PART 25 I AM AN OVERCOMER

How do we benefit one another in love?

25

Benefitting Another in Love

As we learn to operate in God’s love, He’ll shower all His love upon us. This begs the question.

 

How do we operate in God’s love?

Please turn in your Bible to the Book of Jude.

 

Jude 20 

But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

For God’s love to be expressive in our lives, Jude instructs us that this can only take place by building up ourselves. These words mean to give constant increase. In what? Your most holy faith. Holy faith? These words mean Christian knowledge [and a] life conformedthereto.¹⁷⁷ Could we restate this by saying we need to learn how to think about ourselves and others differently, i.e., according to what the Word of God says? And when we do this, the next verse will reveal to us what the result will be.

 

Jude 21

Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

What will transpire in our lives is that we’ll keep ourselves (continue to live) in (within the sphere of) the love of God (within that region of peculiar love wherewith God regards all who are built up on the faith¹⁷⁸; they are to live so that they will keep themselves in the place of blessing¹⁷⁹).

Loving others with God’s love can only happen when we learn the qualities of this love, memorize them, and apply them. Distorted human love that proceeds from our sin nature can be developed through our upbringing, peer relationships, and nurturing, i.e., by finding outlets that encourage certain ungodly behaviors. One of which we’ll address here is called rape.

 

Rape

The unlawful compelling of a person through physical force or duress to have sexual intercourse.¹⁸⁰

Rape is perpetrated to gratify one’s sexual desires, irrespective of the well-being of the victim. Rape is a self-willed act precipitated by self-centered thoughts. An example of such is found in the Book of 2 Samuel. Please go there. 

 

Suggested Reading: 2 Samuel 13:1-39

1 And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her.

One of King David’s sons, the eldest named Amnon, who was next in line to the throne, was infatuated with his half-brother Absalom’s sister. Through the help of his cousin Jonadab, a plan was devised so that he could have sexual relations with her. Amnon was to pretend he was sick and lay in bed, demonstrating his condition to others. And when his father would see how he was doing, he’d ask him if his half-sister Tamar could visit and make some food for him. The plan worked.

11, 14 And when she had brought them unto him to eat, he took hold of her, and said unto her, Come lie with me, my sister. Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice: but, being stronger than she, forced her, and lay with her.

Tamar arrived, bringing physical nourishment. Amnon told all of the male servants to leave so that he could enjoy the meal with his sister alone. He expressed his love for her by desiring to have relations at this time. She told him that the proper way for them to have a relationship would be to ask their father to give her to him in marriage. He, however, didn’t heed her advice but forced himself upon her. After having raped her, he sent her away.

28-29 Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I commanded you? be courageous and be valiant. And the servants of Absalom did unto Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and every man gat him up upon his mule, and fled.

Unbeknownst to Amnon, Tamar’s brother Absalom discovered this incident and decided to wait for two years to exact his revenge. He planned to invite all of his father’s sons to a feast. During this gathering, his servants would rise up and kill Amnon.

Sexual indiscretions can bring about unwanted pregnancy, divorce, personal and family disgrace, and, in certain scenarios, prison. As Christians, we need to have a reservoir of verses readily available in memory to reflect upon when sensual sinful impulses desire to find an outlet, whether fornication, adultery, homosexuality, incest, pedophilia, lesbianism, etc. I’ve left you some Scriptures for you to hide away in your heart that will provide shelter in the midst of these kinds of storms.

1 Peter 1:22b…see that ye love (divine love) one another with a pure (not for the love of ourselves; not to use for our advantage; free from hypocrisy - a pretense of having a virtuous character¹⁸¹) heart (mind) fervently (in an all-out manner):

Romans 12:9 Let love (good-will toward all mankind) be without dissimulation (hypocrisy; a love that puts self aside in an effort to help and bless others, yes, a love that goes to the point of suffering if that is necessary in order to bless others¹⁸²). Abhor (turn away) that which is evil (whatever is unkind or injurious to a brother¹⁸³); cleave (be cemented or glued¹⁸⁴) to that which is good (sharing the burdens and the [blessings] of others so that we all grow together and glorify the Lord¹⁸⁵).

Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty (through the Spirit free from the power of sin in his daily life: and free from the Law with its demands and threats¹⁸⁶); only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh (as allowing indulgence to the flesh, or [as furtherance] or help to corrupt passions¹⁸⁷), but by love (divine love; such a love means death to self, and that means defeat for [sin] since the essence of sin is self-will and self-gratification¹⁸⁸) serve one another (promote one another’s spiritual welfare).

What I’d like us to take a look at next as to what this study is all about, sanctification. We mentioned it earlier, but I’d like to further expound upon it.