Bella Vista Church of Christ

LIFELINES

08/26/2020

Charles Cash

1938-2018

 

If A Man Love Me...

"If a man love Me, he will keep My words;

and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him,

and make Our abode with him"

John 14.23

 

  There we have it. It's as simple as that!

 

  If you "Love Me." Jesus said, "You will keep My words."

Is keeping commandments just a sign of love, or a demonstration of love?

 

  No! It's much more! It is love! "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments..." (1 John 5.3).

 

  Love is the first commandment: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment"  (Matthew 22.37-38).There is none greater. In fact, it encompasses all the rest. Fear of God, even fear of punishment, can bring us to God. But somewhere down the line love must take over as the prime motivating factor behind our Worship and Service to God. "Love casts out fear," John said. He also wrote "We love Him, because He first loved us" (1 John 4.19).

 

  Paul lays it out too plainly to be misunderstood in First Corinthians thirteen: If love is not the motivation behind our Worship and Service, no matter how sacrificial it may be, then it is useless. "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing" (1 Corinthinans 13.1-3).

 

  Remember, love can cool and wither. Someone once said, "Love, like the creeping vine, withers if it has nothing to embrace."

 

  God loved you!~ Love Him Back!

 

—Charles Cash

   1938–2018

   From an article written in1981