What Is Love And Just How Can It Conquer All

 

What is Love and just how can it conquer all.

I’m going to be sharing from 1st Corinthians, chapter 13, and I’m going to start in verse 4. I'm going to use the English standard version.

Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, and I'll stop at the first line of verse 8, Love never ends.

Love is who went to the cross for us. God is Love. God is that Love who went to the cross for us. Jesus bore everything simply for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross for us. He loved us so much. We know what John 3:16 says, God so loved the world that He gave His only son for us. That whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life.

It was Love who went to the cross and endured, and broke every curse, and took away every sin, for every one of us, and that through Him, we are able to have true life, full life, eternal life.

I want to share a story with you in regards to how love is the only thing that can change the heart of someone.

My wife and I were involved in the Spanish church where I was doing worship, and we were very involved in this church, and one of the sweet ladies, who was part of the board of the church, at first did not care for us. She didn't know us like the pastor did. So she wasn't sure about us, and she may have even had a misunderstanding of us, because I was not Spanish, and here I was coming into a Spanish church to lead the worship. She had some challenges with us. God showed me what the reason was, but He kept showing my wife and I to just keep loving her.

So we did. We continued to love her, and continued to love her, time and time again, even to the loss of her husband, and after a year, God showed us her heart changed towards us and she no longer was not accepting of us. She accepted us wholeheartedly and loved us dearly.

Love changed her heart and it was nothing else but love. We didn't confront her on anything. We didn't challenge her. We didn't retaliate against her in any regards. We just loved the way God wanted us to love her, and love changed her heart and set her free.

It is only Love; it is only God’s Love that can change the heart of a man.

Paul's heart changed when he was on the road to Damascus, and we know that in the Bible it says he was a high elite pharisee at the time. He was pursuing Christians and putting everyone he could find to death.

Now in his mind, in his belief system at the time, he thought he was doing what was right. He loved God with all his heart, but he was going in the wrong direction, and on the road to Damascus, we know the Bible says he encountered Jesus, and at that moment, he realized he was wrong.

He repented for his actions, and he chose to follow LOVE, instead of hate, and his heart changed, and then he became one of the greatest writers of the New Testament that we've got in scripture. To be exact, the scripture above, was to the Corinthian church and it was penned by Paul. Inspired by the Holy Spirit and penned by Paul.

So it is Love who changes. It is Love who changes everything. It is Love who changes, and can change everyone who allows Love to change them. We do have a free will and it is up to us to accept, receive and allow the change. But Love can change every situation no matter how difficult it seems to be.

Now love doesn't mean that we allow ourselves to be a doormat to injustice, because it says, Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love rejoices with the truth.

We want to live according to the truth of God's word, but it is still Love. So we do not allow ourself to be a doormat for injustice to be done over and over and over again. That is not what the Bible says.

Even Jesus Himself, when injustice was being done towards Him by the Pharisees, where countless times, they tried to entrap Him in questions of theology at that time, in regards to what they stated the scripture said. Jesus in love spoke the truth and told them that they were acting like vipers. That they were acting like hypocrites. That they were no more than dead men with white washed tombs.

They were dead on the inside. They may know the scriptures by memory but they didn't have anything in their heart, and He was trying to, in love, set them back on the right course. So they could see the truth. That He is the truth, and He was there to set them free. But they chose to refuse not to see it. They stuck with their own stubborn mindset. So Love will not force anyone to change.

The sweet lady at the church I mentioned, she changed because I know she loved God with all her heart, and allowed the change to take place. So when she saw that there was nothing but love coming from my wife and myself. She changed because she allowed it. But it was only the Love that was still gonna change her.

If we had gotten in her face and pointed out where she was wrong, and shouted at her, and screamed at her, even having a brutal argument, it would not have changed her heart. It was only Love that changed her, and we had to endure through a year to be able to see that change. But it did change, and she did eventually love us back.

So I encourage you to pursue God. Pursue His Love. Spend time in His presence and you can grow more in His Love. You can hear from the father, and He will speak to you.

Have times of soaking and have times of just listening to His still small voice. Pursue Him. Pursue Love.

Jesus was even asked in regards to the laws, the 10 commandments, which we have a misunderstanding of. The 10 commandments were not rules and regulations that we were supposed to live by. They were for our good.

The 10 commandments were really marriage vows written by God Himself for us. He wanted to join with us, His children, and unite with us. Like He had with Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall.

He wanted us to be His bride. He wanted to take care of us. He cherishes us and He wanted to take care of us, and the 10 commandments were all written as love vows, marriage vows, and they were all for our good, so that we can have a long healthy full enjoyable life. I mean the Bible says that Jesus came to give us life and life more abundant. So pursue God with all your heart.

Even Jesus said, All of the commands sum up into these 2. Love God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your might and with all your strength. And love others as you love yourself.

Love God first, and then let His Love pour out of you, and love others. And even those that seem to be going in wrong directions, by loving them, you can see change take place with that love.

Again, pursue God. Pursue His Love. Spend time with Him. Soak in His presence. Let Him wrap His loving arms around you, and show you what He has for you. He's got the best for you. He is LOVE, and again, Love never ends. His Love endures forever.

May God Bless You.

Shalom.