Void of...

Most people do not love but lust. Lust is understood as the excitement of the mind, that is, longing after something. When people say they love some kind of food they are really saying they are excited about or are longing to have it.

People who are void of God’s Spirit are void of love. We find this truth in the Bible:

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” (1 Jn 4:7-8)

What a powerful statement. “God is love” and if you do not know God you are not able to love others. Lust is the only way you experience the world if you are not bestowed with God’s Spirit. We are rendered incapable of loving if we are void of God.

Apostle John said:

“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” (1 Jn 4:8)

God is love. He is the very essence of how one is empowered to love others.

The truth be known, when most people say they love someone else, it is the same understanding as when they say they love a particular food. Lust is expressed by excitement to see or experience an encounter with some person.

Lust is what we experience when we are longing to have others in our lives because they bring us pleasure. Love is what you practice when you do not have pleasure in the encounter. Love is best defined by the words we find uttered by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinth Church:

 “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.” (1 Co 13:4-8)

What a picture of God! We are to seek to love others as God does. Jesus said we are to even love our enemies:

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”(Mat 5:44)

These words of Jesus are not fulfilled by lust but by love. Love is a gift from God that allows you to move beyond lust to love. “God is Love!” To know God is to know love. God loves you and when you love Him back you will be empowered to not just lust but love.

It is your ability to love others in spite of how they treat you that separates you from the unrepentant sinner. Jesus taught:

“For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?” (Mat 5:46)

Do you love or lust? To know God is to know love. Loving even our enemies is not possible in lust. How do you know you are capable of love? Take a close look at your relationships with others. Are you seeking God’s mercy for people who have misused you?

To love your enemies is how you know that the love of God is in you.