1 John 4:7-21
God’s Love and Ours
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
1 Corinthians 13:11-13
Faith, Hope, and Love
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Luke 2:11-14
A Savior is Born
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Matthew 9:4-8
Our Evil Thoughts
4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” 7 Then the man got up and went home. 8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.
John 14:15
If We Love Jesus We Will Keep His Commandments
15 If you love me, you will obey what I command.
Luke 10:27
Two Great Commandments
27 He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Micah 6:1-16
1 Listen to what the Lord says:
“Stand up, plead your case before the mountains;
let the hills hear what you have to say.
2 Hear, O mountains, the Lord’s accusation;
listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth.
For the Lord has a case against his people;
he is lodging a charge against Israel.
3 “My people, what have I done to you?
How have I burdened you? Answer me.
4 I brought you up out of Egypt
and redeemed you from the land of slavery.
I sent Moses to lead you,
also Aaron and Miriam.
5 My people, remember
what Balak king of Moab counseled
and what Balaam son of Beor answered.
Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal,
that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.”
6 With what shall I come before the Lord
and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
9 Listen! The Lord is calling to the city—
and to fear your name is wisdom—
“Heed the rod and the One who appointed it.
10 Am I still to forget, O wicked house,
your ill-gotten treasures
and the short ephah, which is accursed?
11 Shall I acquit a man with dishonest scales,
with a bag of false weights?
12 Her rich men are violent;
her people are liars
and their tongues speak deceitfully.
13 Therefore, I have begun to destroy you,
to ruin you because of your sins.
14 You will eat but not be satisfied;
your stomach will still be empty.
You will store up but save nothing,
because what you save I will give to the sword.
15 You will plant but not harvest;
you will press olives but not use the oil on yourselves,
you will crush grapes but not drink the wine.
16 You have observed the statutes of Omri
and all the practices of Ahab’s house,
and you have followed their traditions.
Therefore I will give you over to ruin
and your people to derision;
you will bear the scorn of the nations.”
Luke 23:44-49
44 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. ”When he had said this, he breathed his last.
47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” 48 When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. 49 But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
Hope was born two thousand years ago in the city of David...A host of angels told us that "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. "...His name is Christ our LORD...He was sent by His Father to teach about different things...
St. Paul would write about hope, but also about faith in this Child and Man...And then the Great Saint would go on and tell us the most important virtue He brings us is Love...Without these three great virtues in one's life, life is and becomes difficult...We need the faith and hope in Jesus and His teachings...He sets us an example to try to live by...We must have hope in our lives to want to see the future of things...And without love in one's life, and being loved, life can be dull, without much feeling, and sometimes non-caring...
Micah the prophet told us around 700 b.c. that the LORD was upset with the people of Israel...He asks them many questions...The culture of their nation was not what it could have been -it seemed to be in a decline...The LORD seen this and the sin and evil -and told the people what He expected of them...Today sin and evil still exists, and is seen in our papers and news on a regular basis...And even though God has sent His Son to us between the writings of Micah and today's time, the problems with sin and evil still remain...Sin gets in the way of faith, hope, and love -and can become an obstacle for these virtues...
This Child of Hope was sent to us and He taught us about God...He spoke the words of God, and His very mind completely permeated with God's ways and His will...And He taught us what Micah had written in the ancient days...God sent His Son to answer this question of what is expected of us, and His Son would show us these right things...He has showed you, O man, what is good...And what does the Lord require of you?...To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God...He taught us these things and He taught us about Love and about Truth...He taught us in the gospels about the importance of faith, hope, and especially love...He is our example of what faith, hope, and love can be...He is our moral example...
Jesus did these things, of acting justly, and to love mercy, and He walked humbly with God...And though He taught us these things, it seems sometimes the world is slowly crumbling around us...It seems as maybe we do not want to find the Truth and learn about the Love we read about in the Bible...We seem content to do what we want to do each and everyday...We do not practice His ways of acting justly, and loving mercy, and are not walking with the LORD...Maybe independence is being taught more that faith, hope, and love...We have drifted away from the LORD, His ways, and what He expects of us...We have drifted from Love and Truth...We have lost the importance these teachings about Love, and Love for thy neighbor...And when Love is lost it seems to me, evil and the evil one comes into our lives and our society...Without Love, we dehumanize others and are apathetic to them...Or feelings get messed up and scrambled -and the love for others breaks down...
This Baby of Hope and Love, born in the town of David was innocently killed by us on the cross -some thirty years after His birth...He talked about God, but also taught us about the evil around us...And what has our culture learned from our many different tragedies?...Peter Kreeft writes that "The enemy is not people...The enemy is not humans, but dehumanization: the spectacular and unmistakable social, cultural, and above all moral decline and decay that our society has been suffering for decades."...
So our moral decline did not just happen overnight...We have moved away from Teacher of Hope and Love...Love is learned in the family...Without a strong family life and sense of family, evil seems to become more of a problem and more prevalent...With such a moral decline should we be surprised that evil is being done by evil doers and even our own children are doing some things tragically around us...It seems that our inaction and not getting involved with the people around us, and even our own family and children has led to this moral decline and decay....
Faith, Hope, and Love starts the process...These must be taught again...But these three virtues are action words...Love is not an inaction, but an action...We have to show, talk about, and express the Love He teaches about...Faith, Hope, and Love are the answer...Jesus gives us these important things...With hope and faith we have the desire to live and to help others...His teachings about Love, are unsurpassed, because His Father is LOVE...Jesus teaches us not only to love God, but to love each one of our neighbors...When we love each of our neighbors, we love our society and the places we live...