GOD’S FIRST MASTER VALUE, LOVE

March 6, 2019

As you read and study these nine godly values, you will discover a new way of looking at life and decision making from God’s perspective. People who have God’s Master Values conduct their lives in such a way they find no law is interfering with them. The Bible says, against such, there is no law.

  1. LOVE 
  • The Value Opposed to Hate

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.” (Mark 12:30, 31, HCSB)

They see love—agape— in God’s gift of His Son. “For God so love the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). 

Love is the most important word in the Christian vocabulary. As God uses it, love is a verb, not a feeling or emotion. It is active, not passive. Love is something you do. Jesus said, “This I command you, that you love one another” (John 15:17). 

Love is an outward expression of an intense inward desire to please God and to do good to your neighbor. This love is important because it’s both the essence of faith and faith in action. We show our love for God in the way we actively and unconditionally love our neighbor.

In times where we find it difficult to love our neighbor, we come face-to-face with the fact it’s not love for the neighbor we lack, it is the lack of love for God. Love is, above all, love for God. We must love God before we can love our neighbor. Through our acts of love for our neighbor, we give tangible proof of our love for God. 

Christians are to give love, compassion, and hope in a world that is hurting. Paul challenges believers to, “Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor.” (Romans 12:10, HCSB). The beloved disciple, John encourages us to be proactive in our love, “let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18).

The Bible is filled with evidence that God values LOVE. “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3:16a). “This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). Paul wrote the Galatians, “the only thing that counts is faith working through love” (Galatians. 5:6). “And we have this command from Him: The one who loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:21, HCBS).

Commit today to acquire the value of LOVE. Someone has said, “Love is a basket with five loaves and two fishes. It’s never enough until you give it away.” 

Core Value Affirmation: “My daily walk reflects LOVE. Because God loves me, I love.”

In my walk, I share love because God commands it, “Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love” (Ephesians 5:1a). I know that God is love and that He loves me. And I want to show my love for Him through my love for my neighbor.