Why So Many People Are Confused When it Comes to Love
People are confused when it comes to the issue of love because they cannot see themselves as stewards. A steward is a person to whom a king or master entrusts his treasures and goods, to apportion to those who have a right to them. God in heaven needs men on earth to make known the treasures of His love, and to give them to those who have need. The minister of the gospel is a steward of the mystery of God, and above all of the deep mystery of His everlasting love and all the blessings that flow from it.
Jesus was the Son of a carpenter. In the Gospels, He seems not to have put in a day's work. However, in the 1920's, an advertising executive called Bruce Barton described Jesus Christ as history's greatest business man who took twelve irritable stark illiterates from the bottom rungs of society and forged them into an organization which changed the course of history.
Jesus was not a great organizer as such. His public relations would not make for a pass in today's class rooms on public relations. The one thing He did was to preach a new and rather startling message - of the advent of the Kingdom of God and the redemption of people from sin. His listeners quickly learned that the world they knew was not the all-sufficient and ultimate theater of human experience. There was another world of joy and love, grace and redemption. This was the message that brought about a spiritual renewal or release from tension to His listeners.
Today, many people drift through life, spreading our energies over a million and one things of earthly value, without settling down to the diligent systematic business of spreading the word of God, which most of us believe is a gold-mine, but somehow do not go after this gold the way we do after other varieties. Many people will continue to live miserable lives unless we make seeking the Kingdom of God our priority in life.
However, unbelief is behind the confusion that trail people in matters of love. Without faith, great faith, preserving faith, there can be no thought of the power of love within us. True faith in God's love for us bows before God in the deep realization of His greatness, of His power to work wonders in our hearts, and of His loving care for us. It is necessary to be deeply convinced of our inability to produce the love that endures all things; the love which is holy, and can conquer sin and unbelief. To remove the confusion that beclouds our senses whenever it comes to issues of love, we need a burning desire to receive that love from God and have it implanted into our hearts, whatever the cost may be.
Also, when we gain an insight into what God's Word is, we get empowered. This living power in our hearts will be the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, living and working within us. In other words, when we seek to have a deeper insight into what the office of a servant of God means, as a steward of the wonderful love of God to sinners, we can never make the mistake of getting confused in matters of love any more. Being faithful stewards of the mystery of God, and chiefly of the mystery of divine love, should always be our aim.
Jesus was the Son of a carpenter. In the Gospels, He seems not to have put in a day's work. However, in the 1920's, an advertising executive called Bruce Barton described Jesus Christ as history's greatest business man who took twelve irritable stark illiterates from the bottom rungs of society and forged them into an organization which changed the course of history.
Jesus was not a great organizer as such. His public relations would not make for a pass in today's class rooms on public relations. The one thing He did was to preach a new and rather startling message - of the advent of the Kingdom of God and the redemption of people from sin. His listeners quickly learned that the world they knew was not the all-sufficient and ultimate theater of human experience. There was another world of joy and love, grace and redemption. This was the message that brought about a spiritual renewal or release from tension to His listeners.
Today, many people drift through life, spreading our energies over a million and one things of earthly value, without settling down to the diligent systematic business of spreading the word of God, which most of us believe is a gold-mine, but somehow do not go after this gold the way we do after other varieties. Many people will continue to live miserable lives unless we make seeking the Kingdom of God our priority in life.
However, unbelief is behind the confusion that trail people in matters of love. Without faith, great faith, preserving faith, there can be no thought of the power of love within us. True faith in God's love for us bows before God in the deep realization of His greatness, of His power to work wonders in our hearts, and of His loving care for us. It is necessary to be deeply convinced of our inability to produce the love that endures all things; the love which is holy, and can conquer sin and unbelief. To remove the confusion that beclouds our senses whenever it comes to issues of love, we need a burning desire to receive that love from God and have it implanted into our hearts, whatever the cost may be.
Also, when we gain an insight into what God's Word is, we get empowered. This living power in our hearts will be the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, living and working within us. In other words, when we seek to have a deeper insight into what the office of a servant of God means, as a steward of the wonderful love of God to sinners, we can never make the mistake of getting confused in matters of love any more. Being faithful stewards of the mystery of God, and chiefly of the mystery of divine love, should always be our aim.
