Sermonette: The Process of Love

A Lifelong Walk
#1092s

Given 17-Mar-12; 18 minutes

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In a blurb about the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible and the controversy it produced, the author suggested that the only important commonality of all religion is love, and that any other religious law or command was irrelevant. God's righteous commands, in this viewpoint, are totally useless, replaced by kindness and being a good person. Protestantism concludes that as long as a person has love, he need not concern himself with any other specifics about God's holy law. Sadly, the worldly understanding of love falls short of God's definition of agape love. Godly love is not something we can work up, but must be considered the end of a process (a fruit produced by God's Spirit.) Divine agape love can be defined as doing what is best for others. We are to relate to God and His creation the same way God relates to us and to His creation. Some tests to know if we have agape love are 1) if it always remains in the bounds of God's Law, and 2) if the intent or motivation of the word or action derives from selfless application of God's spiritual gifts. Developing godly love is a lengthy process which begins in faith and ends in sanctification, when we inculcate the behavior, image, and character of Jesus Christ.




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