Let me tell you a love story from a not very successful preacher who married the love of his life. He had high hopes for this new chapter. They would share everything together. They would dream together, walk hand in hand into their future they would build together. But it wasn’t long before his loved one began to break his heart. She chose another man to be with. In fact she chose not just one. Were the children she bore his? He couldn’t be certain. But he turned from being a struggling preacher to a broken-hearted father, a betrayed husband and an embarrassed Pastor. But it got worse for him. His wife was taken by the men she cavorted with. Was this God’s judgment on her? Was it God’s mercy on him? More questions raged in his mind until he was left with one conviction. He had to go and get her. He had to buy her back from the slavery she had got herself into. He had to redeem her.
Their names? Hosea and Gomer. A story of undying love. A picture of God and His people.
God loved us though we were unfaithful. God loved us though we wandered away. God rescued us when we got ourselves into trouble. God redeemed us when we found ourselves trapped. God loved us when we stopped loving Him. God’s undying love.
The Apostle has grasped this. He has immersed himself into the death of Christ. He knows love flows not from performance. But it flows from faith in the death of Christ, God’s act of love.
“For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (Galatians 5 v 5-6)
Faith for righteousness and faith expressed through love.
Nothing else matters. It is all of no value. What does count is faith in the righteousness that will be fully realised when we meet God and faith which can be seen now in the way we love. This love is not a performance in order to gain. Rather it spills out of our faith in Christ who was God’s greatest example of love.
The word is Agape. The pinnacle and the foundation of everything. Without it nothing makes sense. This is not a feeling towards the person you are loving but it is a strong commitment that will not let go until that person understands, receives and prospers from the purpose of your love. It is the highest form, of sacrificial commitment love. The cross is how God demonstrated Agape to the world.
This agape is the highest form of love. It is the agape that God has for us and the expectation that we should have for each other. We love each other how God loves us. It isn’t easy. People can be difficult. However agape isn’t based on what we get back in return. We show kindness, speak kindness, respond kindly, we agape every person we come into contact with. Why? Because He first showed agape to us and it flows out of our faith in Him.
We need to keep on being blown away by Jesus’ love for us.For then this faith will be expressed not by a performance to gain or be approved but it will copy God’s act towards us, that being love.
Missions Paul 