Scripture reading: I John 4:16
God wants us to abide in His love. He said, “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (I John 4:16). Can you understand what we are talking about? The hate that comes to you, the distress that comes to you when somebody bothers you, when somebody does something wrong, brings sadness, worry, pain. All that is lack of love. Lack of love, because God said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). A person who does not keep God’s commandments does not love God for the Word of God tells you that love is a force that lifts you above the human dimension.
For instance, a person hates you. The Bible says, “Pray for them that hate you” (Matthew 5:44). Now tell me: have you been able to pray for those who hate you? Some people pray, “…let his prayer become sin” (Psalm 109:7). I have seen people actually pray the 109th Psalm for people who hurt them; and they feel like they are doing it righteously. “Let his prayer become sin and let so and so happen to him and his children be destroyed.” You ask this question: why was such a psalm written in the Bible? Let’s see what it says. Verse 7, “When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin. 8 Let his days be few; and let another take his office. 9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. 10 Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.” This is one of the reasons why some people say they don’t believe the Bible. Do you know what this is saying? This is a prophecy of what is going to happen to those who hate God’s people. Instead of saying, “Let this be, let this be,” it says, “This is what shall be, and this shall be, and that shall be.” It is laying out the things that come upon those who hate God’s people. It is not saying that you must pray that, “You should do this to them, God. You should kill their children. You should do so and so.” That is not it.
So when you have the love of God in you, you are going to say, “Lord God, have mercy upon those who hate me and upon those who despise me and those who persecute me.” You will be genuinely able to pray for them. God said, “By your phileo love, pull yourself up into agape. I wondered at it. How am I going to turn my phileo into agape? Then, I began to think. You have a child, you have a brother, you have a friend who is bad and does all kinds of wickedness. They catch him and are judging him and you pray, “Lord, have mercy upon him.” Your brother, your child. It is somebody’s brother; it is somebody’s child; and if you can feel bowels of compassion for your own, then take that and look at him and say, “It is another human being. Lord God, have mercy upon him.”
I look at Scott Peterson, who killed his pregnant wife and dump her in the bay, and I see a wretched person. My God, all this judgment coming down upon him! But then, he is a human being, he is a soul. If he were your brother, how would you feel about him? Tell me the truth. Would you say, “Kill him!”? No. You would begin to say, “Lord God, he is guilty. He is wicked, he is vile, he is bad. Save the sinner. Have mercy upon him.” This is where love becomes powerful.
(Excerpt from The Omega Message, July 2005, pg. 42-43)
Thought for today: A person who does not keep God’s commandments does not love God for the Word of God tells you that love is a force that lifts you above the human dimension.
Sonlight Devotional 