Faith Filled Family Magazine September 2016 | Page 47

Storge…We are family, all my
brothers sisters and me
Family love was put in perspective by Jesus (see Matt. 12:4650); important, but secondary
to relationships in the Kingdom
of God. Our loyalty to mom and
dad, even husband and wife,
important as they are, are secondary to our love for God and
others… demonstrated in agape
love.
Agape…Love you like the Rock
of Ages
Agape is unselfish love, with
a willingness to give to others
before self. But scriptures do not
state we are to passively express
love, but we are to do so with…

Loving Me Loving You
To love like this requires humility, God working in us to will and
do (Phil 2: 13) his good pleasure. Love of this type, unselfish agape love must flow from a
person settled on who they are
in relation to God and others. We
must remember that all people
are God’s creation…including
oneself! For we are all fearfully
and wonderfully made, in God’s
image, for His pleasure, and we
have the privilege of serving
one another as an expression of
God’s love for all. (Ps. 139:14)

Recently,
individual African
Americans have been killed
under suspicious circumstances
by police officers. In response,
officers have been assassinated by African American vigilantes. In France, Belgium and
other places, terrorist bombings
have occurred, causing panic
amongst victims and creating
grave concern for all peoples;
senseless acts of brutality. What
should be done?

Abortion remains a scourge in
Western cultures, as millions of
unborn are murdered each year.
Jesus the Model
Wars rage, AIDS is continuing to
Jesus is our model, a man of wipe out areas of Africa, genoactions vs. the religious words cide remains the lot of many, and
of His contemporaries, and he mental illness is seemingly growHeart and Soul
wants us to defy logic as well, ing around the world. What are
From the center of our being to and love with a passion, because we to do? How do we respond
the center of another’s, we are he first loved us. (See Mark 3: to the homeless, the hurting, the
to express our love, as Christ 1-6)
lost and disfranchised? Each
did, as a demonstration of our
person must make their own
sanctification. (1 Thess. 5:23) What does God Want?
decisions, but one should cerThis type of love requires effort, To see the completion of all that tainly consider the principles
and balance of all four loves pre- was lost in the fall restored to his of the Word of God, as we turn
sented above, requiring…
creation. In fact, He completed to ask the question, what does
the work on the cross. It is now God want? It is past time for the
A Neighbor to Love
the responsibility of the church church to refocus our prayers,
Jesus asked the question (para- to take our marching orders our concern, and our passion
phrased) who is our Neighbor? from him, and live a life of ethi- on being and doing what God
(Lu 10:30-37) It is often the cal purity, as overcomers in and wants…the highest calling is
undesirable, the unlovely that through Christ, by the preaching to glorify God, and we do this
God challenges us to love. In of the Word of God and a dem- best when we live aligned with
Jesus teaching, the religious onstration of God’s love in the God, acknowledging and enjoywould have thought it impossible word.
ing His presence, in full light of
to fulfill this requirement, and
His wonderful word, encouraged
with man, it is, but with God, all “And they overcame him, by the and empowered by pray that is
things are possible. Of course, in Blood of the Lamb, and by the not just about us, but in fact, all
many ways…
Word of their Testimony, and about Him.
they did not love their own life,
Only Nuts Should Apply
even unto death.” (Rev. 12:11)
Recommended Reading…
That is, you have to be a bit radical to love the way Jesus did.
We were born to overcome… The Prayer Power by Dr. Stan
But we are no closer to having we overcome all things through DeKoven and Dr. John Delgado
the mind of Christ than when love.
and the book, What does God
we radically love the difficult
Want by Dr. Stan DeKoven
amongst us.
Concluding Thoughts