19 The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house. 20 All the brothers and sisters here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. 21 I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. 22 If anyone does not love the Lord, let that person be cursed! Come, Lord! 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 24 My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen. (1 Corinthians 16:19-24)
Times don’t change much, even in Christ’s time on earth men struggled with loving and believing on Him (John 12:42-50). When I think of all the different things this world has to offer, and all of it having the potential to draw our love away from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His Word. Things such as life, people, work, hobbies, wants, needs, etc., the cares of this world are waiting to choke out any growth that we might receive in our Christians walk. We need to watch that we are not drawn away from Him and His Word (Matthew 13:18-23) (1 John 2:15-17).
John is not the only person to say that if we love the world we cannot love God, both James and Matthew mentioned it (James 4:1-6) (Matthew 6:23-24). Our sinful pride may rebel against this thought, but we simply are not able to love the world and God at the same time. How many people have tried this and failed. Just think about it, if someone is driven by the lust of the flesh to commit fornication or adultery against their neighbor, then how can one keep God’s command not to defraud your brother (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8).
If you are overcome by lust of the eyes – so that you always want more, then you won’t keep God’s command to help one another (1 John 3:17-23). If you are filled with the pride of life so that you consider yourself more important than others, then you will not be able to keep the command to imitate Christ (Philippians 2:1-8).
Notice what our passage also says this morning. If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be cursed! Come, Lord! It could read this way, “let him be Anathema! Maranatha! What do these words mean? Anathema, means, to ban, censored, to be excommunicated, to be accursed. Maranatha means, an exclamation of the approaching Divine judgment, or Our Lord come! So, for those who do not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let such a person be censored, pronounced accursed, then that person is admonished of the coming of the Judge of heaven and earth.
But what is the secret to having a true love for Jesus? When we grow in the understanding of His love for us. Do we know just how much He loves us (John 15:13) (Ephesians 5:1-2) (1 John 3:16)? We can see the great love the Father has for us the sinner in His electing love for us (John 6:37). We see it because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). We love Him, because He loved usfirst, because He drew us to Himself, because He caused us to come unto His Son (Romans 5:1-5).
Can we say we love Him? Does it show in our lives? Let it be so!