It is a bit of open secret that the society we live in today has problems. Divorce rates have sky-rocketed both in the world and in the church, cases of murder, rape, strife continue to fill our news headlines. Extremist goups, Boko-Haram, ISIS cause chaos everywhere in their attempt to bring the world to what they view the world must be and more often than not the young grow up believing that life is all about getting stone high, getting laid and living like there are no consequences. Cancer has almost everyone on their toes, afraid of what they eat what they do and what they expose themselves to and so do many other degenerative diseases.
It sounds unpleasant; like a nightmare where the only glimpses of hope are the few joys in moments distant between each other but life was never designed to be like this. To make matters worse, we the church will look at people searching for joy, for love and for hope in what are the wrong places with condemnation, with frowns and with a heart not for redemption but simply to try and show them how wrong they are. But I hope after today and the rest of this series, you will be freed from that spirit and that heart to start to live a life that speaks the language of love.
Have you ever wondered why people behave the way they do; why people can be mean, unyielding cheats, liars and all sorts of evil? Are we are not inherently born desiring to become the most evil people in the world or does that only comes later, with the influence of life and its experiences do you wonder? Just what exactly is it that has resulted in the world we live in today become what it is today-and for the record the answer I believe is not particularly that we are inherently evil but I believe it is all about love and particularly how much we have received.
You see my friend, consider for a moment the way of a man in love-he will buy flowers, he will venture into things he has never done before and even on his countenance, you will see a difference. His gait will be confident when with his love and his speech will differ. Likewise, the same with the lady. She will bubble, she will feel confident, free and empowered and of the rest of the world, she will not give much thought.
And to these what brings the difference, a confidence in love. With a confidence in love assured from a relationship, we will all be different for in the presence of love, the need to be mean is lost; the need to be vengeful, to be full of anger and malice has no place for when there is a confidence in love, one can rest assured knowing that even if wrong was done, that is not where the heart is but it is a mistaken that can be forgiven.
A confidence in love brings rest; it speaks freedom to the heart for we are guaranteed that we are not working for acceptance or approval but that it is there and even if instruction or rebuke is to be given; it may be received freely knowing the heart behind why it is given. And that is the thing that the world that is so wrong that you see today. All the evil, all the wrong the cheating and the malice that you see is because people do not know that they are loved: that for each individual the price that has been paid is the blood of Jesus that defines the worth of every individual and not how much money they have or what they have done.
The world has this image of God; and so often does the church-where He is angry, waiting to punish everyone for every little thing they have done wrong and the reaction produced is one of the wrong kind of fear; the kind of fear that makes people want to hide, to runaway and say “Lord I am unworthy therefore talk to your prophets; I cannot be with you or talk to you” It is not known that the message of God is your sins are not wiped away because they are insignificant, but all your sins have been righteously forgiven because the payment, the full punishment for them have been met in the perfect body of Jesus Christ on the cross. It is not realised that the countenance of God is not and has never been to simply make man suffer: but He created joy so that you could enjoy, He created beauty so that you could look it and smile and so much more. He is not a sad God, but in His presence there is fullness of joy; He is not bent on being angry but He desires fellowship with you that you might experience love.
I sigh because there is so much more to share concerning the love of God and the fact that He love me and He loves you and the man next to you. And how if we were to have a revelation of this, we would see an end to rape, to broken families and failed homes. How we would see fruitful relationships instead of what today is the porcupine dance that people call normal life.
I sigh again, for the moment, I must leave the story at this point and trust you will remain blessed in the Lord but I will return to share more on this matter.