HOW LOVE IS EXPRESSED
"NOW ISRAEL LOVED JOSEPH MORE THAN ALL HIS CHILDREN, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors."
Genesis 37:3 (NKJV)
What Jacob did in the above passage of the Bible is faulted or denounced. He loved Joseph more than all his children. The problem Joseph had with his siblings stemmed from how their father, Jacob, showed his love for him, Joseph, above others; to the extent that he bought or made him a tunic of many colours which he did not make for others (Genesis 37:3).
A parent should not be partial in his or her love to their children. What strengthened the sibling rivalry between Joseph and his brothers is what their father did, showing his affection for Joseph more than others.
The love Jacob had for Joseph could be as a result of his special interest and love for Rachel, Joseph's mother. An adage in Africa says the woman who you like or love or who is appealing to you most, is the one that you would like or love her children. Thus, Jacob's love for Joseph could be as a result of his love for Rachel, Joseph's mother (Genesis 29:30).
In the new testament, God would not want a believer to love with human love. This is the reason why God would want human's soul to be saved, changed or transformed (James 1:21; Romans 12:2).
Your soul is where you have the mind or thought, the will, and the emotion. Affection, love and the like are from the soul, the emotional aspect of the soul. If a believer's soul is yet to be saved or transformed (Romans 12:2), he or she would still be loving or being affectionate with his or her human nature.
Albeit, God would not want a believer to show affection or love or like with his or her human nature. When his or her soul is transformed or saved or changed, such would love or like or show affection with the help of the Holy Spirit. The love which such a believer would have and express would be that of the Holy Spirit—the love poured out in his or her heart by the Holy Spirit: "NOW HOPE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT, BECAUSE THE LOVE OF GOD HAS BEEN POURED OUT IN OUR HEARTS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO WAS GIVEN TO US" (Romans 5:5 NKJV).
Such a believer would no longer be partial in his or her love to people. Whoever he or she loves would be by the love of God given him or her by the Holy Spirit, without being bias or prejudicial.
The love Jacob had for Joseph was not a kind of love God would want a believer to have for anyone. It was a partial love, and a selfish one for that matter.
What Jacob did could be done by any professed believer who has not allowed God to transform his or her soul—mind, will, and emotion.
There are many professed believers who are still in this group, who are yet to give or yield their love or affection to God completely. Their love for their spouses, children, or whoever they claim to love is still fleshly or of human nature.
If you love your children with God's love, you would not be partial in your dealings with them. We could see how God's love is expressed to those whom He professed to love.
Examples:
a. When Abraham did wrong, he listened to the counsel of his wife to sleep with her maid in order to have issues or children through her and expedite the promise of God—having a child (Genesis 16:1-4). God was not pleased with what he did.
Afterwards, In the chapter 17 verse number 1 of that same Genesis, God called Abraham and said he should walk before Him and be blameless. In other words, Abraham should walk before Him, God, and be holy (1 Peter 1:15,16).
b. David was called a man after God's heart, yet when he committed a sin; committed adultery with another man's wife, Uriah's wife, and arranged a bloody death for the husband in an attempt to conceal the sin (2 Samuel 12:9).
God did expose him, and pronounced a judgment on him that sword would not depart from his house (2 Samuel 12:10). That there would be ripple effects of what he did. That another man would sleep with his own wives in the open, in the sight of the sun, though he did it in the secret (2 Samuel 12:11,12).
c. The third example is Solomon, whom was given a name by God Himself when he was born. He was named Jedidiah, the name sent through Prophet Nathan. The name means the Beloved of the LORD (2 Samuel 12:24,25).
When this same Solomon became king in his father's place and did contrary to God's commandments—what God had told him when He appeared to him twice:
9 SO THE LORD BECAME ANGRY WITH SOLOMON, BECAUSE HIS HEART HAD TURNED FROM THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL, WHO HAD APPEARED TO HIM TWICE, 10 AND HAD COMMANDED HIM CONCERNING THIS THING, THAT HE SHOULD NOT GO AFTER OTHER gods; BUT HE DID NOT KEEP WHAT THE LORD HAD COMMANDED. 11 THEREFORE THE LORD SAID TO SOLOMON, “BECAUSE YOU HAVE DONE THIS, AND HAVE NOT KEPT MY COVENANT AND MY STATUTES, WHICH I HAVE COMMANDED YOU, I WILL SURELY TEAR THE KINGDOM AWAY FROM YOU AND GIVE IT TO YOUR SERVANT" (1 Kings 11:9-11 NKJV).
We could see in all the cases sighted or considered here that God was not partial in His love to anyone (Romans 2:11). Solomon named Jedidiah, the Beloved of the LORD was not exonerated when he did contrary to God's commandments—when he disobeyed God.
God has no permanent friend. His friendship with anyone continues as long as when the person has His interest at heart. When you are no longer for His interest, or you no longer serve His interest, your friendship with Him ended.
You are God's friend as long as you are walking in the light of His word: "YOU ARE MY [Jesus] FRIENDS IF YOU DO WHATEVER I COMMAND YOU" (John 15:14 NKJV).
Let God transform or save your soul—thought, will and emotion—through His word, that you may love with the love which God has poured out in your heart through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).
Peace.
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