An influential life in the Holy Spirit and in Love - part 2

The "Influential" series - Part Two

From the first days of his earthly ministry, Jesus proclaimed the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. More precisely, he announced that his Kingdom had arrived. If this is true it has many manifestations in the invisible and visible world.
In this second chapter we will focus on the visible part, one of the most important Earthly Action of the Kingdom: the Love.

By faith we understand that the universe was created by God’s command, so that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible.
Heb 11:3 {Holman Christian Standard Bible}

The visible heritage (asset)

By this all people will know..

I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
- the Lord says in Jn 13:34-35

This is how Jesus marked the influencer believers. In John's Gospel, he speaks of the source of heaven, and points to the earthly source that our neighbours and acquaintances need to know: our love for one another.
We have a fantastic task on the Earth: loving each other and loving our enemies. The first seems okay to many meanwhile the "enemy thing" seems to be un-achieved sometimes. I admit: I cannot love my enemies if I don't have a fulfilled heart by God's Steadfast Love and peace. I admit: this is an ongoing process...
Sadly, we have a narrow hearted church culture nowadays {2024}. Sadly, Christians are not informed of their "love-sources". In theory, they are prepared, preached to, trained for various activities - but they do not live in joy, immersed in the gift of steadfast love. The Lord's resources had been prepared from the beginning but rarely 'used' and developed through love. The various kinds of love we know are but a pale reflection of the infinite constancy of heavenly love. We have, in fact, only one love that is exclusively of divine inheritance. Isn't it strange? We have no culture of love, only theories?
Martin Luther once said:

"Oh it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good things incessantly. It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before the question is asked it has already done this, and is constantly doing them.
Whoever does not do such works however is an unbeliever. He gropes and looks around for faith and good works, but knows neither what faith is nor what good works are, yet he talks and talks with many words about faith and good works."

Gd is the Steadfast, Devoted Love

"God loves the world" - says John. He loved us "so much that he sent his only Son..." (Jn 3:16)
As I explained on a previous occasion, the Greek word "Agape" is not exactly the same as the Hebrew word "Hesed". The latter mostly describes the attitude, behaviour arising from God's Love. This is precisely what Luther testifies to.
What is the Hesed? (חסד, pronounced “kheh-sed”)
This is One of the most important Hebrew words for the 'love'. Hesed is a quite complex behaviour, a deep expression of God's faithful and active love.
When we learn about God's love, or that God is Love, or that "God so loved the world", this is how we should think and reflect on it.
But. God's love is not simply a feeling, nor niceness. His faithful /loyal /steadfast /unfailing love or reliable love is more an attitude: a life of action. And actions are not usually sentimental.
God Almighty plainly talks about his Hesed. In the Old Testament: When God appears to Moses and gives him the Law a second time, He described Himself as “abounding in 'hesed'” (Exodus 34 6-7).
We can find Hesed in various Psalms. One of the typical places is Ps 23:6:

“Surely goodness and hesed shall follow me
all the days of my life.”

(Some other examples can be found in Ps 85:10; Ps 86:5; Ps 89; Ps 136; Ps 103; Ps 106; Ps 107)
The whole article is here.
No wonder God's love is often translated as mercy. Why? Because His Mercy always represents His 'hesed'.
These 2 examples from the Psalms give us a broader insight, a picture of 'hesed':

Remember, Lord, Your compassion
and Your faithful love,
for they have existed from antiquity.
Ps 25:6
..who fulfills His purpose for me.
He reaches down from heaven,
saves me.
Ps 57:2-3

Yes. This is Hesed. God's love is action, a devoted, reliable gesture of his inner desire: loving us, giving us mercy and constant care!
His tender, merciful, saving & caring heart always acts according to his 'hesed'. Jesus gives us a parable, about certain samaritan. Religious pious folks know that parable - but do you understand that Jesus' story is the description of God's 'hesed'?

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead.
... certain Samaritan, on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him...‘”
From Luke 10 29

Hopefully more Christians have understood at this point that God's love cannot be conveyed in words. God's love is influential. Jn 3:16 must be followed by 1Jn 3:16. Our core identity hangs on this. We are the royal priesthood. We are the representatives.

Here you can find Martin Luther's thought about incessant faith.
Here I wrote about the Royal Priesthood mentioned in 1 Peter 2:9 and its original meaning, which is well worth reading after this page.
To be continued...

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