Christian Living

Gods Love is the Answer

by Thomas Kirkpatrick
02/10/22
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“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” (Ephesians 5:1-2)

Now and then, I fall back in time to capture a memory from long ago. I found myself this morning on the stoop living in the ’60s and growing into my teenage years. It was a confusing time wandering around trying to be grown up without an idea of what I was doing. It was the era of the Beatles vs. the Monkeys on the top forty. I like many of the Monkey’s songs, especially “Sleepy Jean,” but I liked everything the Beatles did. John Lennon was not my favorite Beatle, but a song of his from 1973 was on my mind this morning and stayed there a while, “Mind Games.”

As with most songs, I do not know or remember the lyrics, but I do remember these, “Love is the answer, and you know that for sure. Love is a flower. You got to let it; you got to let it grow.” There is a profound truth in those words. We are to love the Lord with all our hearts and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. I find it very easy to love the Lord with all my heart, and it is a natural love in the reflection of His love towards me. When it comes to my neighbors, it is not so easy. It becomes a duty to obey the Lord’s command. But as love grows, it too becomes natural. I don’t have to know someone to love them, but I do have to know them to like them. I find myself liking many people I love and disliking a lot of people I love.

A few decades back, I was a Barstool Baptist. It was in my Army days, and it seemed as the drinks began their works on my brain, my father’s words kept coming out of my mouth. Perhaps it was because I knew he would be displeased with where I was. But, I think it is more because most of what my father said came from the Word of God and God’s Word has a way of coming back in times of bad behavior. So, often in those days, I found myself on the stool being a Barstool Baptist. It’s funny how at this moment, another song comes to mind from a fellow West Virginian Hank Williams Sr., “Tear in My Beer.”

I’m a watcher more than an actor, so I would muse myself watching everyone getting saturated at the bar in Fort Stewart, Georgia. Some would come in upset, and others would drink themselves to sorrow. Thus, the song “Tear in my Beer” always came to mind. Hank recorded that song in Nashville in 1950, which is my birth year. I have listened to Tear in my Beer but know none of the lyrics. But I get the idea, as it is about lost or unfaithful love. So I would sit on my stool and listen to somebody did somebody wrong songs; either the beer or the songs would change the mood in the bar.

I will have to say I credit the beer, which gave me more boldness to express my compassion. I am not known as a happy person, probably because I don’t smile much, but I hate to see someone crying in their beer. So with my false courage and my insides sloshing. I venture out to console a stranger approaching that one too many. Even as I am speaking of many decades ago, I concluded many of the sorrowful people in the bar could not satisfy their natural hunger for love. Their true want was a faithful love. That love is the desire God placed in every soul for divine love.

I could not explain divine love at that time, as I had not truly found it. I, too, was a drifter in a sea of worldly wisdom. I would listen, sympathize and try to empathize, but I could not give them a satisfying answer. I tried to by a voice up but seldom gave them a lift up. The best I could do was recite a verse my father taught me in an effort to give them hope. “Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)

Some blame God for all their trials in life. It does not bother me, as I have done that many times. There is a god to point to for all our trials, but not the Lord God Almighty. The god of this world is a fallen angel cast down from God’s Kingdom because of his pride. He is the serpent of old Satan who tempted Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. They fell to his temptation and brought sin into the world, fracturing the harmony of God’s creation and the souls of humanity. His temptation destroyed the image we were created in and changed our greatest desire. Humanity no longer desires God’s Kingdom but the kingdom of the world and lusts for it. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.” (1 John 2:16)

Satan hates the Lord God Almighty, and he hates everything God has created, and I believe he even hates himself. Otherwise, Satan would have repented and asked forgiveness if he could. The most important thing about Satan is that he hates you and me. The truth is Satan hates you and seeks to destroy you, and that is his biggest purpose to kill you and me. Satan is a powerful fallen angel, but he is not God’s opposite. Satan is a created being just as we are. God defeated him on the cross, and He will crush him at the fullness of time.

God is love “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (1 John 4:8). The world has many definitions of love. Some see it as a physical word and seek physical remedy and application, and I am not saying they are incorrect. God is love, and His love is spiritual as well as physical. The short definition of agape love is unconditional, unselfish love towards all of His creation. It is the love God has for us and desires from us. All His creation gets that, and only humanity consistently falls short. Three times Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him and Peter answered with a lower love each time. Humanity in its present state cannot love God with agape love. Yet, the Lord God Almighty loves with agape love. So much so He paid the price for our sins. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Love as man sees it is not the problem. The problem is the definition of humanity’s love. It’s physical and incapable of complete love for one another, many come close, but none are perfect as God’s. Love is the answer, and until we have God’s agape love within us, we will not understand and share His love for others. Therefore, humanity must seek the Lord and find Him while He can be found. The moment will come for all when it is too late to find our God and Creator. “Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.” (Isaiah 55:6)

To enter into the Kingdom of God, one must call upon the name of the Lord, which is Jesus; only He is the way, the truth, and the life. None will see their Creator or enter His eternal Kingdom except through a personal relationship with Jesus (John 14:6). On the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33). Our priority is to seek His Kingdom in all that we do. The right way is to acknowledge Him in all that we do. All that we do is for the glory of the Lord, and He will direct our paths. His path, though narrow, will lead to the gates of Heaven. (Proverbs 3:5-6). Our second priority is we must be righteous. We must not have sin in our life to prevent us from entering into the Holy Kingdom. Humanity can’t do that, but Jesus lived a perfect life, and He will give us that if we believe in Him and follow in faith. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

I have heard it said and had one tell me that the building would burn down if they entered a church. Their point is they are too wicked for God to consider them to receive salvation from the wrath of God. The truth is all are sinners, the righteous and the unrighteous. Jesus didn’t wait till everyone repented before He went to the cross to sacrifice Himself as the Lamb of God. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) See the love? Many people will not open a door for someone or say thank you for a kind deed, but Jesus went to the cross to save their souls. That was not His calling. His calling was to come and seek the lost and tell them of His Kingdom. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” (John 3:17)

The church will not burn down, and it is the exact place to go and fellowship with like-minded believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and grow in spiritual understanding of His Kingdom. Whatever is deterring you from your happiness, causing sadness, trials in life that seem insurmountable, the answer is found in the love of God towards you. God loves you, and there is nothing you can do to make Him love you more, and there is nothing you have done to make Him love you less. That is true; it is faithful, as it is God’s Agape love for you. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

Thomas N Kirkpatrick

First Baptist Church of Durant, June 30, 2021