Christmas is fast approaching. We are
getting ready to celebrate the birth of the Messiah, our saviour. Let’s take
our time for a moment to just imagine the day before Jesus was born into this
earth, or what we will now mark as Christmas Eve. We will normally wrap gifts,
get last minute shopping done and deliver our final gifts and cards and maybe go
to church. Have you ever thought what heaven was like on that day, what was
actually going on in heaven the day before Jesus was born unto us?
Jesus got off his throne perhaps, put off
his robe, crown, put aside his deity and entered a foetus. He wasn’t going to another
palace; he was going into a womb. This is an ultimate expression of God’s love
for us that He will give up his throne to come to somewhere in no way
comparative to what he was used to. This is the greatest form of love
Why is it so easy for God to Love us so
much?
Because we were created in His image and so
when God sees us He sees Himself. God still sees Himself in us, and even though
we changed our image never changed. The devil came to tempt the woman and man,
to change their perception of themselves, but did not change their image (Gen3:1-7). And so now and forevermore, even if we realise it or not our image will
still be that of God. He will always love us because in us, there is Him.
If we are the image of God, we have to love
god because when we see ourselves we must see God and so also when we see
others we must see God. All we need to survive and live a perfect life is love
God, which may mean everything from loving others to surrendering ourselves to
God. In the Old Testament God introduced so many rules to help us love Him and
in turn one another but Human beings found it so hard and just couldn’t stop
ourselves from breaking these rules. Jesus came to simplify it in the New
Testament and told us what to do:
We have assumed love to be an emotion when
in actual fact love is a commandment. We pick and choose who we can love, why
we want to love and who deserves our love even to the extent that sometimes God
doesn’t even make the cut. But loving everybody is not a choice we get to make;
loving people because they love you does not count. Luke6:32-33. That is love
ruled by emotions, loving those who have done you wrong is keeping to the
commandment.
If God could still love Humans even after
all they have done enough to send His son, why can’t we love those who have
wronged us.
How does God love everybody the same, righteous or unrighteous,
holy or sinful? Because God sees Himself in every man.
How do you love your enemy?
By seeing them
by not what they are doing but by whom they are. The prostitute was brought to
the presence of Jesus to be stoned; He did not condemn her for what she had but
gave her a chance because he saw her image: the image of God.
When Jesus was being crucified, he said: “Father
forgive them for they do not know what they do”, perhaps if they had known who
He was by image, they would not have killed him, if they had seen past their
hatred and seen that He was created in the image of God they would have spared
His life.
In the church today, we have created a sect
and we only find it easier to love just Christians. We judge others for what
they do and we do not want to associate with unbelievers. We should start
loving them because it is a commandment from God. Until then you do not even
love yourself because you are playing with the wrath of God. If He could love
you even in sin you can love everybody.
Love is not a feeling, it is a commandment, a
verb and a state because you still have to do it even when you don’t feel like
it.
