The Power of Love

‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others’ (Phil 2:3, 4).

What our world lacks is neither natural nor human resources but love. God has provided humanity with all that we need, to have peaceful lives without abject poverty. However in these days of great technological developments, massive capital flow and information overload, millions of children still die from curable diseases and poor nutrition, those that even survive are permanently affected by malnutrition. ‘In the United States at the end of 2001, 10% of the population owned 71% of the wealth and the top 1% owned 38%. On the other hand, the bottom 40% owned less than 1% of the nation's wealth’(Wikipedia). ‘It is indisputably believed that the greatest moral challenge this generation faces is that, one in four of the people we share this small and beautiful planet with, live in abject poverty. 2.8 billion People live on less than $2 a day and 1.2 billion live on less than $ 1 a day’ (Rt. Hon. Clare Short, Secretary of state for International development). Clearly, love and selflessness is the solution to a lot of the problems we have in the world today.

God is love and He created man in His image and likeness. Before the fall of man, love was man’s nature. The Spirit of God that He breathed into man was a spirit of love, but after the fall of man the nature of love was replaced by a nature of self-centeredness. As established in the previous lesson (Is Your Dream a Vision or a Selfish Ambition), self-centeredness was the origin of sin (Isaiah 14:12-14). So Christianity is a call to love, and its journey is a transformation from self-centeredness to love. No wonder Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God with your all and love your neighbor as yourself. The greatest mark of Christian maturity is selflessness that is born out of love. Paul confirmed that when he said, ‘If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have 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 do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing’ (1 Cor 13:1-3).

Paul also taught that we should, ‘do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves’ (Phil 2:3). Christ was a revelation and an embodiment of the love of God. Our daily attitude is supposed to be like Christ, who gave up His divine privileges as God and took the humble position of a slave, was born as a human being and selflessly died as a criminal on a cross for our salvation (Phil 2:5-8).

The good news is that after Jesus died for all men as a result of His love and selflessness, ‘God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names’ (Phil 2:9). God blesses us, so that we may be a blessing (Gen 12:1-3). Those who pursue love and selflessness are blessed beyond measure, and they make an impact that transcends generations. Today, seek God with all your heart, draw closer to Him and let His nature of love been seen through you. By loving Him you will know Him more and be able to love your neighbors as yourself. There cannot be love without giving, love is revealed through our giving that meet the needs of others (John 3:16).

Examine your priorities, motivation and focus in life today and let this be your song, ‘Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me, All His wondrous compassion and purity, Oh thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine. Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me’.