JESUS primary purpose on earth was to seek to restore lost souls back to God. His other appellation was PRINCE OF PEACE. With compassion at the root of His heart, he sought ways and means to avert impending fierce judgment from people who wallowed in Godless allures of spiritually doomed world systems. While God so loved the world that He made plans of salvation for those who would grab a hold of his lifelines in Christ JESUS, there are many of His supposed believers, who are sold-out to daily sowing seeds of discords and condemnation, among peoples. JESUS would rather excuse-away people’s offences as ignorance, than wish them instant destructive judgment.
“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10 (KJV) “For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.” Luke 9:56
Even though JESUS was not lily-livered, yet He avoided violence, violent rhetoric or destructive reactions. He was not one to rejoice over other’s misery or consequent casualty. Today, many of His popularly acclaimed representatives use pulpits to encourage harmful manners because of another misapplied scripture about the “violent take it by force.” When Peter used the sword to cut an “enemy’s” ear, JESUS rebuked his violent behavior and restored the ear back to place. When His disciples requested that He called down fire on those who rejected them, He castigated them for imbibing the wrong mentality. He endured the shame-attack and moved on without retaliating.
Many who claim to be Christians today, gleefully seek harm, hurt and inflict verbal damages on others without thinking twice. Many pulpit declare curses and pray for human deaths, while feeding fat on people’s fears, rather than feeding them faith in the victories already achieved in Christ. There are more prayer pronouncements seeking other’s calamities by destructive “fire of the Holy Ghost” than there are reviving fires in lives of the same church-goers.
God Is Love! God is also a consuming Fire! Christ LOVE rages more than His wish to ultimately unleash consuming fire on unrepentant humankind. JESUS followers must learn God’s kind of LOVE and seek to save perishing lives, than to wish them instant destructive judgments. Our communal lives should embrace more selfless LOVE! Many more people need compassion than condemnation. We need to allow more LOVE in LIFE, and give more LIFE to LOVE!!
Please READ John 3:16-17, Mathew 18:11-14, Luke 9:51-56.
BELOW ARE EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK – WHAT LOVE IS, WHAT LOVE IS NOT By Olanrewaju Elujoba
- LOVE IS NON-CONDEMNING, LIFE-SAVING GIFT
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. “ John 3:16-17 (KJV)
True love is a pre-select action that chooses to save a life from danger and destruction, even when tools of condemnation are fully available. True love refuses to overlook someone on pathway to perishing. It decides on purpose to do something, rather than watch and do nothing. Regardless that the one who acts in true love has capacity to react to offences by subjecting offenders to penalties, damages or destruction, yet he or she can make informed choices of looking another way, finding the slightest reason and excuse to save the offender. True Love is what God gave when He chose to save and not to condemn humanity who deserved to be condemned! True love is what you and I can also give when we choose to save and not condemn someone!
The kind of love that is being addressed in this book is always a divine gift and refreshing lifeline that can be offered so that someone else, who does not necessarily qualify, can be upgraded. It is an offer of a new lease of life that provides means for such a person, or persons, to be improved upon, added to, and, sustainably upheld for as long a time as is possibly needed.
God’s kind of love provides eternal life. Eternal life is an unending regenerating life that is provided and available in God. It is for overcoming death and negatives of life. It recharges, reenergizes and empowers for as long as it is so needed. God’s kind of LOVE always requires that a receiving party play a part of accepting while the love-giver keeps the offer out there for as long as is possible. In other word, a love-giver makes “love-offerings” consistently available whether it is quickly received, acknowledged, accepted or not! True LOVE is for saving people. It avoids condemnation and evil sentences. True Love offers someone else new leases of life. It offers such a one, or ones, thoughtful means of avoiding destructive consequences.
2. LOVE IS A PRE-CALCULATED DECISION TO GET SOMEONE BACK ON TRACK
“For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. 12 How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? 13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. 14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” Matt 18:11-14 (KJV)
The scripture above tells that a loving shepherd will leave ninety-nine (99) sheep in good custody to pursue an assignment of seeking one that strayed away. In the same way someone who understands God’s kind of love, will take it upon him or herself to let go of some certain comfort, to go help another strayed-away one find his or her way right back on the right life-track. True love goes after someone who is missing the mark and may not even know it. The missing sheep in the scripture is celebrated more than the abiding ones when it was found.
Anyone that is specially sought out regardless of reasons why he or she got missing in action, in the first place, would feel genuine love indeed. There is rejoicing for a specially pursued, attention-and-care-needing sheep and there should be same for a human being that similarly needs attention and care. Love does not desire the perishing of a single person, a minor or minority group just simply because there are ninety-nine abiding others who can easily serve as replacements.
We should not abandon anyone in love-need just because we got others around who gives us readily available pleasure and steady atmosphere of satisfaction. We ought to find it in our hearts to always look out for some solitary person to work on and to bring around for rejoicing and celebration. It is not good to replace love for a missing one with ready care and attention of objects, animals, fun-activities, friends, family or workplace colleagues. It is not a loving situation to just keep hanging out with those who readily adore us and those we have ready-made attention and care for.
3. LOVE IS NOT ANGER THAT SEEKS FIERY DESTRUCTIONS
“And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, 52 And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. 53 And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? 55 But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. 56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.” Luke 9:51-56 (KJV)
Jesus refused the request to call down fire to consume people just to score points against those that rejected him and His ministry. He rather demonstrated that it is possible to move on from people who reject you. True love knows that there is no need destroying others by calling down fire on them just because they would not accede to one’s request or self-interest. We all need to understand that one’s selfish need does not have to be pandered to compulsorily by those that are expected to feed one’s fancy. It is not in the good nature of love to quickly destroy one’s offenders. The real purpose of love is to find excuses and easy basis to save someone and not destroy especially an offending someone for that matter.