February 16th 2025
Are You Trying To Come To Know God Better So We Can See Others Through The Loving Eyes Of Jesus?
1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (NIV)
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Happy St. Valentine’s Day!
What Paul is writing about in the love chapter is more about God’s love for us than it is about our love for each other in this cursed world. However, if you are a true believer you (we) can tap into this agape love by working on trying to become more Christ-like every day. Then we will also tap into this type of love that allows us to try to see love in other people, even the people we do not like. Jesus told us His followers we are expected to love our enemies, that is those who have chosen to be our enemies in this world.
Jesus once said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35). When Jesus walked this earth as the Son of Man, He healed people of their diseases and restored normal functions to those who were lame of could not hear or could not speak, and when He did it, He often said “Your faith has healed you!” Jesus did all these wonderful things because He loved all the people He encountered. Jesus wants us to try to be like Him in this world, where it seems there is more hate speech than loving comments!
John wrote about God’s love for mankind and about Jesus’ plan for being the perfect sacrifice needed to enable mankind to be saved from going to hell when we die. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17).
John wrote about the change that comes over you when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and become born again. This recreation of self allows us to at least have glimpses of what heaven will be like. Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. (1 John 4:7-9). Are you trying to come to know God better so we can see others through the loving eyes of Jesus?
If you are a believer, then you can experience times of seeing other people through the loving eyes of Jesus Christ. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:15-19).
Solomon expressed the futility of life in this cursed world, and while he was maybe the most intelligent man on earth at that time, because he was blessed by God with profound knowledge, he still looked at this world as being meaningless. And while he had seven hundred wives, he may have only loved one of them. Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 9:9). Husbands reading this, be sure, if possible, try to make today a special day for your wife.
Just an interesting note here, there are 320 references to the word “wife” in the NIV translation of our Bible!
Seems like a good time in our history to affirm some truth about gender and sex and what Jesus professed when He still walked this earth as the Son of Man. Jesus once said, "But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female’. ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." (Mark 10:6-9). Marriage has become a second thought if a thought at all, by people today. This includes people you may share a pew with at the church of your choice on any given Sabbath day!
In this conversation, Jesus was telling some religious leaders why they should not divorce their wives, as God dubbed marriage to be a lifetime commitment. First, Jesus makes it clear there are only two sexes or genders. Many people today believe there are several! As Jesus said, “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female’”. Jesus next made it clear that the idea of marriage is not mankind’s idea but a command from God. Jesus said, “Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
Jesus said, when we get married, we give up our single status. We should no longer think of ourselves as a complete entity, but instead as one with our marriage partner, because Jesus said, “So they are no longer two, but one.” So, in this love week, let us try to think loving thoughts ending with wishing someone, maybe anyone we meet or talk to Happy St. Valentine’s Day!
Do you think of someone who may be alone or even suffering today, call or text them a Happy St. Valentine’s Day! TGIF! Jesus died so we can live! And you, just be Happy in Jesus!
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (NIV)
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Happy St. Valentine’s Day!
What Paul is writing about in the love chapter is more about God’s love for us than it is about our love for each other in this cursed world. However, if you are a true believer you (we) can tap into this agape love by working on trying to become more Christ-like every day. Then we will also tap into this type of love that allows us to try to see love in other people, even the people we do not like. Jesus told us His followers we are expected to love our enemies, that is those who have chosen to be our enemies in this world.
Jesus once said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35). When Jesus walked this earth as the Son of Man, He healed people of their diseases and restored normal functions to those who were lame of could not hear or could not speak, and when He did it, He often said “Your faith has healed you!” Jesus did all these wonderful things because He loved all the people He encountered. Jesus wants us to try to be like Him in this world, where it seems there is more hate speech than loving comments!
John wrote about God’s love for mankind and about Jesus’ plan for being the perfect sacrifice needed to enable mankind to be saved from going to hell when we die. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17).
John wrote about the change that comes over you when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and become born again. This recreation of self allows us to at least have glimpses of what heaven will be like. Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. (1 John 4:7-9). Are you trying to come to know God better so we can see others through the loving eyes of Jesus?
If you are a believer, then you can experience times of seeing other people through the loving eyes of Jesus Christ. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:15-19).
Solomon expressed the futility of life in this cursed world, and while he was maybe the most intelligent man on earth at that time, because he was blessed by God with profound knowledge, he still looked at this world as being meaningless. And while he had seven hundred wives, he may have only loved one of them. Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 9:9). Husbands reading this, be sure, if possible, try to make today a special day for your wife.
Just an interesting note here, there are 320 references to the word “wife” in the NIV translation of our Bible!
Seems like a good time in our history to affirm some truth about gender and sex and what Jesus professed when He still walked this earth as the Son of Man. Jesus once said, "But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female’. ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." (Mark 10:6-9). Marriage has become a second thought if a thought at all, by people today. This includes people you may share a pew with at the church of your choice on any given Sabbath day!
In this conversation, Jesus was telling some religious leaders why they should not divorce their wives, as God dubbed marriage to be a lifetime commitment. First, Jesus makes it clear there are only two sexes or genders. Many people today believe there are several! As Jesus said, “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female’”. Jesus next made it clear that the idea of marriage is not mankind’s idea but a command from God. Jesus said, “Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
Jesus said, when we get married, we give up our single status. We should no longer think of ourselves as a complete entity, but instead as one with our marriage partner, because Jesus said, “So they are no longer two, but one.” So, in this love week, let us try to think loving thoughts ending with wishing someone, maybe anyone we meet or talk to Happy St. Valentine’s Day!
Do you think of someone who may be alone or even suffering today, call or text them a Happy St. Valentine’s Day! TGIF! Jesus died so we can live! And you, just be Happy in Jesus!
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
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