What Matters in the End

Number 38 on the list of life's lessons was: ALL THAT TRULY MATTERS IN THE END IS THAT YOU LOVED. This is how Regina Brett, at 90, said it in the Plains Dealer of Cleveland, Ohio. I don't know if it is true or not. But the lesson certainly is. Think about it. What really matters in the end?

One Question

There's only one question today: How are you going to love?

How are you going to love them in this situation?

How are you going to love through this discomfort?

How are you going to love over all the distractions?

Impairing Love

"When our hope is diminished, our love is impaired." My pastor said this.

How true this is. When we lose hope, there is no place for love in our hearts. It is filled with doom and doubt. So don't let doom and despair take over your heart. That's easy to do today, just watch the news. Save your heart for love. It needs all the room your heart has.

What Hinders Love & What Doesn't

"It is not heavenlimindedness that hinders love.

It is worldlimindedness that hinders love."

(page 37, The Hope of Glory, Sam Storms)

Thinking of good things. Thinking of heaven. Being other-world minded is not an obstacle to love. Being inundated by the things of the world will load us up and weigh us down and keep us from being free to love others. Free yourself of the binds that restrain you from loving others.

John Piper went on to say: "When religious people fail to love, it is not because they have fallen in love with heaven, but because they are still in love with the world." (page 38, IBID)

Love is the Fruit of Hope

To put it another way, John Piper said "The fruit of Hope is Love." (Sermon 07/13/86)

He said, "hope bears the fruit of love." (page 37, The Hope of Glory, Sam Storms)

Hope when it is ripe, produces love. Hope when it is full manifest love.

We need hope for our love to grow.

Hope is something we can't see. But, love is something we can hold.

Hope as the basis for Love

"Hope is the basis for faith and love." (page 33, The Hope of Glory, Sam Storms)

To say it another way, he said, "hope produces faith and love." (IBID)

Hope is fertile soil for faith and love to grow and mature.

It takes hope to live a life of enduring love and expectant joy.

Let hope reign in your life to produce great fruits.

Love is a Personal Passion & a Commitment

Sam Storms in his book, The Hope of Glory, says, "both faith and love are personal, they are hardly private and certainly never secret. They are visible and vocal in their expression." (page 30) He goes on to say, "Love is certainly a personal passion, a commitment of the heart. But Jesus declared that the tangible expression of affection for one another would be the hallmark by which the world would know that we are his disciples (John 13:35). True love is something seen and known by others." (page 31)

How is your faith and love visible today?

How is your personal passion and commitment of your heart being expressed?