Love.

Lets talk about love. Not just the kinda love when you see that person you loveee and you get all kinds of animals in your tummy (butterflies, worms, pigs, whatever works for you), but love, not just in general, but in God's eyes. What is love?

Love is such an overused and under-rated term these days. "Oh how I love my girlfriend!", "Oh my, I think its true love!", " I think I am in love..", " Love is in the airrrr.." etc etc etc. So, how many people actually understand the true meaning of love here? I can already sense a multitude of people going, "oh I do." Well I'm sorry my friends, I'm here to prove you wrong. But of course if you already know whatever I am going to say below, then you're on the right track!

To start off, love is everything. Not fortune not fame. Why do I say that? Because God is love. God is everything. Jesus died for you and me because He loved. Grace comes from love. Love is the origin of everything. So God = Love. The bible emphasises on 2 big commandments, and that is to love your God with all your heart, all your strength and all your mind, and to love your neighbour as yourself.

But today, I am going to talk very practical things about love and to dispel all kinds of myths about it. So what I am going to talk about is only from one scripture, and that is the book 1 Corinthians, chapter 13.

Verse 1-3
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

The first point I wanna to put across is, in everything we do in ministry, we do it because we love. You see, we can do a whole lot of things, like community work, charity stuffs, have church week in week out and getting 10000 people saved, running our small groups, etc etc. But at the end of the day, the only thing that is going to make all we do count is, well, love. Do you truly love the people whom you are serving? Yes! You are actually serving them! In case you didn't realise that from the beginning. You see ministry is not about a feel good factor where you do all kinds of things and then you somehow seem like a person so righteous you will be number one in line into heaven. No! Ministry is about furthering the kingdom of God! What is God's heartbeat? To love! Its simple. Just like the scripture says, you can be a prophet who can see a gazillion years into the future, or a annointed evangelist who gets 1000 people saved at the snap of your fingers, or the person who gives thousands of dolars to charity, it is not done out of love.. well, I'm sorry to say it is pointless.

Eventhough ministry is what I do, its what I love, its my purpose, its my reward, I'll be the first to admit that it is not easy. It is ok to feel jaded at times, to feel frustrated, to feel that sometimes you just want out, and its really ok, we are human after all. But hear this, we as people of ministry, we are entrusted with lives here.

1 Cor 4:1-21
So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. 2Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

We must be FAITHFUL in what God has entrusted us with. How do we do that? Simple! Be sure that everything you do, is out of love. When you want to rebuke someone, do it in love. When you want to bring them to church, do it in love. Go about everyday in love.

Ok, so you're probably saying now, so Mr Ngan, what is really love then and how do I go abouts doing this? I'm glad you asked! Lets go deeper.

1 Cor 13:4-74
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Read all of that and think about it. Does your love really encompass all that? Are you patient and kind to the person you love? Are you envious? Are you selfless rather than selfish? Are you unforgiving? Does your love endure?

Can I be frank here? I am actually sick of the fact that so many people throw this word around without really knowing what it is to love. Love is well, really not about you. I'm not saying how you feel doesn't matter, but too many people have made that the focal point.

Sometimes without realising it or not, we love other people for ourselves, not for them. If our partner or friend starts disappointing us, we suddenly feel less for them. In fact, sometimes we start to blame them. Sometimes we hold people back or hold on too tightly because we are too afraid to lose them or that they would find someone else. Is that love?

Love is about wanting the best for that person and respecting that person and their wants in whatever circumstances. I can go on and on on elaboration, but to put it simply and plainly, its about THAT PERSON FIRST, YOU SECOND.

That is why, loving someone is not enough justification to be with them. Just because you think you're the best for them is not reason enough. What do THEY want? Or feel?

Perfect love comes from none other than God. Not what you feel for your lover no matter what you say, not in the movies, not in anywhere. We love God because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). With God, it is a love beyond all reason.

Has someone ever asked you, why do you love so and so? And you come up with a string of answers. Ok think about that person you love, and answer the question, why do you love him/her? Does that reason include a lot of MEs?

God loves us because He can. He does not need a reason. He gave his life up for you and me, even when He knew many would reject Him. He still redeems and restores all who fail without question, he accepts all with open arms, He is eternally gracious, all can call upon Him and be saved. He loves those who curse him, who persecuted him, who laughs at him. Even when he was in the darkest and most painful hour of his life, he prayed for all those who were brutalising him, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

God is God, and He could force all men to bow down and worship him, after all, He is entitled to it. But NO! God, being the all loving father, allows his children to choose their own paths, because He loves. The only question is.. what would you choose?

Love is a beautiful thing. In love there is no condemnation, no bondage. No suffering. Love is liberating.

So I leave you with something to really ponder about. Do you truly know what it is to love?

God does. Jesus is thinking about you at this very moment. He loves you