Loving What Truly Matters – Life Is a Journey, part 32
What have you focused on this week? What do you focus on most in life? What is it that truly matters to you? What do you love with the greatest passion? These are questions we need to ask ourselves if we are to succeed on the journey of loving what truly matters.
Through this series, you’ll learn how to live well & enjoy God's promises. You are loved by God; He knows your name. He has a plan for your life. Get helpful advice, encouragement, and hope for a life well lived in 2021 and beyond.
Are you walking in faith and victory? Set your eyes on the promises of God. You only have one life journey; say yes to Jesus.
The ultimate quest for what truly matters: love.
What truly matters to you?
The world is full of things for us to focus on, love, and have passionate for that matter. But do all of them truly matter? Family, work, hobbies, passions: yes, they matter. But hobbies, work, and even family shouldn’t be the most important priority in your life.
We need to make a conscious decision regarding what really matters most in our lives, and then give it our full attention, time, energy, and love, to it. What you love most should get your most important attention. It should captivate your heart, passion, and reason for life. Jesus should be the all-important love in our lives.
Focusing on Jesus and living a life of faith is a life journey that truly matters both in the present and for all eternity.
We must decide each day to seek and follow what truly matters in life, regardless of the benefits or pitfalls of that decision. Choose to walk in faith, and love what is truly important: Jesus. Choose to seek the Lord.
Seek and follow what truly matters every day: Jesus.
Love: the true reason to stand firm in faith.
Today I want to focus on the true reason for standing firm in our faith and how it includes a very important four-letter word: LOVE.
We should live for what truly matters in this life and for all eternity: Jesus. Why? Because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).
Can you pass this test of true or false?
True or False? Because you love someone, you make decisions and say yes to some things, and a definite no to others.
True or False? You will say no to something that would hurt your relationship with that person.
True or False? You may want to say no to something that can cause you to be away for long periods of time.
True or False? You might easily say yes to something that ensures the two of you would be together even if it cost you something.
True or False? Saying no to something or saying yes to other things, in order to spend time with the one you love with all your heart is not difficult when you truly love them, and they truly love you.
True or False? If you truly love what matters in life, it should be very difficult to walk away or live apart for a length of time from the one you love and who truly matters to you.
Saying no to some things and yes to other things in order to be with the one you love is easy. The more time you spend with someone you love, the more your love will grow and your relationship will grow.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:16-19).
You matter to God. He loves you. He gave all so that you could be with him. That is eternal love. That is love that truly matters.
The Bible talks seriously about the importance of choosing to spend time with God and to grow deeper in the love of God. When we do, we will be drawn closer to God rather than the things of this world.
How will you respond to God’s love? Will you say yes to God and no to the things of the world?
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:15-17, NIV).
John is saying that a person is tempted to crave the things of this world, but that such worldly cravings do not come from God. Many things in this world look glamorous at first glance. The world’s promise of pleasure, happiness, and success will all fall short. The desires of the world will always fall short of the depth of love you can get from God. Possessions and successes are fine but they are fleeting. They can leave us feeling empty, looking for the next thing to satisfy.
You’ll never be completely satisfied or fulfilled without a relationship with God, the love of God. So, focus on Jesus, the one who truly matters, to be fulfilled.
‘Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’ (Romans 12:9-21).
If your love is sincere, you honor one another above yourselves. You become devoted to one another in brotherly love. You hate what is evil and overcome evil with good. Be sincere in your love.
“What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:8-11).
Paul turned his back on what everyone else said was important. He learned what was truly important: God’s love for him and his love for God. Paul encourages us to go after all that God can give.
How to discover God’s love.
The way we discover God’s love is by first discovering God.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. 3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. 4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun” (Psalm 19:1-4).
Look around and you will see the glory of God. God’s creation proclaims the glory of God. And God loves you.
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus” (1 John 4:16-17).
God’s love is unconditional, but the worlds love is conditional. The world would say if a person wronged you or said something nasty to you or caused you pain, that they are not worthy of your love. Not true regarding the love of God.
We know and rely on the love God has for us. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us; God loved us (Romans 5:8).
This is the kind of love—God’s love—that truly matters. While we were still sinners, God decided to show us love, grace and mercy.
He loved you:
When you were living in rebellion towards God.
When you paid no attention to God.
When your back was turned towards God.
Before the foundations of the world.
With an everlasting love.
Jesus died that you and whoever believes would one day be saved.
What will you decide?
God loves you. But will you choose to love him back?
Loving God is a choice. Satan will bring temptation your way and you’ll need to decide what truly matters. Do you believe in God and his love for you?
Do your decisions match your love for God? Loving God is a choice.
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Luke 21:33).
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare” (2 Peter 3:9-10).
Paul encouraged the church in Ephesians 5 to be imitators of God and to live a life of love just as Christ loved them and gave himself up as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
What about you? Do not be distracted from loving who truly matters. Love God with all your heart. Love and serve others for the glory of God. Seek first the kingdom of God. Crave, desire, and seek to know Jesus more and to know and experience the love that truly matters along life’s journey.
Life is a journey, a journey of growing in love with what truly matters, of loving Jesus in word and deed.
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This and other sermons brought to you by Faith Chapel, an Assemblies of God church in Pleasanton, CA.