Temple Baptist Life

The very concept of love is one of the most permeating themes in modern society. The Beatles sang about in the sixties. Their message to a hurt and frightened world was, “love is all you need.” According to Amazon.com, there are at least 32,507 books currently in print with the word “love” in the title (over 145,000 that deal with the subject of love)…

and over 11,000 popular albums/CDs with “love” in the title. If you were to do a google search on the Internet, you’d discover at least 121,000,000 websites that that use the word “love” as one of their key words. It is unmistakable, how important love is to our culture to people in general.

But with all this information available, love has become a very confusing subject. When I watch TV, check the Internet, or scan magazines in the checkout lines, it’s clear that our society has a very poor understanding of love.

Recently, I heard about a single mother with two school age children. This mother had a busy social life — too busy, in fact. Because the children got in the way of her fun, she loaded them up with cough medicine. With the kids drugged to sleep, she and the boyfriend of the day were free to do what they will. Now, I venture to say that if the authorities were to intervene to rescue those children, this woman would protest, “I love my children!” With humanity so confused about love, who is to say what love is?

The answer is God! One of the simplest and yet most profound definitions of love is found in 1 John 4: “God is love.”

A.W. Tozer said it best: “The love of God is one of the great realities of the universe, a pillar upon which the hope of the world rests. But it is a personal, intimate thing too. God does not love populations, He loves people. He loves not masses, but men.”  While some of us may have a few more hairs that others, the message remains the same: God loves you and He knows everything about you. God’s love for us is personal. As Augustine put it, “He loves each one of us, as if there were only one of us.”

It doesn’t do any good to talk about love and compassion without demonstrating it. God demonstrates His love. He’s proven His love for us.  A traveler fell into a deep pit and couldn’t get out. Several persons came along and saw him struggling in the pit. The sensitive person said, “I feel for you down there.” The reflective person said, “It’s logical that someone would fall into the pit.” The aesthetic person said, “I can give you ideas on how to decorate your pit.” The judgmental person said, “Only bad people fall into the pit.” The curious person said, “Tell me how you fell into the pit.” The perfectionist said, “I believe you deserve your pit.” The evaluator said, “Tell me, are you paying taxes on this pit.” The self-pitying person said, “You should have seen my pit.” The specialist in meditation said, “Just relax and don’t think about the pit.” The optimist said, “Cheer up! Things could be worse.” The pessimist said, “Be prepared! Things will get worse.” Jesus, seeing the man, took him by the hand and lifted him out of the miserable pit.

God did not send His Son to die on the cross just to prove that He loves us, but to save us. God’s love for us is one that wants to preserve us — to save us and bring us home. The Bible says, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God wants every person on earth to be saved. That’s why He sent Jesus to die.

With so many different concepts of love, so many different takes on this powerful four letter word it is comforting to know that Christians need not be confused: “God is love.” And, although love itself cannot define God for He is infinite in all His attributes, God does define love. Love is a part of God’s very nature, and His love is perfect.

I hope you have experienced His love and now you will show that love to others.

Glad To Be Your Pastor,

Ray Adkins