“For God so loved the world;” therefore, the world must love God. The love of God is seen in the blood of Jesus! As Peter wrote: “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers” (1 Pet. 1:18). “Silver and gold” may redeem a person who has been kidnapped, and a “ransom” is paid with “silver and gold,” but such can never redeem the soul of man! More the reason man should and must love God!
Can you see a person who has no love for God worshipping him? Can you see a person who does not know that God loves him, worshipping God? So often we get the “cart before the horse,” as we try to teach another. We jump right into what a person must do to be saved before we have taught them that God loves them. We have heard so many times, “For God so loved the world,” that we have forgotten that we must love God. So, you ask, “Why do people reject the word of God?” There are any number of reasons, that people may give why they reject the word of God?
Second, (The first was addressed in the first article under the above heading.) of course, there is no reason that a person should/must love God, if they do not believe that God exists! It is totally without reason, that one should love God, if they believe that God does not exist. Therefore, more and more it is necessary to prove the existance of God, today. Christians must work at and study how to prove that God exists! There are people who will study with you but will not study with anyone else! Study the subject of proving that God exists and gives at least three proofs; no, three is not a magic number; there are many who will require more proofs. In such cases, you may have to provide another who can carry on the study. Keep in mind the words of the letter to the Hebrews: “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb. 11:6). Did you get it; “must believe that he is?” The younger in the body of Christ, must prepare for this reality! That many today do not believe that God exists!
Once you have shown the lost, that God loves them, it becomes easier to develop in them a love for God. Here we recall the words of the apostle John: “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Keep in mind these words: ‘for the sins of the whole world!” If you have a “right” to the “propitiation,” so does everyone else! Oh, the blessed love of God toward us all. Then, we have the words of Peter: “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:18-19). While so called “gods” are anchored in material matter, it is “the precious blood of Christ” that God redeemed us with! Oh, the love of God toward humanity! If we can show the lost, this love that God had/has toward us, it will be easier for them to love God!
In our teaching of the lost, the love that God had/has toward all of humanity, must be shown! Where is man without the “precious blood of Christ,” but eternally lost! We may rightfully say, the most two things, that are greatly forgotten in teaching the lost, is that of the love of God toward man and the necessity of humanity’s love for God. If one does not love God, then never will man be saved! Often one side of this is shown: “for God so loved;” but the other, that the lost must love God, is ignored! It is not one without the other, but it is both!
John wrote: “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). Remember, to “know him” is to love him and “But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him” (verse 5). Did you get it? How is the love of verified, “perfected?” It is in our “love of God!” Our love for God is seen in our obeying him! So many fail right here! They shout, “from the house top,” that God loves them but fail to show that they love God!
Friends, do you love God? Do you obey God? There is no such thing, one without the other!
Frank R. Williams