In This Issue:
Real Love: Having Charity
Lust Never Satisfies
Undying Love
The Right Motive
Volume: 1011 July 28, 2025
Theme: Love
Real Love: Having Charity
Bill Brinkworth
Love is an emotion that we all need to be happy. It is the strong affection a child has for his parents, the fondness parents have for their child, the bonding relationship between husband and wife, and the feeling a person has for another. Although one of the most important emotions for mankind to be healthy, it is the one feeling that is most misunderstood and confusing to many.
Seekers of love seek it in the wrong places, and when they do experience it, they are often confused by the emotion. People sometimes confuse lust with love, confuse selfishness with love, and sometimes even confuse responsibility with the emotion. Real love is not what one can demand from another. It is not bought; it is given.
Real love is often referred to as “charity” in the Bible. Charity is described simply in I Corinthians 13:3-8:
- I Cor. 13:3: “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” Prior to this verse, many of the gifts God gave to members of the early church, before they had the written Word of God, were mentioned. Many of those gifts would fade away. One gift that would not be taken away was the gift of charity.
- I Cor. 13:4: “Charity suffereth long,
Love doesn’t quit. It continues and endures. - and is kind;
Love is not mean, but is kind! - charity envieth not;
Love does not cause a person to get jealous of another. - charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,”
Love does not make one brag about oneself, or make one think he is better than another! - I Cor. 13:5: “Doth not behave itself unseemly,
Love doesn’t think bad thoughts (indecent) about another. - seeketh not her own,
Love does not prompt one to care about another solely for what they can gain from them. - is not easily provoked,
Love for another person does not easily allow one to get mad at them. - thinketh no evil;
Love does not allow one to see the bad in another. - I Cor. 13:6: “Rejoiceth not in iniquity,
Love does not allow one to be happy when another is sinning. - but rejoiceth in the truth;”
Love is happy when the other tells the truth, and when friends are honest with each other. - I Cor. 13:7: “Beareth all things,
Love puts up with a lot. - believeth all things,
Love believes what the other person says, no matter what is suspected. - hopeth all things,
Love wants the best for another. - endureth all things.”
Love does not stop!
I Cor. 13:8: “Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease;”
The love described in these verses is not the one portrayed in most movies. It is not the temporary emotion that produces a “love” relationship several times a month. It is an emotion, given to people by God, and it is characterized by tolerance, resilience, forgiveness, and unity. It is real love!
“Love meets the needs of the loved object.” — Gary Bane
Lust Never Satisfies
Bill Brinkworth
James 4 discusses a sin that has robbed many of an opportunity to be fully satisfied. It has also robbed many of the joy they could have had. At times, it has often left some feeling “emptier” than they were previously. This rampant sin, as do all iniquities, gets man further away from God than they would ever imagine. It is the sin of lusting that is examined in this chapter.
One’s longing desire for many of the world’s tempting offerings is often an attempt to meet spiritual needs in one’s life with worldly things. One will never be truly fulfilled that way. Always more will be needed as one’s carnal appetite increases.
Lust for power and riches has caused the deaths of unfathomable numbers in war (James 4:2). No matter the earthly treasure gained, still the insatiable hole in one’s soul remains unfilled (James 4:3).
Covetous actions are identified as sin in the Bible. Attempts to ask God for things that involve them in things God does not want them to have in the first place will not be granted (James 4:2-3).
The lust for what the world has is identified as spiritual adultery (James 4:4). For the Christian, lusting for what the world offers is “cheating” and not being faithful to the one who created and saved one, and who knows what one should have in his life.
In attempting to acquire all that the world has to offer, the coveter is disregarding something more important. They may have accumulated much of what this world offers in goods and social standings, but in so doing, they may have become an enemy of God. An enemy of God will never have joy or peace.
“… whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” James 4b
Perhaps, because of being in the world, we sometimes think too much like the unsaved. That may be why most battle the sin of covetousness.
Many have forgotten, or may never have learned, that God has an entirely different value system than the unsaved do. Our creator knows what will help and what will hurt us. We do need many of the things in the world to survive, but there often comes a point when one forgets the difference between a “need” and a “want.”
God will provide all our needs. If we seek Him first, He will meet our needs and many of our wants (Mat. 6:33). Resist the temptation to be like the unsaved (James 4:7). We are on the winning side! Why should we desire what the losing side has?
When we draw close to God, He will draw close to us (James 4:8). When He is close to us, we will have a better relationship with Him and develop the mindset He wants us to have. We will ask for what we need properly (James 4:3), and He will provide all that the Christian needs. None of God’s children will ever be without what God deems necessary for them (Psalms 37:25).
“The best things in life are not things.” — Author Unknown
They sin who tell us love can die:
With life all other passions fly,
All others are but vanity.
In Heaven, ambition cannot dwell;
Nor avarice in the vaults of Hell;
Earthly these passions of the Earth,
They perish where they have their birth;
But love is indestructible.
Its holy flame forever burneth,
From HHeaven it came, to Heaven returneth;
Too oft on Earth a troubled guest,
At times deceived, at times opprest,
It here is tried and purified,
Then hath in Heaven its perfect rest.
It woeth here in toil and care,
But the harvest time of love is there.
“And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.” Ephesians 5:2
Hudson Taylor was examining some young people who had volunteered for the mission field. He wanted to ascertain their qualifications for the arduous life they were seeking.
“And why do you wish to go as a foreign missionary?” he asked one.
“I want to go because millions are perishing without Christ, not having even heard of the One name whereby the lost may be saved.” Others gave various answers. Then Hudson Taylor said, “All of these motives, howsoever good, will fail you in times of testing, trials, tribulations, and possibly death. There is but one motive which will sustain you in trial and testing, and that is “For the love of Christ constraineth us; …” II Cor 5:14. (“Constrain”: force, compel, confine)