This is his blog... I highly recommend it for those still walking, crawling, standing, drowning and fighting on the path to Christ.
http://www.emmanuelsocratesquansah.com/
Monday, May 18, 2009
WALK BY FAITH... BUT LIVE IN LOVE
I dedicate this piece to Kristen Passanisi as a token of appreciation for joining my blog. This is a practice I intend to continue for all who join.
Walking is entirely different from living. Walking is doing something, whereas living is being something. Walking causes you to make progress but living causes you to maintain the progresses made. However, doing and being go hand in hand.
A lot of us have faith…supposedly in God. We believe in God for things. Infact, the Christian life cannot be lived without faith (Hebrews 11: 6), just as you cannot live without walking. But you must be alive first! Paul said ‘Faith works by love’ (Galatians 5: 6). This is a statement that the Holy Spirit has recently shed light on.
The conscious of the love of God is the greatest thing that can happen to a person, because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to us (John 3: 16). God’s disposition is that of love (Jeremiah 9: 24). His desire is that we know that He sent Jesus, not because of anything but because He loved us. I am quite sure every father or mother, especially mothers, would be surprised to hear their children ask ‘mummy do you love me?’ The best thing you would want you child to believe is that you love him or her. All that your parents do for you is the expression of their love. When they are not able to do something for you, they still want you to know they love you.
Faith works by love because when I know God loves me I can dare ask him anything. If I know my friend loves me, I don’t mind calling him at 2am because he or she would still answer the call. The only people you call at odd hours are people whom you know have your back and love you. John put it right by saying ‘perfect love casts out fear’ (1 John 4: 18). When you come to know God loves you, you can tell Him anything!! He becomes your God-friend!! You can confess every ugly sin to Him, you can freely live for Him, be yourself in His presence, be bold to stand for Him. Only one of the twelve apostles got this revelation of the love of God and called himself ‘the one whom Jesus loved’ (John 21: 7, 20). John knew that God loved him. As such he was the only apostle who could dare put his head on the bosom of Jesus, without the fear of rejection (John 21: 20). This is the desire of every father. God wants us to come so close to Him. So close that we can lay our head, our very thoughts, decisions, on His heart. Can you believe that God loves you that way? When this is in place, then faith takes over. This is why faith works by love!!
David describes this perfectly with the word 'loving-kindness.' This word is used more in the Psalms than any portion of the Bible. He hoped and believed in the love of God to be kind to him. He said ‘how excellent is your loving-kindness, O God; therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of your wings. (Psalm 36: 7). He always wanted to meet with God early in the morning because His loving-kindness was better than life (Psalm 63: 1, 3). He realized that God is faithful to him because of His lovingkidness (Psalm 89: 33).
To conclude, John said ‘Behold, what manner of love that we should be called the children of God’ (1 John 3:1). ‘Behold’ means ‘to see’ or ‘to be aware’. John was saying, ‘SEE OR BE AWARE OF THIS MANNER OF LOVE’. Anyone who calls on this manner of love will always get a response. Do you really believe God loves you? If you have life, you can walk…it is not the other way round…if you live in the love of God, you can have the faith of God. Grace be with you!!
