Echoes of Truth
February 20th
Theme: True Love Revealed
The only way to demonstrate love for God is by showing love to fellow brothers and sisters. The reason for loving others stems from God’s love for us – Gbile Akanni
Who deserves to be the most unforgiving and would it certainly be fair enough? God! Humanity has been the most unrewarding creation, the most disobedient, the most self-seeking, the one who was made in God’s image but now lives as though they never had their roots from God.
God clearly should mete the hardest punishment, harshest pronouncement of damnation on humankind. God would still stay justified. The display of pride towards the Creator of the universe should have disbarred us from ever gaining access to the Lord.
In the midst of this truth, the reality set before all of humanity is that His boundless love not only made room for the receival of forgiveness but also restoration to become one with Him again.
That is the scandal of grace. The God who should have been the most unforgiving chose instead to be the most merciful. The One most offended became the One who initiated reconciliation. Justice demanded distance; but love made a way for nearness.
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11). This is where the matter becomes personal.
It is easy to sing about loving God. It is easy to lift hands in worship, to speak in reverent tones, to defend doctrine with passion. But heaven measures love differently. How our love for God is authenticated is in how we treat the person sitting beside us. The brother who misunderstood you. The sister who offended you. The neighbor who you think does not like you.
If God, the most offended, chose forgiveness, what then is our excuse?
Jesus did not leave this concept difficult to grasp. When He was asked about the greatest commandment, He tied love for God and love for neighbor together so tightly they cannot be separated (Matthew 22:37–39). You cannot claim intimacy with the Father while harboring bitterness toward His children.
To love God is to reflect Him. And God is love (1 John 4:8). This means, for us christians, love is no longer optional. It is the very proof that we have truly encountered Him. When we forgive, when we serve, when we choose humility over pride, we are not merely being “nice.” We are demonstrating that His love has taken root in us.
Naturally, it’s easy to love those who love you back. But God loved His enemies (Romans 5:8), and that is what He has called us to do. That is the standard.
So, the question now shifts from, “Do I love God?” to “Can the people around me feel the love of God through me?” Because the only visible proof that we belong to Him is this:
“By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
May our lives preach what our lips confess, that we love God because we love His people, in Jesus’ name.
Stream and be blessed by this sermon: https://www.youtube.com/live/iw7OvRR8PeI?si=OSmwK9vR9Pg_hKG8
Let Us Pray:
Father, thank You for loving me when I was undeserving. Forgive me for every time I have received Your mercy yet withheld it from others. Let Your love so deeply transform my heart that loving people becomes my natural response. Teach me to forgive as You forgave, to serve as You served, and to reflect Your heart in every relationship. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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