Word of Grace Studies

Love has no need to make itself appear to be bigger than it really is. Even the smallest act of love is far greater than any act from our flesh. Let love just simply be love.  

Let us love out from seeing things as they truly are. Not a worldly type of love that brags about its accomplishments, but true love that seeks the best for the one loved by following God’s example, for the reason we know love is because He loved us first.  

Jealousy is wanting what another person has. It is not just being resentful or angry of another’s good fortune or achievements, but a strong desire to possess them. Unlike zeal, which is an enthusiastic devotion to a cause or goal making someone eager and determined to do something, jealousy takes this type of attitude and uses it in a way that damages others to get what they have. So one who is jealous will be zealous to obtain what another person has. 

And you that existed at some time alienated and hostile in the workings of your mind by the malignantly evil works, Colossians 1:21

A revelation belonging to Jesus Christ which the God gave to Him to show to His servants, what is necessary to come to be in haste. And He signified after sending through His messenger to His servant John, who testified the Word of the God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, as much as he discerned. Happy is the one reading and the ones hearing concerning the words of the prophecy and guards the things having been written in her. For the Lord is near. Revelation 1:1-3

At the end of the book of Matthew it is recorded that Jesus instructed His disciples to go and make disciples. As a result of this command, this verse has been used as the battle cry for missionaries. Taking the gospel around the world! However, the verse does not actually say that, and when we understand what it in fact states, we see that the Great Commission diminishes what Jesus said.  

Another aspect of God’s quality of love is kindness. One who is kind is described as having a good or benevolent nature or disposition, which will put others at ease. This is not an aspect of the human nature.  

Beloved! Do not imitate the wrong, but the good. The one doing good is out from God, the one doing wrong does not discern God. 3 John 11

God is longsuffering towards us, both before we were saved and now when we unreasonably reject His ways and go back to the ways of our previous life. Are we being the unreasonable one? Are we demanding that God give us what we want, or seeking His desires for our lives? True love holds its anger towards others when they are being unreasonable because it is seeking the best for them and there are times where a manifestation of anger is not productive. So let us set our minds on things above, start to emanate the things of the Spirit – that is live out the life we have in Christ – and use the fruit that the Holy Spirit provides for us so that we can be longsuffering towards others, seeking the best for them, while examining ourselves and making sure we are not being the unreasonable ones.  

We are not to love the world, nor the things of the world. Giving benefits to those who refuse to work is a love that belongs to the world and is really only about the person doing the work. It is at its core selfish. If it was not, it would not reject what Scripture states and continue encouraging others to remain being lazy. There is a big different between those who need assistance because they are poor, but are willing and able to work, from those who are vagrants.