MCGI Mass indoctrination service (12/12/2023). LOVE

There's no one who would say "I don't love myself". Irrespective of what happens to us, how we feel, what we are passing through, the fact remains that we still want the best out of all the situations we find ourselves in. We have many people living around us. We have family, friends, neighbours, and so on. The Bible commanded us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. We can find this in Mark 12:31

But we are not only obliged to love just our neighbours. We should also love our enemies. It might really sound difficult, but that is the commandment of God that we must follow. As we do good to our friends and loved ones, we should replicate the same to our enemies. According to Luke 6:35, we must love them, do good to them, and even when the come to us to borrow, we must give them without the mind of taking back what was given

Roman 12:20 also talks about assisting our enemies when in need. We should not ignore them when they are hungry or thirsty. If we come across any of them, it's biblical to feed them and give them water to drink. In this world, we have bad and good people. There are people who persecute the church of God and despise his words, and there are the ones obeying his commandments. God does not segregate or discriminate. It rains on everyone, and the sun shines all over. The wicked and the righteous both benefit from the gift of nature given by God. Matthew 5:45. The rain of God here means rain of righteousness according to Hosea 10:12. So also, we shouldn't set aside our enemies when we want to do good or help people

One thing we must also realize is that God loves us all, and he wants all of us to be saved according to 1 Timothy 2:4. The righteous ones are saved already. Or is it possible to save a person that is already saved? It's the sinners, evil or wicked ones that need salvation. And the righteous ones are the tool that God would use to gain their heart. So if we love our enemies, and they see that we want good them, that act of kindness can make them turn a new leaf, and follow the path of God

Furthermore, our conscience should be void of offense towards God and man, as described in Act 24:16. Bro Eli narrated the story of a brother who refused to harvest his crops for sale when the price went 3x, because he just sprayed chemicals on them. He couldn't afford to do evil to others because of money. He could harvest and sell to people without them knowing he flitted them, but he knew people's lives were at stake, and preferred to wait till the chemicals became harmless. That is a man with conscience

There was a time when everyone stopped buying beans in Nigeria, because it killed a lot of families. Someone without conscience sold beans preserved with chemicals to people because of sudden increase in price. If such person has conscience, he wouldn't do such

According to Matthew 7:7, we should do unto others what we want them to do to us. We can only practice this if we love God and we also love everyone around us be it friend or enemy. If we want to be loved, we must also love others. If we want to receive, we must be a giver. Being kind to others is God's commandment. We can get that from Ephisians 4:32

Also as brothers in the Church of God, we must not file cases against each other. Many misunderstandings can come up, like land issues, money etc. We must find a way to settle the dispute amicably, because it's not allowed to sue our brothers. That's why loving ourselves is paramount. We should be patient with one another, and be able to endure. If issues are settled in court, there's no way love would exist between the two parties. Working in harmony is what the Bible commands us to do, and there should be no division among us in the church of God. 1 Corinthians 1:10, 1 Timothy 3:15, Phillipian 1:17, Hebrew 13:1, all talked about staying as one in Christ Jesus, and allow brotherly love to continue