"Witness of Love" -To

 "I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you." (John 5:41-42 KJV)

  "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein 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 loved us, we ought also to love one another." (1 John 4:7-11 KJV) 

 Let me start off this morning with a little reminder of something from yesterday; as it turns out, because of the condition of our hearts, we seriously cannot love as we should love. That was just a little FYI for anyone out there that might have thought my message was moving towards finality in our ability to get all things squared away in our lives. 

 Back to the honour thing; the word does not just speak of honor, as in showing respect: it speaks of glory, excellence, majesty, absolute perfection! In other words, this is only something that can be attributed to God and from God! So that question is not about, Can they show Jesus Christ the honor He deserves, but that nobody but God the Father can bless Him with the honor that He has; that He has had; that He always will have, all throughout eternity! 

 Besides all of that, we have something more to say about, "the love of God," in that it is exactly what it says that it is: God's Love! If you want to love as God loves, then you must have God living within you and be yielded to doing the will of God in your life. Epic failure, is mine! I am terrible at loving as I should; no matter how hard I try, I just seem to mess it up, by letting my own feelings and emotions rule the day! 

 I know that I am not alone; so I can take a little refuge in that fact. But, if you are really looking to change your heart in this regard, then it is going to require that you die a little bit more to yourself! Going to get rather testy over the next year or so; so it is best that we discover now the way to be a little bit more humble and a lot less important, at least in our own eyes. 

 Love is not based upon feelings or emotions; love is a commitment and based upon self-sacrifice... 

"You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on the cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow; in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:5-11 NLT)