OUR DECLARATION OF LOVE!         GP607

         1. WE BELIEVE IN LOVE! Love for God and others, for "GOD IS LOVE"! (1Jn.4:8) That's our religion--LOVE!
         2. LOVE IS EVERYTHING, for without love there is NOTHING!--No friends, no families, no fathers or mothers or children or sex or health or happiness or God or Heaven--there could be none of these without love! And none of these is possible without God, for He IS love!
         3. THIS IS THE SOLUTION TO ALL OF THE PROBLEMS OF TODAY as well as to the problems of the PAST: LOVE!--True love, the Love of God and the love of fellowman!--The Spirit of God's divine Love which helps us all to fulfill His Great Commandment to love one another! This is STILL God's solution, even in such a complex and confused and highly complicated society as that of the world today!
         4. IT'S REALLY JUST THAT SIMPLE: IF WE LOVE GOD, WE CAN LOVE EACH OTHER! We could then follow His rules of life, liberty, and the possession of happiness, and all would be well and happy in Him!
         5. This is why Jesus said THE FIRST AND GREATEST COMMANDMENT IS TO LOVE--to "LOVE the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind ... and the SECOND is LIKE unto it," it's ALMOST equal--ALMOST the same, "thou shalt love thy NEIGHBOUR as thyself." (Mat.22:36-40)
         6. Those He was speaking to then asked Him, "WHO IS MY NEIGHBOUR?" And with the story of the Good Samaritan, He tried to show them that it is ANYONE WHO NEEDS OUR HELP, regardless of their race, creed, colour, nationality or condition!
         7. For if we have REAL LOVE, we can't face a needy situation without DOING something about it. We can't just pass by the poor man on the road to Jericho! We must take ACTION like the Samaritan did! (See Luke 10:25-37.) It's not enough to say, "Oh, I'm so sorry, how sad!" But COMPASSION MUST BE PUT INTO ACTION! That's the difference between pity and compassion: Pity just feels sorry; compassion does something about it!
         8. We must DEMONSTRATE our FAITH by our WORKS, and love can seldom be proven without tangible manifestation in action. To say you love someone and yet not try to help them physically in whatever way they may need--food, clothing, shelter, and so on--this is not love! True, the need for real love is a SPIRITUAL need, but it must be manifested PHYSICALLY in works --"faith which WORKETH by love"! (Gal.5:6)
         9. HOWEVER, WE FEEL THAT THE GREATEST MANIFESTATION OF OUR LOVE IS NOT THE MERE SHARING OF OUR MATERIAL THINGS AND PERSONAL POSSESSIONS, BUT THE SHARING OF OURSELVES AND OUR PERSONAL SERVICES FOR OTHERS, which is our faith, and which results in our works and the sharing of our material possessions. Jesus Himself had nothing material to share with His disciples, only His love and His life, which He gave for them and for us, that we too might have life and love forever!
         10. For "Greater love hath no man than THIS, that a man lay down his LIFE for his friends!" (Jn.15:13) So we consider that the sharing of OURSELVES, our LOVE and our LIFE with others, is the GREATEST of all sharing and our ultimate goal, as well as our present means to that end.
         11. In fact, THIS IS WHY GOD CREATED MAN TO BEGIN WITH: To LOVE--to love and enjoy Him forever and to try to help others to do the same! It was GOD Who created love and gave man the need to love and be loved, and it is HE ALONE Who can satisfy the deepest yearning of every human soul for total love and complete understanding.


Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family