Love God Love Others

- 8 minutes read - 1507 words

Song of Solomon 8:6,7.

Now as you turn to that, you maybe thinking what message can come out of this poem. I do believe that all the books are important and are edifying to our soul especially if we read it through the eyes of God.

This book is supposedly written by Solomon. Another name of the book is “Song of Songs” …meaning of all the songs ever composed, this is the top, the best song. Like Holy of Holies.

Love cannot be bought or sold - money or any worldly gift cannot replace love - Love is not a transaction. it is not an exchange. It is not I give you something and you give me something. Valentine’s day is coming up and people will be exchanging chocolates, roses, cards and think that is love. Don’t get me wrong, that is showing love but it does not define love. So especially my young listeners, listen carefully. love is not something to play around with. there are depths of love that we may never understand. you may think you are in love, but you have not yet understood the depth of love. This is why Solomon wisely says 3 times in this book, do not awaken love until it pleases. In other words, there’s time know what is love and the depth. In (Proverbs 4:23), “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life”. Until then, be very careful. Because it is easy to mistake love and mistake that love can be bought.

Jesus in Matthew 21 - goes to the temple of God, he sees all the money exchangers, and people selling all the livestock. He casts them out and says you have made my house a house of prayer into a den of thieves. Brothers and sisters - don’t we do the same? Yes Lord, I’ll come to your house, I’ll lift my hands, I’ll open my mouth, but I want you to do something for me. I want you deliver my family, I want you financially bless me, take care of my enemy. Its a transaction for us and we don’t recognize the love God has for each of us. No - we are to praise God for who he is and what he has done. We are to love him as he loves us. Yes he’s a good God and will do all for us, but that’s not the reason to love God.

Love cannot be quenched by Many waters / Love cannot be overflowed by rivers - even if the strongest rivers come against it, it cannot be overtaken. When the flood took place, Noah and his famliy were alone. For 150 days, the waters were over the earth. We read in Genesis 8:1, that then God remembered Noah. And he caused a wind to blow away the waters and the waters subsided. Many years later, when Jesus is in the boat with the disciples. The waves were crashing over the boat. In Mark, it says the boat was already filling up with water. And the disciples woke up Jesus and asked, do you know care that we are about to sink? do you not love us? Jesus rebuked the wind and the seas and everything became calm. Many times problems may come up, they come up against us to the point that we feel like we’re sinking. When it rains, it pours. But Jesus asks, where is your faith? if he has cared and loved in the little things, then even when rivers overflow or when many waters/ floods come - He is with us even in the storm. Romans 8 writes about what shall separate us from the love of Christ? tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakdnessness, peril, sword - nothing shall separate us.

Love is flashes of fire/ Love is the very flame of God - This is an eternal fire. A fire is hot, its bright, it consumes everything around it. So is the divine love of God. Fire as a symbol is throughout the Bible. We see that when the israelits were suffereing in Egypt, that he comes in a fire in the bush. The burning bush. Moses sees the fires. Later when the Israelites are going through the wildnerness, there’s a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. When he comes to visit the Israelits and wants to talk to them, he comes down as a fire on Mt. Sinai. In the new testament, we see Tongues of fire, as The Holy Ghost descends on the early church. We see Jesus himself saying buy gold refined in the fire. All of this, there’s one common theme. Before the fire comes, there’s one thing that is common. There is a submission to God. The flame of God reminds us to submit to Him. Before Moses came to the burning bush, God says to take off his sandals. As they walk through the wilderness, God asked his people to be holy. As God comes to speak to the Israelites, he asks them to wash and cleanse themselves before coming close to the mountain. Before the Holy Ghost comes down, the apostles tarried.

In submission, God changes us. Just like fire burns away all the impurities, our imperfections are burned away. God as love towards us also wants us to have the character of God.

  • Zech 13:9 - This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’ ”
  • Jer 9:7 - Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of the daughter of My people?
  • Prov 17:3 - A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but the LORD is the tester of hearts.
  • Isa 48:10 - See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
  • 1 Peter 1:7 - so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
  • 1 Cor 3:13 - his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work.

Love is like a fire, brings us closer to God

Love is as strong as death / Ardor/love is as severe as Sheol - this is a great symbol of love, because death is as final and unescapable a reality as humans will ever know. Death is the final. There is no turning back. Once it happens, there’s nothing that can turn that back around. Love is as sever as the grave - love is as unyielding as the grave. There is no bargaining with the grave. There is nothing more server than death. We read in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” Jesus shows us the greatest of love, by laying down his life for each of us. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life”

God loves us so much - I hope through these verses, you see the depth of God’s love. And God asks us to love just as he loved. Can we look at the love we have towards God, and does it measure up to these verses? Is it as strong as death? Is it like a burning fire? Can our love by quenched? Is our love more than a transaction?

I spoke on how deep is the love of God - but ultimately my message is to encourage all of us to reflect/contemplate/think on the love we have towards God and others around us. How much will the world change if we all loved God and people just as God loved us.

Jesus gives the greatest commandments in Matthew 22:36 - “36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 And Jesus replied to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself” If we define love the way Solomon has defined love, are we loving God ? Are we loving our neighbor? THis is an opportunity to examine our lives and change our heart/our love towards God and others.

Let’s remember that Jesus who loved us so much that he died for us, is the same Jesus that asks us to love God and love others.

comments powered by Disqus