“We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.” (1 John 4:19-21 NASB1995)

Today (2/19) is my mother’s birthday. If she was still alive, she would be 112 years old (she died at age 86). In two days from now is my mother-in-law’s birthday (2/21). If she was still alive, she would be 97 years old (she died at age 87).

I had just chosen the Scripture passage for this morning, as led by the Lord, when I sensed the Lord was leading me to honor the lives of these two women, both named Dorothy, so I did that first. And then I came back to this passage. And that is when I noticed the numbers on the Scripture passage (19-21), the dates on which these two women were born.

Now, I am a person who notices patterns in numbers, and in words and phrases, too, so that is not unusual for me to notice the parallels here. But sometimes it is God who opens that door because he has something he wants to show me, for me to share, and I believe that is the case here. For the name Dorothy (both were named Dorothy) means “gift of God.” And..

In the New Testament, the “gift of God” is first and foremost Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God (God incarnate) who lived on the earth and who died in order that he, via his death and resurrection, might put our sins to death with him so that, by God-persuaded and God-gifted faith in him, we might now die with him to sin, and live to him and to his righteousness, in walks of surrender to his will, in obedience to his commands, by the Spirit, which is also God’s gift to us, the gift of salvation from slavery to sin. And this results in the gift of eternal life with God, via continued walks of faith.

Gift of God: [John 3:16-21; John 4:7-10; Romans 5:15-21; Romans 6:1-23; 2 Corinthians 9:10-15; Ephesians 2:8-10; 2 Timothy 1:5-7]

So, when this passage of Scripture (above) mentions the word “love,” this is the kind of love it is speaking of, the love of Jesus Christ our Lord who willingly gave his life up for us on that cross so that, by faith in him, we will now die to sin and live to righteousness in walks of obedience to his commands, in daily living, by the grace of God, and in the power of God. And this is the kind of love we are to have for our fellow humans, that we willingly give up our lives (what we want) to see others set free from their slavery to sin so that they can now serve our Lord and obey his commands.

For, when we who profess faith in Jesus Christ love other people, this is to be the kind of love which Jesus had for us which is self-sacrificing, willing to give up our rights and our pleasures, even being willing to be hated, falsely accused of wrong, persecuted, rejected, cast aside as unwanted, and even threatened with death because we speak the truth of God’s word to the people and not the lies (the feel good messages) which tickle itching ears.

But if sin is what you practice, and not obedience to God, and so you deliberately and habitually sin against God and against those to whom you have purportedly committed yourself to love, then that is not love. That is hate. Hate says, “I love you,” but then does the opposite of love, for it then commits adultery, sexual immorality, lying, cheating, stealing, perjury, slander, and the like, and out of lust, pure selfishness, pride, resentment, bitterness, and unforgiveness. And it does so habitually, without repentance. So, don’t call it love if sin is what you practice and not obedience to God.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go

George Matheson, 1882 / Albert L. Peace

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to Thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in Thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to Thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from Thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

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