Soulful Sunday: What is Love?
Today, I got up early, got dressed on time and even managed to squeeze in breakfast before getting to church on time! My sister, who I shall refer to as Mona, and I were so pleased with ourselves. Mona is on half-term which sadly ends today. She has now gone back to school to continue writing her extended essay on a mathematical topic. Oh yes, you read right. A math essay. I was dumbfounded when she told me about it.
Anyway, back to church.
We got a seat not too far away from the front of the church- that's how early we were- and sang songs whilst smiling at all the kids running around the church. Then, the elder that was to preach to us this morning , Gavin, got up on stage and took his place at the podium and smiled at us, the congregation. The theme of all the sermons this month and last month, I think, has been on "Loved Lovers Loving Others".
Today, God used Gavin to send us a message that was based mostly on 1 John 4:7-19.
What I got out of the message was that love is a fundamental piece of the gospel (you could even say the heart of it) that we have to understand and show. Why? Because God is love. And once we understand the importance of love in our lives and then take that significant step further to love others- everyone you come into contact with- then, our relationship with God will be intensified for we will be true representations of Him.
Gavin said that, 'Love is a magnet to attract heaven to earth'.
This particular statement made me imagine heaven and earth merging to become one if we all tried our best to understand what love is, realise that God loves us and then make that choice to love others. Why? Because love is powerful. It is challenging. It is exciting. It has the ability to drive out fear; turn doubt into faith; turn disappointment into hope; and it heals the areas in our lives that are clouded by hurt and pain.
To find amazing definition of love check out a popular passage in the bible- 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8.
In 1 John 4:19, it says- "We love each other as a result of His loving us first"... (NLT version). I do not know about you but sometimes I tend to forget how constant and loving God is mostly because subconsciously put up barriers between me and Him. For some time now I have been making little steps to change that and move forward. And my first task is to understand love, love myself and truly love others. And that means any and every person I come in contact with. And no, I do not mean I am going to be in love with billions of people.I just want to be able to treat people around me in such a way that God can use me to touch peoples lives by either igniting hope, faith, curiosity, joy, peace and everything nice lol.
This particular message spoke to me and Mona this morning. I wanted to let you all in the message too :) I hope that you all embark on this journey with us. It will definitely be a bumpy, yet exciting, ride!
Till next time!
Luv, Mo xx