Greater Love
2 Timothy 3:1-5 AMP BUT UNDERSTAND THIS, THAT IN THE LAST DAYS DANGEROUS TIMES [OF GREAT STRESS AND TROUBLE] WILL COME [DIFFICULT DAYS THAT WILL BE HARD TO BEAR]. FOR PEOPLE WILL BE LOVERS OF SELF [narcissistic, self-focused], lovers of money [impelled by greed], boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane, [and they will be] unloving [devoid of natural human affection, calloused and inhumane], irreconcilable, malicious gossips, devoid of self-control [intemperate, immoral], brutal, haters of good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of [sensual] pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of [outward] godliness [religion], although they have denied its power [for their conduct nullifies their claim of faith]. AVOID SUCH PEOPLE AND KEEP FAR AWAY FROM THEM.
1 Peter 4:7-9 AMP The end and culmination of all things is near. Therefore, be soundminded and self-controlled for the purpose of prayer [staying balanced and focused on the things of God so that your communication will be clear, reasonable, specific and pleasing to Him.] ABOVE ALL, HAVE FERVENT AND UNFAILING LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER, BECAUSE LOVE COVERS A MULTITUDE OF SINS [it overlooks unkindness and unselfishly seeks the best for others]. Be hospitable to one another without complaint.
John 13:34-35 MSG “Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”
He Says:
• The one thing that distinguishes you from everyone else in the world … • The one thing that identifies that you are a true follower of Christ … • The one thing that separates you from everyone else in the world … • The one thing that creates real change in the world …
… is your ability to reflect THE LOVE OF GOD TO EVERYONE!
The Process of Greater Love:
- Self-love
Matthew 22:37-40 TPT Jesus answered him, “’Love the Lord your God with every passion of your heart, with all the energy of your being, and with every thought that is within you.’ This is the great and supreme commandment. And the second is like it in importance: ‘You must love your friend in the same way you love yourself.’ Contained within these commandments to love you will find all the meaning of the Law and the Prophets.”
Selfishness is LOVING YOURSELF more than YOU LOVE OTHERS.
Self-love is an overflow of KNOWING THAT YOU ARE LOVED!
1 John 4:7-10 MSG My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. THE PERSON WHO REFUSES TO LOVE DOESN’T KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT GOD, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
Self-love begins with knowing how much God loves you!
- Relational love
John 15:12-13 TPT “So this is my command: Love each other deeply, as much as I have loved you. For THE GREATEST LOVE of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends.”
Every healthy relationship is built on laying your life down for the other! - Loving the lost and hurting
Compassion: sorrow for the distress and misfortune of another with a desire to help
com-: with -passus: suffering
Matthew 9:36 TPT When he saw the vast crowds of people, Jesus’ heart was deeply moved with COMPASSION, because they seemed weary and helpless, like wandering sheep without a shepherd. - Loving your enemies
Matthew 5:44-48 TPT “However, I say to you, love your enemy, bless the one who curses you, do something wonderful for the one who hates you, and respond to the very ones who persecute you by praying for them. For that will reveal your identity as children of your heavenly Father. He is kind to all by bringing the sunrise to warm and rainfall to refresh whether a person does what is good or evil. What reward do you deserve if you only love the loveable? Don’t even the tax collectors do that? HOW ARE YOU ANY DIFFERENT FROM OTHERS if you limit your kindness only to your friends? Don’t even the ungodly do that? Since
you are children of a perfect Father in heaven, you are to be perfect like him.”
“Your love for God can be measured by the person you love the least.”
1 John 4:20-21 NIV Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Anyone who wants to walk in this GREATER LOVE eventually understands that for the rest of their life, they will have to walk in a perpetual state of FORGIVENESS.