I love this... I love that... 
What is the big deal about love? Why did the Lord make love a priority 
over all other Christian virtue's? 
 
When we say to each other "I love you" what does it mean? 
Well it is not a warm feeling.. It is a set of character traits that causes us 
to respond to life in a certain way. They are discribed in 1 Cor 13 
Patience, Kindness, Long suffering, enduring all things, hoping all 
things, believing the best and so on. 
 
  In the scripture Love is the first and greatest . 
 
John said  that "This is the message we heard from the beginning: 
we should love one another". 1 Jn 3:11 
 
We can spend all kinds of time on other things. Time with family 
and friends, work, prayer, ministry, evangelism, serving the poor, 
fighting for rights, protesting wrongs.   But scripture reminds us in 
corth "no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I am 
bankrupt without this character called love". 
 
Even though we have the freedom to set our own priorities, Jesus 
made a point of defining certain priorities for us.  
 
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul 
and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment, 
and the second is like it,"Love your neighbor as yourself." 
Love is the Peg on which everything else hangs. 
 
When Jesus spoke to His disciples about this he explained to them 
that "these two commands are the pegs for a Christian life;  
Everything in God's law and prophets hangs from them.  
They are foundational to living the Christian life as the Lord ask us 
to live it. 
 
It is the basis of obedience, because we love the Lord. "If you love 
me you will obey what I command."  Paul says that Love fulfills the 
law.  
 
This may sound insignificant to a Rambo, Marlboro world,  
BUT IT TAKES MORE STRENGTH TO LIVE OUT THIS 
SIMPLE COMMAND THAN ANY OF US NATURALLY 
POSSESS ..... MORE POWER THAN ANY MAN MADE 
WEAPON. 
 
The logic of Paul is also very simple..  
If you love God and your neighbor you will not commit adultery or 
lie to them, or resent them. or any of the 1000's of things that 
violate the Royal law of love. 
 
The practice of loving God and our neighbor presents a lifetime of 
challenge and we need to practice. 
 
The more we  love the Lord , .. the more we begin to understand 
what Jesus is like. 
 
One area I learned that Jesus is not like me is that He is not results 
oriented. 
 
When I love someone that is not very lovable I expect them to 
respond, or change. I want my loving spirit to pierce right 
through them. and when it doesn't I say well it not working 
because I expect results.  
 
But Jesus' love is unconditional He doesn't expect anything in 
return.  
He kept loving on earth until it killed Him. and He loves today 
because He loves, ... not because He wants us to respond. 
Love is the heart of the body. 
Forgiveness is based in love.  
Service is based in love.  
Ministry of any kind if it is of God is based in love.  
Evangelism is based on love for another. 
 
All we do as Christians if it is of God is based on and in love. and it 
is in the body of a Christian community that we have the 
opportunity to practice our ability to love others as we love 
ourselves. 
Love is the outward sign of our inner faith in Jesus Christ.  
It is love that awaken the unbeliever to see God.  
It is the drawing power of the Lord.  
It is His answer to all things,  
It is the foundation of creation,  
It is the one thing that we are told "Never Fails. 
 
Let's try again today to learn to love a little more.