(3/26/16)
THE SAME KIND OF LOVE
(meditate on this, it could be liberating)
The same kind of love (agapao) that held Jesus to the cross also holds people to their sins. Agapao love (ag ap ah' o) is the strongest, the most dedicated, the most focused kind of love.
This is the kind of love that sacrificed Jesus on the cross.
John 3:16
(16) For God so loved (agapao) the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
This is the kind of love that holds men captive to moral darkness.
John 3:19
(19) And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved (agapao) darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Having the same kind of love, the same kind of dedication gives sinners the false impression that their love is as worthy as the love that honors Jesus.
This love of darkness gives the slave of darkness the confidence that he is as justified in his devotion and behavior as the person who loves God with his/her whole heart.
Darkness has become god to the person who loves darkness. He loves darkness, he is committed to darkness, he serves darkness, he rejects all other appeals to change his allegiance. He sees everything in the "light" of his darkness. He is bound, secured to his view, his love. HE LOVES HIS DARKNESS.
But God loves the slave of darkness and calls him to light, and love and life. If the slave of darkness turns his eyes upon Jesus, and looks full in His wonderful, loving, pleading face, if he cries to God for mercy, he will be delivered from chains of darkness, by God's excellent and glorious grace.
Trust in, and submission to, Jesus not only delivers slaves of darkness from sin's bondage, it directs their strongest love toward Jesus and other people. Salvation is miraculous.
Matthew 22:37-39
(37) Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
(38) This is the first and great commandment.
(39) And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Oh, the glory, the joy, the peace, to be delivered by love, in order to know true love and to love the One who loved us so much that He gave His Own life to save us.
