The Freedom of Love

Dear Readers,

I want to share briefly with you the freedom of love. Love is a wonderful thing. Yet love, as it is used currently, is a lousy word. Where else can the phrase, "I love you, man" be used in order to coerce a beer from a friend. The use of the word, love, is so badly used today.

Yet love is freeing. Here the Word of God from 1st John 3:16-21

This is how we have come to know love; He laid down His life for us. Whe should also lay down our lives for ur brothers. If anyone has this world's goods and see his brother in need but shuts off his compassion from him - how can God's love reside in him? Little children, we must not love in word or speech, but in deed and truth; that is how we will know we are of the truth, and will convince our hearts in His presence, because if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things. Dear friends, if our hearts do not dondemn us we have confidence before God ...

We know love. We know the love that God gave to us through the self sacrificing actions of Jesus Christ. God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son into the world to save the world. God demonstrated His love for us in this. For while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This is true love. This is the love that God gave and it has freed us from sin, death, the influence of Satan, and hell. We believe and know that God loves us so much, that no sacrifice was too great to save us from our sins and selves.

Then we demonstrate and live that love that God lives in us. We "pay it forward" to others who are in need. We demonstrate God's great grace so that others will see Him in us. Are we perfect at it? By no means. We will fail to show love "24/7." That is when our hearts condemn us. But the Holy Spirit is there in convicting us that we are not living in the freedom of God's love. He causes repentance in us so that we are once again connected to God's love. Then we are freed again to serve Him and our fellow man.

That is the freedom of love.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Hemsath