Law and Love Part 2 - The Reign of Love

Love. Just the sound of the word itself evokes in me both benevolence and desire. The giving and receiving of Love is the most basic human emotional need.  Is it any wonder?  We were created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). God displayed the ultimate expression of love in sending His only Son to pay the penalty for our sin on a cruel cross  to make it possible for us to have a relationship with Him and spend eternity with Him in heaven (John 3:16).  It is impossible for us to love the way God loves, for His love is perfect. But it is in this relationship that the life of Jesus Christ becomes our life and the purest form of human love is expressed. If you do not know Him personally, I encourage you to consider His invitation to give your life to Him; it is in this relationship that you will be able to love others most freely.

Love is as basic a need to the home as water is to the earth.  God sends the needed rain; the earth receives it and produces in abundance; the water evaporates and it rains again. The rain is constantly being poured out and received, giving life and giving back. God's love is never ending and unconditional. We, the recipients of this perfect and extravagant love,  always have a fresh supply to give, setting in motion the "Love Cycle" in our homes and making home a living, growing and thriving place to be. Is the Love cycle not quite what it used to be at your house?  As parents, the first place we need to look is within ourselves.  Love must first reign in our own hearts before it can reign in our homes.

When love is truly reigning in our hearts it cannot be contained.  The very essence and nature of love forces self to have a seat while love takes action showing itself in compassion, acts of service, kindness, gentleness, generosity, forgiveness, and long-suffering (and the list goes on). Consider the story of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10:26-37. Is this kind of love being reciprocated in your home?

In response to the lawyers question, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?"  Jesus instructed him to do two things:  Love God and Love your neighbor.  Jesus explained  that our neighbor is anyone we cross paths with and with the use of a story, He illustrates how love reigned in the heart of a Samaritan man.

The Samaritan  was busy.  He was on a mission, when suddenly he was stopped dead in his tracks by love, the love that reigned in his heart.  Verse 33 says, "When he saw him , he felt compassion."  Jesus then explains how the love in the Samaritan's heart took action, showing itself in three acts of service for a beaten, left for dead Jew.

Love stops and takes time out of a busy schedule.  The Samaritan was on a journey.  The destination, we don't know, but you can be sure it was important. People in those days didn't travel, crude as it was, with the potential of being robbed or attacked by a wild animal unless they had a very important reason to do so. Chances are, there were loved ones or a business transaction awaiting him at the end of his journey and there was no way to communicate with them to let them know he would be running late.  Out of his heart of love, the Samaritan noticed a need, laid aside important things, and took time to put the wounded mans needs at the top of his list of priorities.

Love is tender, nurturing and caring.  The love reigning in the Samaritan's heart offered his comfort, his convenience and his feelings to have a seat and love got busy.  The known hatred and rejection of Jews for Samaritans and the memories of them taunting and cursing his family did not cause the Samaritan's love to think twice. He immediately dug into the saddle bags on his donkey and retrieved his own supplies, bandaged the Jew's wounds, heaved him onto his own donkey and carried him to an inn.

Love goes the second mile. The Samaritan could have easily felt satisfied with all that he had done to care for the man. The Love reigning in his heart, however, said, "It's not enough. Go the second mile." So he cared for the man through the night and paid for the mans stay and extra for his care. He went on his way, and returning on his way back home,  paid the innkeeper more for his care and any additional expenses.

If this is the kind of Love we should have for someone who hates us, how much more for our spouse and children? This, my friends, is extravagant, emptied of self, "lay my life down" kind of love.  Get the "Love Cycle" going in your home; let it reign in your heart today; your children need to know.

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1 Corinthians 13:1-8
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
1 John 3:16
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.
Luke 6:27-28
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
Luke 6:35
Love you enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.
Romans 5:5
And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.