“if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” 1 John 4:12
This verse needs no further explanation; it is a clear direction from God. However, we often find ourselves intentionally ignoring this message.
Love is the most holy act and love is the strongest power we can possess. This is because God is love. When we love on another, God lives in us.
This is why the spiritual forces of evil try their hardest to hinder us from loving each other, so that we will have a form of godliness but not its power.
God told us to ‘love one another’. We cannot force others to love us, but we can still love others in accordance with the measure apportioned to us. Then we can commend ourselves to our conscience in the sight of God. If we can stand in our place and love first, God will live in us and His love will be perfected within us.
As a parent, as a child, as a Mokja, and as a Mokjang member, we need to ask ourselves if we are loving others in accordance with the measures apportioned to us.
A pastor’s mission is to pray and care for the church members. However, I want to ask a different favor to the members of Hanmaum church. ‘Please pray for me, the pastor. I asked this favor before I assumed responsibility as a pastor at Hanmaum church. This is because God’s power only reveals itself once we love ‘each other’.
The Bible says that ‘love’ is perfected by our ‘will’. The same is true for wedding vows as well. Emotion alone does not complete love. Love is perfected when we make vows and work to keep those vows. Love is perfected when we have the will to patiently embrace each other’s weakness, the will not to seek our own good, the will not to act rudely, and the will not to keep record of wrongs. Let’s love one another! It all begins at Mokjang. God will work with us.
From Choi, Ji Won.