You must PROVE you LOVE the LORD to be saved!

[fhansen]

Matthew 22:37-38
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.”

We actually must PROVE our LOVE for the LORD …

1 John 2:5, NLT
“Those who obey God’s word truly show
how completely they love Him. That is how
we know we are living in Him.”
BACs who have “no condemnation” are “in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

1 John 5:3, NLT
“Loving God means keeping His commandments,
and His commandments are not burdensome.”

John 14:15-24
“If you love Me, obey My commandments
… He who has My commandments and obeys them, it is he who loves Me
… If anyone loves Me, he will obey My word
… He who does NOT love Me
does NOT obey My words”

Does anyone get to heaven who does NOT love Jesus?
Those who love Jesus will obey His commandments!

IF you PROVE that you LOVE Jesus, then you have
met one of the qualifications for salvation …

Romans 8:28-30
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”

Another way to PROVE your LOVE for the LORD …

James 1:12-15
“Blessed is the man who endures temptation;
for when he has been approved, he will receive
the crown of life which the Lord has promised to
those who love Him … But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived,
it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
Love Jesus >>> endure temptation >>>
do not sin >>> crown of (eternal) life

John 15:9-14
“… abide in My love.
If you obey My commandments,
you will abide in My love
… You are My friends,
if you do whatever I command you.”
Those who are Jesus’ friends will obey His commandments!
Does anyone get to heaven who is NOT Jesus’ friend?

John 15:6
“If anyone does NOT abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

This is true. There's a subtle nuance to it all though. We can't make ourselves love, and yet love of God and neighbor is really the most basic command. That's what makes us most like God, and that's what He's wanted from-and for-us from the beginning. Love is the heart of the Christian faith, the reason Jesus came and died, the image of God we're to be transformed into, and the right motivator for our own right actions, such as those done for "the least of these" as per Matt 25:31-46, those works prepared for us in Christ as per Eph 2:10, because love defines justice for man.

So we don't obey in order to love, in order to be right and pleasing to God; rather we obey because we love. Love must come first as the right order of things, or else we're back to trying to prove our righteousness by a mere external show of it. And this kind of love is only available to the extent that we abide in Him, 'Apart from Whom we can do nothing'. The inside, the heart, must change first, then the outside follows suit.

Anyway, maybe nothing new here-just wanted to highlight this subtle but critical distinction. Either way, it's important to know that we have that one very real obligation: to love.

 

[gordonhooker]

Gordon, if that's what you got out of the article, then I'm thinking that you may have missed the point of it. As the article's author said,

"Here's the fact: Our good Francis never said it or anything close."​

He also said,

"We must know that it's simply impossible to proclaim the Gospel without words and of course our good Francis knew this as well as any. The Gospel is inherently verbal, and preaching the Gospel is an inherently verbal behavior."
​

He also made it clear that Francis' life/his ministry (as an extremely active itinerant "preacher"), fundamentally denies what that quote (“Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary”) teaches.

On the other hand, Ligon's quote never denies the necessity of acting like a Christian, nor the necessity of speaking the truth in love, rather, He simply says that the Gospel cannot be 'preached' by our actions ~apart~ from using words, which is the very thing that this quote, “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary”, tells us we should do!

After all, as the Lord tells us plainly through the pen of St. Paul, "faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" .. Romans 10:17.

--David
p.s. - question, do you know/know of anyone who has come to saving faith in Christ without hearing who Jesus is, what He did for us & why, without hearing the Gospel first? I haven't. As Charles Spurgeon says below, "let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for"

David if the author was a Franciscan scholar I might give their opinion some credibility but given the author did not even bother to cite sources for their assertions I will take it with a grain of salt. As I have said I have read the Franciscan stories as I am a Franciscan brother and I know what they say so I will leave you to it as this has nothing to do with the OP.

 

[LostMarbels]

Matthew 22:37-38
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.”

We actually must PROVE our LOVE for the LORD …

1 John 2:5, NLT
“Those who obey God’s word truly show
how completely they love Him. That is how
we know we are living in Him.”
BACs who have “no condemnation” are “in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

1 John 5:3, NLT
“Loving God means keeping His commandments,
and His commandments are not burdensome.”

John 14:15-24
“If you love Me, obey My commandments
… He who has My commandments and obeys them, it is he who loves Me
… If anyone loves Me, he will obey My word
… He who does NOT love Me
does NOT obey My words”

Does anyone get to heaven who does NOT love Jesus?
Those who love Jesus will obey His commandments!

IF you PROVE that you LOVE Jesus, then you have
met one of the qualifications for salvation …

Romans 8:28-30
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”

Another way to PROVE your LOVE for the LORD …

James 1:12-15
“Blessed is the man who endures temptation;
for when he has been approved, he will receive
the crown of life which the Lord has promised to
those who love Him … But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived,
it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
Love Jesus >>> endure temptation >>>
do not sin >>> crown of (eternal) life

John 15:9-14
“… abide in My love.
If you obey My commandments,
you will abide in My love
… You are My friends,
if you do whatever I command you.”
Those who are Jesus’ friends will obey His commandments!
Does anyone get to heaven who is NOT Jesus’ friend?

John 15:6
“If anyone does NOT abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

This sounds bells off in my spirit. Reason being this sound like works based faith. That you somehow need to earn Christ's redemption. Notwithstanding if you have faith you will commit works, and likewise works will prove/imbue faith. But none of what you have to 'offer' is yours to begin with. God created faith, love, hope, and charitableness. He alone is the creator and author of your faith/ and the progenitor of love itself.

What we are left with, is like a small child having been given money from their parent/s, to buy a gift, and present that gift to the parent/s that gave the child the money in the first place. The child did not 'buy' the gift... it was not their money. Yet the gift is well received because it comes from a loved one, even tho the individual literally paid for their own gift they received from the child. Like a 3 year old that 'bought' a card for Mommy.

It's not our love to give. Not our measure of faith. We do not have the reasoning nor understanding without God to even contemplate our relationship with Christ. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. None is righteous. We do not know how to love without God.

We love God because he first loved us while we were yet sinners.

 

[Dave L]

Acting like you love the Lord is not loving the Lord. If you must "turn it on" it is an act. But; “And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” (Deuteronomy 30:6) (KJV 1900)

If you are truly born again, you are a new creation designed to love God.

 

[Jon Osterman]

Prove - to whom exactly?

BCsenior of course!

 

[Dorothy Mae]

Semantics. Surrender and submission are synonyms.

No they are not. When speaking of the end of a war, one side first surrendered not submitted. Surrender is laying down arms. Submission is continually giving into to instructions or requirwments. If we continually surrender, then we are continually picking up arms to fight after supposedly surrendering them. Means we never surrendered in the first place. It’s like having a wedding every year instead of an anniversary.

 

[Yarddog]

No they are not.

Yes they are. Look it up.

When speaking of the end of a war,

We're not speaking about war or how you want the definition of a word fit your scenario, only. Surrender and submission mean the same thing in my scenario. (Giving our spirit ,fully, over to God.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

question, I felt like my heart was wrong with God, and then like I am trying to love others to hopefully get back to God, but the problem is that if your heart is not right with God, it seems impossible to properly love other people. since your motives are off, just a thought. if you love God who you can't see, then you can be free to love others right? or is it the other way around. (I am confused, so this post is more of a please help me sort this mess out post.) I mean, pride comes from serving others if it is done for the wrong reasons. self righteousness can be bred.

It only takes a moment to get right with God. Get on your knees and repent. Then ask God to help you love others which He will do through the power of the Holy Spirit, your guild through life. God does not want you to dwell in sin and guilt, there are better things to do! Loving one another is not fake it is real. So no more sulking and get on the right path!
Blessings

 

[BCsenior]

Of course the catch is that it cannot be done on our own strength and God will not do it in us against our cooperation. Like salvation, He draws us and we choose to come. No coming without the Father drawing but no one is dragged against their will.

You've got it goin', sis!
It's all about co-operation and our free will.
Your spiritual understanding is a rarity
among the brethren ... er, sisteren.

 

[His student]

You must PROVE you LOVE the LORD to be saved!

More to the point - the Lord must prove in the ages to come that He loves us and is not a liar by completing the good work He began in us- just as He has clearly stated that He will.

 

[ace of hearts]

For me the question is what commandments. I say they are the commandments of Jesus only which have nothing to do with the law (famous 10).

 

[Dorothy Mae]

You've got it goin', sis!
It's all about co-operation and our free will.
Your spiritual understanding is a rarity
among the brethren ... er, sisteren.

That is kind of you. Thanks

 

[fhansen]

More to the point - the Lord must prove in the ages to come that He loves us and is not a liar by completing the good work He began in us- just as He has clearly stated that He will.

As I see it, FWIW, He's already proved His love. Now it's our turn to get on the bandwagon. We must follow, we must abide, we must cooperate with that work, the work of transforming us into His own image.

 

[Dorothy Mae]

More to the point - the Lord must prove in the ages to come that He loves us and is not a liar by completing the good work He began in us- just as He has clearly stated that He will.

Where do you see that God has to prove anything at all to us? Who is in charge in that scenario?

 

[BCsenior]

Wait, are you saying that God is neither omniscient nor omnipresent, nor sovereign over all, IOW, that things in His Creation can simply happen without His prior knowledge and consent? Surely not!??

I must have misunderstood your jargon.
Of course ... He is omniscient, omnipresent,
omnipotent, omnidirectional, omnipurposeful, etc.

I was just saying He doesn't agree with everything
that happens in the physical and spiritual, e.g. sin.

 

[BCsenior]

Knowing is not causing. Sovereign does not mean tyranny (micro-managing.) God sovereignly decided that his creatures have free will and are able to do that which is against his will. He decided this and is not threatened when we do.
... to assume that God is controlling the whole earth is untrue and He is nevertheless sovereign. Sovereign does not mean micro managing and having creatures able to freely love or not does not mean He is not sovereign.

It's difficult to believe that St. Worm
doesn't understand all of this.

 

[His student]

He's already proved His love.

Undoubtedly. What He has not proved is His ability to keep the promise of completing the work He began in us. He can't and won't prove that until we stand justified before Him in eternity.

Where do you see that God has to prove anything at all to us? Who is in charge in that scenario?

He is in charge of that scenario from start to finish just as He has said.

The aseity of God is a well established doctrine. He is not bound by anything external to Himself.

Rather - He is bound by His Word which He has given to us wherein He simply cannot lie.

"My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." Isaiah 58:11

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:4-9


"This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:39-40

 

[BCsenior]

Many people have been brainwashed and confuse "works" with OBEDIENCE. If one is told to do something by God, how is that ever the equivalent of earning anything?? It isn't.

Yes, brother, obedience to God is NOT works!

It's all about being able to "see" through ...
all of the demonic filters set up by the churches ...
and to "see" the NT verses for what they really mean!

Which is to say: read with an open heart and mind!
Which is to say: get rid of false bias, doctrines, etc.!

 

[BCsenior]

God lives within man through baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Sorry, but the baptism with/of the Holy Spirit
has nothing at all to do with being born-again,
which occurs when one is baptized BY the Spirit
into the church (1 Cor 12:13).
For more clarification on this misunderstanding,
research about the 2 Holy Spirit baptisms!

 

[BCsenior]

we did preach to the people brother, we did so by our love for them and our joy as we lived in the moments of our walking and nodding and smiling at all the people we met on the way.

That's all very sweet and nice indeed ...
but some non-believers (esp. in other religions)
go around with great peace, smiles, and etc.
... all the while being incredibly deceived, etc.

IF you believe that Jesus is the only way ...
preach the word, and it will not came back void.