Keeping Perspective – Part 2 - Love and Forgiveness

God is in the business of changing hearts. For when we were “born again”, we were made a new creation in Christ. All things have become new. For He who knew no sin was made the perfect sin sacrifice on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him – 2 Corinthians 5:21. Isaiah 41:10 says that God will hold us up with His righteous right hand. He has called us as winners in the midst of the spiritual battle. To understand Sin and the fallen nature of mankind is to understand the state of the world around us. We're not fighting against the people of this world. They can't help it; it's the nature they inherited from Adam. God has a wonderful plan for our lives, but we must know Him, love Him and walk with Him in humility and loving obedience.

1 Corinthians 13, about the Love of God, says that we accept others the way they are.  This means that when God shows us sin in another person's life, it's so that we'll know how to pray for them. They are not our enemy. However, they may be in the clutches of the enemy. They're taken captive by the enemy at his will. Jesus came so that we could be set free and that we could set others free through the power of salvation. One theme of 1 Corinthians is that it's not about me or you ... it's about loving God above all and serving others on His behalf. The love of God loves unconditionally regardless of the other person's response. Tough love is living First Corinthians thirteen ... to love the unlovable ... to give up the rights to myself in order to serve God by serving others the bread of life. The love of God thinks no evil... it keeps no record of wrongs done. The secret to living life more abundantly is to love others with the same love wherewith our Father in Heaven loves us. 

Love brings us to the point that we acknowledge that we can't do it on our own. To love unconditionally is to tap into the power of God, in Christ, in us. Therefore, as it says in Isaiah 41:10, Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Loving and forgiveness go hand in hand. To love with the love of God is to love the unlovable. To forgive is to forgive the unforgivable. Know that prior to our encounter with Jesus Christ, we were unlovable and unforgivable. Our exhortation is "be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good."

1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

The devil's job is to "rock your world." However, though the storms of life may rage and the mountains may shake, we will not be shaken for our lives are founded on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ himself. No one can solve the problems of this world, for every problem there is a spiritual cause. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness from on high.” Love conquers all. The solution to the pollution of this world is the righteousness of God, according to the love of God, in the renewed mind in manifestation. He loved me before I knew him, and all my love is due Him.  He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood. 

May God richly bless you.
Your brother in Christ, Michael