LOVING LIKE YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER

LOVING LIKE YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER

Text: Matthew 5:43-48
Memory verse:
“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,” Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭44‬
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Perfect love is when your love begins to be comparable with the way God loves us. That is when your love is complete, whole, undefiled, spotless, fruitful and mature. In contrast, imperfect love is when your love does not follow the pattern of divine love. Your love can either be divine or worldly.
Our text today differentiates between perfect love and imperfect love. God’s love, which is the perfect love, is expressed both to the good and the evil, the just and the unjust. Do you know that if God were to love only the good people, none of us would have qualified. So, He demonstrates His love to us, in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). Loving both the deserved and the undeserved is God’s standard for the believers. It’s what He expects from us. It’s what we should strive to accomplish. People with imperfect love only love their friends, hate their enemies, bless those who bless them, do good only to those who love them, pray for only those who treat them well, and greet only those who greet them. The point is this, if you as a believer who has experienced God’s love and is called to manifest that love to the world, do these, then there is no difference between you and the sinner. It means, the salt has lost its taste, the candle has lost its light and the perfume has lost its fragrance!
Friends, your true love is not only proved by your commitment to God but your relationship with people. “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (‭‭I John‬ ‭4‬:‭20‬). In fact, your love for God will be seen by the way you treat the undeserved.

Prayer points
1.Father, please help me to love like You do in Jesus name.
2.Father, please help my love to grow into perfection in Jesus name.

Today’s declarations
1.My love for God is manifested in my love to others.
2. If I do good to only those who do good to me and greet only those who greet me, then my love is not perfect.

Contact: pastor@thf.org.ng