Loving God – Our Great Responsibility. Being Loved By God – Our Great Privilege.

We are called to love the Lord our God. this is an awesome responsibility. It fills uw with fear. Jesus says, "Do not be afraid (Luke 12:4). We are not left to go it alone. The Lord is with us. However difficult our journey through life may be, we can be sure of this: God loves us. We can say, with Paul, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). Throughout life, we are faced with a choice. We can acknowledge Christ or we can deny Him (Luke 12:8-9). Let your choice be clear - ‘Christ means everything to me’ (Philippians 1:21).

Do you want to confess Christ? It will not be easy. We live in a time when many people are preoccupied with ‘having a lot of material possessions’ (Luke 12:15). There’s a ‘gold rush’. Those who stand up for Christ will come under fire - ‘He’s too heavenly-minded to be any earthly good’! What does God say about this ‘gold rush’? A single word says it all – “Fool!” (Luke 12:20). He turns worldly wisdom on its head – ‘You can be too earthly-minded to be any heavenly good’! It is better to live God’s way than the world’s way (Romans 8:6).

When standing up for Christ seems so difficult, remember this: “the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say” (Luke 12:12). When the world keeps dragging you down, let Jesus lift you up: “Seek His Kingdom… it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:31-32). God loves us. He calls us to love Him. When your love for God is weak, remember this: His love for you is strong. Let His strong love reach you. Let His strong love change you. God’s love is unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable. Inspired by such love, let us love Him more truly and more fully.