What about a community
which was in tune with the needs of everyone around them? Think about a
neighborhood where crime wasn’t a problem because all the needs of those around
them were met. Think about the young men who wouldn’t be without fathers at
home because someone cared enough about the family to lend a hand in helping
them to succeed! Folks I could go on and on about this…
Does this all sound like a pipe dream though? It might if we
viewed it that way negatively, but what if it was possible? I tell you today
it is possible through an institution which God ordained some 2000 years
ago. It’s called the church. You see in the era of Jesus, the church took care
of the needs. There wasn’t government
assistance in this era. The church took care of the needs. There weren’t needs;
the church took care of them.
So how does each of us play a part to accomplish that goal?
We begin with that one or two person(s) who we are passing each day. We invest
in them. We take interest in them. We spend time with them. We learn their needs, and then meet what needs we can and when we can’t, we find
some other way to help them. This is the acts Jesus was talking about in the verses
of love mentioned above. Take time this week to remember this verse; “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because
He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother hath need,
and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God
in him?” (1 John 3:16).
Time for a self-checkup and see if God’s love dwells in you
today…
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