Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love (1 John 4:7-8).
Spiritual development and love go hand in hand. There is no spiritual growth without growth in love. When we live in love we live out of our relationship with the Father, and we release the atmosphere of heaven around us.
Love and faith are the atmosphere of the kingdom of God. When we walk in love, all that God has becomes available to us, and His power is available to work on our behalf. Unbelief, strife, and fear, are some of the ingredients of the atmosphere of the kingdom of darkness.
We should seek to develop the love of God in our lives every single day. Don’t let a day go by without developing in love.
Listen to 1 Corinthians 14:1 in the Amplified: Eagerly pursue and seek to acquire this love [make it your aim, your great quest]. Paul reminds us: But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection (Colossians 3:14). The debt we owe to every person is a debt of love: Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:8-10).
Notice also the great commandment of life that Jesus gave to us: Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:35-40).
ALL of our problems in life in general and with all of our relationships spring out of disobedience to these two laws of love. If I love the Father with all of my mind, all of my emotions, with all my willpower, with all my physical body, then I’m not going to do anything that offends my relationship with Him! I must harness my thoughts to honor Him, my feelings to bow to His Word, my will to yield to His will as revealed in His Word, and my body to submit to His standards. So when I miss it in any area of life, I can boil it down to a lack of love for God!
If I love my neighbor as much as I love myself, then I will do nothing to harm him. I will not say anything that we discourage or harm him, I will not do anything to in any way harm or bring personal loss to him, and I will only seek the best for my neighbor physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Jesus gave us a new commandment to live by that should be our greatest witness to the world. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34-35).
If we are going to experience God’s best in life, then everything else that we esteem as important in life must bow to the commandment of love. Put love first in every relationship. Make loving God your major life priority! Loving the Father is shown by obeying Him by obeying the Word! Loving others means putting their needs above my own. As we go through our day today, let’s ask ourselves, am I loving God with everything in me, and am I putting others needs before my own?