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Word of the Day

Truly Loving God is Preferring Others

We cannot say we love God, whom we have not seen, when we won't love our brothers who have been entrusted to us to love and to encourage. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart... This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto to it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Matthew 22:37-39). Obedience in the second commandment to love the brethren is the consequence of obeying and living in the first.

Our death to self is not just an individual event. We are to see a corporate death taking place, one life at a time. "For the eyes of the LORD [search] to and fro throughout the whole earth, [He is looking for somebody in which] to show Himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him" (2 Chronicles 16:9). He is looking for somebody who will be servant of all. There is no higher calling. As the disciples reasoned among themselves who should be the greatest, the Lord brought them instruction and reproof. He made very clear to them the necessity of taking on that childlike spirit and humbling themselves, because the greatest among us will surely be the servant of all (Mark 9:33 37).

Luke 14:26: "If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple." This is one of the hardest areas to die to. If it's hard to die to self to prefer God, then it is harder still to die to self to prefer others! Maybe we should look at those who are here this morning differently. It is a gift to be loved by and to be able to love others! We must come to grips with our worldly insignificance.

Yet the Creator of the entire universe, in His majesty - Almighty God - knows your name, knows the hairs on your head, and personally wrapped Himself in flesh to come and be made sin with your sin. He gave you His righteousness, that you may be called the friend of God, and ever be with the Lord. You are eternally significant to Him.

When we truly understand His unconditional love for us, it brings about the potential of a genuine servant's heart, because all that matters is that vertical relationship. Everything on the horizontal plane is an expression of what we have freely received; therefore, we freely give. We cannot love properly until we realize that we have been loved unconditionally. Father dotes on us. He has "given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness..." (2 Peter 1:3). "It is [His] good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32). "If ye then, being [carnal], know how to give good gifts...how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him" (Luke 11:13)? And He, the Father of life, the giver of every good and perfect gift, continues to lavish upon us, as the object of His love, all good things. Father spoils us! We deserve nothing; everything He provides is a gift. Dad is just spoiling us! You are the object of His unconditional love. "While we were yet sinners, Christ [loved us and] died for us" (Romans 5:8). So, why do we require other people to meet our standards before we will love them? We are talking about genuine biblical love. We need to allow the Word of God to judge what is acceptable and what is not, what is lovely and what's not, what is holy and what is not.

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