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Agapē love is giving. It seeks to edify others. And it glorifies God
and makes known His ways….
,
God’s love is a powerful force. When we put on the mind of Christ, we manifest love toward God and toward others, profiting their lives as well as our own. This “active” love of God strengthens the bonds between brothers and sisters in Christ, and it always brings glory to God, our heavenly Father.
.
We imitate our heavenly Father by being long-suffering with people. God’s long-suffering gives people the opportunity to repent, that is, to make a genuine change in life. The love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation is also kind. The kindness of God is “actively beneficent in spite of ingratitude,” and when we choose to extend it to others, it can powerfully affect their lives.
.
Our heavenly Father showed kindness to us when we didn’t deserve it. We saw a number of things that the love of God does not do — it does not envy, vaunt itself, or get puffed up — it absolutely does not behave in these ways. These are all self-focused behaviors; whereas God’s divine love in manifestation cares for the things of others and rejoices with those who rejoice.
by The
Way
When Jesus Christ told his followers, in
John 13, to love one another as he had loved them, he was introducing them to a
new kind of love.
Soon they were going to be able to love one
another in a way never before possible.
This love was not natural love, or
brotherly love. It was divine love — God’s love.
John 13:34 and 35:
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love [agapaō] one another; as I have loved [agapaō] you, that ye also love [agapaō] one another.
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love [agapē] one to
another.”
On the day of Pentecost, it became possible
for followers of Jesus Christ to love with this new kind of love, for they were
born again and received God’s spirit.
The love of God was shed abroad in their
hearts by the holy spirit God gave them (Romans 5:5), and they gained the ability to
manifest God’s love.
Since that time, this has been available
for every person who confesses Jesus as lord in their life and believes that
God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9).
Nearly two thousand years ago, the Lord
Jesus Christ introduced this new way to love, and it continues to be available
to every born-again believer.
In fact, it is guaranteed by God to never
become obsolete.
Today, we who are born again of God’s
spirit have His love nature dwelling within us.
God gave it to us as part of the inner man.
It is ours to manifest in the world — toward
God and toward others. It’s this love of God that identifies us as disciples of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
We manifest this love by renewing our
minds.
We put on in our minds the “new man,” which by God was created in
righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:23 and 24).
When our minds are coordinated with our
spirit, we can walk in the greatness of God’s love and His power.
In this series on the love of God,
beginning with the January/February 2016 issue of The Way Magazine, we have
looked in detail at each of the characteristics of agapē love listed in I
Corinthians 13:4-8.
We have observed how Jesus Christ
manifested God’s love and how God’s love changes people’s lives.
Let’s conclude our series by reviewing what
God’s love looks like when we are manifesting it — what it does and what it
does not do — and by considering some ways we can manifest His love in the
world and powerfully influence the lives of others.
God’s love is a powerful force.
When we put on the mind of Christ, we
manifest love toward God and toward others, profiting their lives as well as
our own.
This “active” love of God strengthens the
bonds between brothers and sisters in Christ, and it always brings glory to
God, our heavenly Father.
Let’s go over the characteristics of God’s
love as listed in I Corinthians 13.
I Corinthians 13:4-8:
“Charity [agape —
the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation] suffereth long, and is
kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
“Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own,
is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
“Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
“Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all
things, endureth all things.
“Charity never faileth….”
The love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation is long-suffering,
or long-tempered.
We imitate our heavenly Father by being
long-suffering with people.
God’s long-suffering gives people the
opportunity to repent, that is, to make a genuine change in life.
Sometimes this change takes place slowly.
However, for God the focus is not on how
long it takes, but on the desired result — repentance and the corresponding
wholeness.
II Peter 3:8 and 9:
“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that
one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some
men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
The love of God in the renewed mind in
manifestation is also kind.
The kindness of God is “actively beneficent
in spite of ingratitude,” and when we choose to extend it to others, it can
powerfully affect their lives.
Our heavenly Father showed kindness to us
when we didn’t deserve it.
Ephesians 2:4-7:
“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love
wherewith he loved us,
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us
together with [made us alive together with] Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding
riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”
We saw a number of things that the love of
God does not do — it does not envy, vaunt itself, or get puffed up — it
absolutely does not behave in these ways.
These are all self-focused behaviors;
whereas God’s divine love in manifestation cares for the things of others and
rejoices with those who rejoice.
Agapē love is giving.
It seeks to edify others.
And it glorifies God and makes known His ways….
This
is an excerpt from the September/October 2017 issue of The Way Magazine.
About The Way Magazine™
The
Magazine of Abundance and Power
Published
by The Way International, this
bimonthly magazine is filled with practical articles about living the Word of
God. Beginning with the very first issue over sixty years ago, The Way
Magazine has been providing men, women, and young people with timely
Biblical truths they can put into practice for consistently powerful results.
Today, The Way Magazine continues to help establish spiritual principles
in the lives of faithful believers worldwide and is a vital link for them to
the rightly divided Word of God as it reaches out worldwide from The Way
International Headquarters in New Knoxville, Ohio, U.S.A.
Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille, the founder of both The Way Ministry and The
Way Magazine, set his vision for this unique and dynamic publication, and
this is still true today:
“The
Way Magazine stands alone in its category as the foremost Biblical
magazine, reporting the activities and findings of the men and women who are sincerely
interested in the great accuracy of God’s Word….We are concerned not with
intellectuality, tradition, trend, or the glamorous elements to be found in
newsstand periodicals—but that the Word of God might be presented in all of its
greatness and simplicity in an attractive, easy-to-read format for the blessing
of God’s people.”
https://thewaymagazine.com/the-love-of-god-never-fails/
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