WHEN YOU ARE NOT MOTIVATED BY LOVE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY AUGUST 25, 2022.

SUBJECT : WHEN YOU ARE NOT MOTIVATED BY LOVE!

Memory verse: "For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Romans 13 vs 9.)

READ: Galatians 5 vs 14 - 15:

5:14: For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 

5:15: But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!

INTIMATION:

Our vertical relationship with God is established on the foundation of love. Our horizontal relationship with our fellow man is established on love. The principle of love permeates and identifies the very nature of Christianity. This is the principle by which one can determine both the true God and those who serve Him. 

God demands that our motivation in all we do should be by the geatest gift of love. That our driving force should be ‘love,’—love for Him and others.  When we believers lose the motivation of love, we become critical of others. We stop looking for good in them and see only their faults. Soon we lose our unity. 

When you are not motivated by love, you form the habit of talking behind someone’s back. You will then be focusing on others’ shortcomings instead of their strengths. When this habit persists, remind yourself of Jesus’ command to love others as you love yourself. When you begin to feel critical of someone, make a list of that person’s positive qualities and harp on them. When problems need to be addressed, confront in love rather than gossip.

When we are not motivated by love in our doings, we are actually breaking God’s law. Examine your attitude and actions toward others. Do you build people up or tear them down? When you are ready to criticize someone, remember God’s law of love and say something good instead. Saying something beneficial to others will cure you of finding fault and increase your ability to obey God’s law of love. 

When you are motivated by love you see that others are fed, clothed, and housed as well as they can be. You will be concerned about issues of social justice. But when you are not motivated by love, the reverse is the case. Loving others as ourselves means actively working to see that their needs are met. Interestingly, people who focus on others rather than on themselves rarely suffer from low self-esteem. 

In the passage we read today, the apostle Paul tells us to love others as much as we love ourselves. Somehow many of us have gotten the idea that self-love is wrong. But if this were the case, it would be pointless to love our neighbors as ourselves. But the apostle Paul explains what he means by self-love. Even if you have low self-esteem, you probably don’t willingly let yourself go hungry. You take care of your body and may even exercise. You clothe yourself reasonably well. You make sure there is a roof over your head. You try not to let yourself be cheated or injured. This is the kind of love we need to have for our neighbors. 

Christians must obey the law of love, which supersedes both spiritual and civil laws. How easy it is to excuse our indifference to others merely because we have no legal obligation to help them and even to justify harm on them if our actions are technically legal! But Jesus does not leave loopholes in the law of love. Whenever love demands it, we are to go beyond humans’ legal requirements and imitate the God of love. 

Law governs our interaction with one another. Love of our neighbor motivates us to act in a lawful manner on our relationships with one another as the organic body in society. When we are motivated by love, we go beyond the limitations of law or commandments. But when we are not motivated by love, we are strictly limited by law and commandments in our doings. 

Love will carry one beyond the limitations of law. We could keep all the commandments, but still be limited in our relational behavior with our neighbor. Love always goes beyond a list of commandments. Commandments limit, love expands, commandments restricts, but love frees. Commandments lead us to believe how little we can do; love opens the door to unlimited possibilities. 

When we are not motivated by love, we ignore the rich by believing they have they need. We should not ignore the rich, because then we would be withholding our love. But we must not favor them for what they can do for us, while ignoring the poor who can offer us seemingly so little in return. We must treat people as we would want to be treated. 

Prayer: Abba Father, Your love has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who was given to us. Endue me with the spirit of lovely motivations in all I do, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!