THE POWER OF LIVING BY LOVE

Living by love and finding strength in God’s embrace will revo- lutionize our Christian lives. People who are in love give up a lot less frequently than those who are not in love. Being in love gives us strength and tenacity when we’re tempted to let go. Being a lover of God not only reduces burnout, it also re- duces temptation. This is because we find less satisfaction in sin. Much of the sin in the body of Christ is a wrong response to pain, to fear and to the need for comfort. Sin is a false com- fort that people use as a prop to get them through seasons of pain. Many people get into sin because they feel beaten up and abandoned by God and other people. They reach out for im- mediate comfort in status, financial gain or wrong expressions of sexuality. Those who are spiritually satisfied are not sinless, but they do sin less.

Being a lover of God reduces the amount of strife in our relationships; happy people fight less. All of us are slandered at some point in our lives, and I do not always respond rightly to such attacks. However, when I experience God’s presence, I fight people a lot less and I respond to hard situations in more godly ways.

In 2 Corinthians 5:14, Paul wrote, “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died.” In writing this, he was motivated by love for God. It worked in him and empowered him in all he did. It is the power of living in godliness. I encourage people to focus on enjoy- ing God more, not trying harder to overcome sin. Many people are driven by fear instead of by affection for God. I become far steadier in my commitments when the First Commandment is in first place in my life. Satan wants to undermine our love for Jesus by sidetracking and diverting us from the simplicity of undistracted love and devotion (2 Corinthians 11:3). Satan at- tempts to lead us astray from knowing Jesus’ love and kindness to us and responding back to Him in kind. When we do not feel cherished by God in our weakness, we begin to be distracted from pure devotion.

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