LOVE AND THE SINGLES’ WORLD
Welcome to the February 2023 edition of our Singles’ World. In my last discussion, I ended my discussion with you on the list of dangerous people to marry. In this edition and the subsequent ones, I want to discuss love in Christian relationships and the position of God. May the Lord give us the right understanding and put our feet on the right path in the name Jesus Christ. Amen.
In today’s Christian relationships, especially among our youths, love is often confused or used synonymously or interchangeably with lust and crush. Some mischievous guys wearing the garb of Christianity have continued to deceive the innocent and gullible Christian sisters who use these terms confidently and flippantly. It is important, therefore, to make appropriate clarifications on these seemingly confusing nascent registers. When a guy says he loves you, what does he actually mean? When he says he has a crush on a sister, what does he mean? Do love and crush mean the same thing? How do we know when love means lust, and when lust means love?
In 1 John 4:8 & 16 the Bible says, God is love, and in 1 John 4:7, the Bible says anyone that loves is born of God and knows God. Love is not just an attribute of God; God is love-personified. If anyone wants to understand love; He must know God. So, without God, it is impossible to love. That is why 1 John 4:8 says “He that loveth not knoweth not God.” It follows, therefore, that only those who are born of God that can love. If anyone claims to love without God, he is deceiving Himself because he cannot give what he does not have.
In John 3:8, the Bible says “He that committeth sin is of the devil.” So, the devil is the originator and founder of sin. Therefore, he that is born of the devil cannot love. Only those that are born of God that can love. Since the devil knows that he does not have access to love, he pirates love and gives the counterfeit edition to his children and the gullible and ignorant Christians to deceive and enslave them. No imitation ever exits without the original. The devil knows the world needs love. Hence, he creates an artificial and pseudo love, which is lust, and packages it as love for them.
We are living in the age of artificiality because the world has been lost and given over to falsehood and deception. Truth is scarce even in the church of God. Those who say the truth are scandalised and become infamous and labelled the enemies of the people, while those who tell lies are glamorised and venerated as the world sinks deeply into debauchery pitiably and irredeemably. Many of our youths today are being swept away by this demonic deception that has crept insidiously into the church of God. Oh! This is a pantsless, strapless, backless, braless, shameless and gutless generation where virginity is offered freely and cheaply as a birthday gift to ravenous wolves. A generation where nudity is fashionable and modest apparel is scorned and disdained. A generation that is recklessly, thoughtlessly and rapaciously given to sex. A generation that bares it all. One of the principalities that rule this world is the spirit of immorality. That is why sex is one of the most potent tools that the devil is using to rule and ruin this world. Imagine how many lives that are destroyed everyday on the altar of immorality and on every Valentine Day all in the name of ‘Love.’
In Deuteronomy 32:5, the Bible describes this world as “a perverse and crooked generation.” In Psalm 78:8, the Bible says “A stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright.” Our youths today are stubbornly rebellious against the established order of God; holiness and purity. Their hearts are not set aright to the way of godliness and righteousness. Their hearts are set towards the ways of ungodliness, wealth and worldliness. Self-control has been replaced with looseness and wantonness. Proverbs 30:12 says “There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.”
Our youths believe they are right in their own eyes, yet they are filthy and impure. They parade lust and call it love. They display nudity and call it fashion. John the Baptist was right when he said “O Generation of vipers” (Matt. 3:7). This metaphor is apt in describing today’s youths. They capture you with ‘love’ and sting you with lust. There are many vipers in the church and in the world today that have been sent to seduce, entice and kill the innocent and imprudent Christians. That is why Jesus said, “An evil and adulterous generation” (Matt. 12:39) “Having eyes full of adultery” (2 Peter 2:13-14).
When a brother or a sister, with eyes full of adultery, beckons to you in the name of love, he/she is deceiving you. That is lust in action. There are many people that have eyes full of adultery in the church and in the world today. Such people have counterfeit love; that is lust. Proverbs 5:8 says, “Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house.” Proverbs 6:25 says, “Lust not after her beauty in thine heart.” The world is given to lust today, and they call it love. What do you have? Love or Lust?
By the grace of God, we will continue from here next month. Please don’t forget to send me your comments and testimonies. In case, you are not born again, please surrender your life to Jesus Christ today. Tomorrow may be too late. Till then, God bless you. Amen.
Pastor Jide Ajidahun
