This year in our Tuesday study we have been looking at a DVD series called ‘Way of Agape’. The presenter Nancy Missler has been helping us compare Solomon’s Temple in the Old Testament with ourselves today as the new ‘temple of the living God’ (2 Cor 6:16). By using this ‘temple’ model we have been challenged to look at ourselves and live out Christ in our every day lives, by making choices with the new Spirit, new Heart and new Willpower God has given us when we became believers through Christ.
Through ministering out of our ‘new temple’ we reflected on the differences between ministering God’s love and acting out of Human Love. God’s love we learned first comes from God, then is within us as believers. It is a supernatural love which is unconditional and can always keep on coming and never fails; it is activated by our choice, it’s not dependent on how we feel, but it’s one sided and does not have to be returned to be kept alive. It’s a freeing love (from expectations) and it’s also an ‘other centred’ love. We have this love within us to choose to give out freely because we are new creations in Christ! It is there within us because we have as the apostle Paul says, ‘Christ in me…’!
Human love on the other hand is based on feelings, circumstances and often how the other person responds. Every person has human love, not everyone has God’s love, Nancy says. Human love is conditional, it is two sided and must be returned to be kept alive. Human love is also self centred looking out to get love returned. C.S. Lewis says ‘Human love is a need love’.
When we experience and know God’s love, and acknowledge that our security and identity is in Him, we can then confidently choose to allow his love to flow out of us to others. Everyday we are faced with moment by moment choices, choices to ‘flare up’ in a conversation, choices to be negative, critical or unkind, but God wants us to choose his life to work out through us to others. This is the purpose of our lives.. Love God and pass God’s love on. We need to stop working at being a Christian, but allow God to work from the inside out.
Thanks be to God who has equipped us with everything we need: wisdom, love and power.
Julie
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