1 John 4:7,19-21
[7]Beloved, let us love one another, for love is (springs) from God; and he who loves [his fellowmen] is begotten (born) of God and is coming [progressively] to know and understand God [to perceive and recognize and get a better and clearer knowledge of Him].
[19]We love Him, because He first loved us.
[20]If anyone says, I love God, and hates (detests, abominates) his brother [in Christ], he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, Whom he has not seen.
[21]And this command (charge, order, injunction) we have from Him: that he who loves God shall love his brother [believer] also.
God loves His people!
Mwari anoda vanhu vake!
Let us not make the mistake of thinking that God hates our enemies; for God hates the sin and not the sinner!
Sometimes people treat us in very bad ways, and a seed of bitterness takes root in our hearts such that when we go before God in prayer, we just fire complaints and ill-wishes towards those wrongdoers. It’s not right.
God is the one who revenges on our behalf, but He does not operate from an emotional point of bitterness and resent like we often do; God is love and when disciplines He does it out of love!
God wants all men to come to Him and receive salvation and eternal life, on the other hand, when we revenge we want a “eye-for-an-eye” kind of strategy.
You need to understand that God is a loving, forgiving and merciful Father. Do not be bitter when your enemy does not get the “back-to-sender” revenge you “prayed” for, because the same love that God has for you, to bring you out of darkness, is the same love He has for all people out there.
God wants people to repent and start new lives in Him no matter what they have done before!
Jesus was spat on, beaten and crucified, yet in the peak of His pains He forgave them for they knew not what they were doing! Likewise, you need to pray for those who wrong you, for they live a life of ignorance! Christ is the truth and if people don’t have Christ, whatever those people think they know, they actually don’t!
Brethren, let us love one another as Christ loved us!
Is there ever anything as “a better sinner” or “a heavier sin”? no, we have all sinned against God in one way or another for no one is perfect! And it is by grace that we can stand before God as sons & daughters and not as sinners!
Jesus told us that the world will know we are His by our love! Love is a verb, love is a being! Don’t just desire to feel love; be love! give love! do love!
Youths In Christ 