To Serve With Love (Part 5)

To Serve With Love (Part 5)
“You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” Galatians 5:13 (New International Version)
Our unofficial acronym of love concludes with the “E” representing its eternal quality. First John 4:7-11 (NKJV) “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
God’s love is not based on conditions or worth; it’s who He is. God is love. God loves us in our mess, and He loves us when we’re all cleaned up and looking good. God loves us when we’re on top of the world, and He loves us when we’re in the gutter. God’s love is not based on gender or even economic or social status. He demonstrated His love toward us even when we were unable to love Him back. “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). And because of Jesus’ act of love we get to spend all eternity with Him in His presence. Likewise, whatever we do in love, and through Christ’s love, has a lasting effect on others. The smallest gift given in love can become impressed in a person’s memory for years. And as an added bonus, the works that we do through obedience in the love of Christ are written in the eternal book of life (Revelation 20:12-13; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15).
If we’re going to serve God and others, it has to come from a heart of love. Our ability to love others comes from a place of knowing and being acquainted with the dimensions of the love of God, and yielding to it (Ephesians 3:18-19). The Scripture says that we know that we have passed from death to life not by how much we shout and dance, not by how much we work in the church, not even by how much we testify; “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren” (1 John 3:14).