Power of Love

2 Thessalonians 2: 9-10 (NKJV), “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved.”

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I was reading in Thessalonians and the above verse comes from scripture outlining the end times and providing insight to the fact that there will be people that do not accept Christ and perish when they leave their physical bodies. When you think about it, this is a very concerning and disturbing fact. Some people refuse to accept Christ and the love of our Father, the One who created all things in heaven, on this earth, visible and invisible through Christ and for Christ (Colossians 1:16). What a disheartening thought, some will perish.

As I continued to read through 2 Thessalonians, my thoughts went back to, “receive the love of the truth”. This is fascinating in the fact that love is the lead for the discovery of Christ and salvation. It does not start with truth, or you must do this or that or learn multiple scriptures before the door is opened through Christ that you may have eternal life. It begins with love, the cornerstone, the foundation, the reason we have the opportunity to live an eternal life in the glory of our Father, Love.

Photo by Tyler Childers

That brings me to highlight love and dig a little deeper into its heavenly reference. I state heavenly because if you look up love in the dictionary, it defines love as an intense feeling of deep affection. Love is so much more than a feeling, it is the ultimate power behind our very existence and creation. 1 John 4:8 tells us God is love, so if God is love then all creation, including you and I, were created and based upon love.

As with all things, the secular world has a way of drawing our attention away from the Biblical definition and relating areas of such deep meaning to the flesh and the desires of this world. When you remove the relevance of something and base it upon feelings, it removes the anchor and determination required to live a disciplined life based upon God’s Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s start with God’s commandments…I like this because in general people may push back because we live in the New Testament under Grace and not the law. Yes and no, God the Father wants you to come to Him through Christ not because you have to through the law and commandments, but because you want to through a heart transformation and the acceptance of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. These are two very different perspectives within the human nature. One is based on consequences, and one is based on choice. When you do something because you are directed, you are not all on board and not all committed. You do what is required, but in most cases you do not go the extra mile (Mt. 5:41). However, when you do something out of choice, you are all in. You study, focus and commit yourself to that area and in most cases nothing can keep you away. When you personally commit to something, you find yourself driven and focused and laws or rules are not required. That is when you know you are basing your experience on love, when you do it because you made the choice and not because it is required.

Love is a choice and the basis of God’s commandment. In Mark 12 Jesus outlines the greatest of all commandments, “30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Love is the foundation, the basis for all things created, seen and unseen. 1 John 4:8 tells us, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” God is love, and love is the foundation.

Love is the ultimate power in Christ and of God. When we walk in love we can overcome any obstacle, see past any offense and live a life of faith and not fear. I want to close this message with the definition of love, but more importantly I want to encourage you to be strong in your faith and do not allow the “unrighteous deception” to deceive you that you might not “receive the love of the truth”. Stand strong in the Word, be strong in your faith and make the choice to love the Lord and others.

Below is an excerpt from 1 Corinthians 13: 4-13 from the Message Bible:

Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.

8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

11 When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

12 We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

Shalom!!