Words by our Priest-in-Charge:

Love is in a relationship

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” I John 4:7

Of all the attributes of God, love is an unique one. The Bible equates God to love. Rightly so because without Him, we would not understand what love is. The essence of love is often, and perhaps, only found in relationships. It is impossible to say that we have “love”, yet we do not relate. God has through Jesus Christ, called us and qualified us as His people, a community. And that community is characterized by love. Therefore, we have a communal life, expressed in fellowship and worship. Corporate worship, which includes worship services, corporate prayers, etc is made possible when we love one another, those whom we pray for and most of, love God. Love would not have any meaning if there are no relationships. God is love. The statement tells us that in the Godhead – God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, there is perfect harmony and unity. Without love, and love of God’ kind, there could not possibility be any long lasting harmony and unity.

This applies to all relationships. In marriages, Church life, friendships, etc. Without the love of God, we need to work hard in holding things together so that they would not fall apart. And that could be tiring, could be purely man’s efforts. The Bible verse today tells us very clearly that for anyone to love; he needs to be born of God. Someone says, disciples are made and not born. But we need to understand that children of God are born and not made. We cannot make ourselves or others to love. We need to come into encounter with the Loving God, to know Him in an intimate way as Father. We need to allow Him to transform us into the person He wants us to be. In order to do that, we must give Him permission over every part of our lives.

This is a test for us. A yardstick not to measure how well we perform as Christians, but a thermometer to measure our intimacy with God. You see, if we are not willing to allow God to draw us close to Him, or we are reluctantly to yield to Him every area of our lives, we could not grow in intimacy with God. Let us examine ourselves today. Are we truly yielded to Him in every area of our life? Including our strength and weaknesses? Yield, draw near and be transformed by the amazing love of the Father. We will be pleasantly surprised at what He could do!