Love and Ministry

“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you."  John 14:23-26

The above scripture tells us how Jesus defines our love for him.  In the light of that I share these thoughts.  Love is the key to ministry for us as believers whether we are married or single.  First it is our love for the Lord, keeping his teachings, and second it is our love for one another.  This provides a powerful conduit for the Holy Spirit to operate.  Christian marriages contain marvelous potential in expressing the ministry and  power of the Holy Spirit.  That is why Satan is on the rampage against Christian marriages, because he realizes the power that is present within them.  He comes and attacks the two strategic areas in a relationship that are necessary for the flow of the Holy Spirit.  He attacks and tries to destroy their love for the Lord and he comes and tries to rob or destroy their love for one another.  He tries to destroy the very first and primary reason for marriage and that is love.  For if he destroys the root, which is love, he will also destroy the growth and fruit of the root which is ministry and service to the Lord.  For the single person their love for others is attacked in order to diminish their ministry.

Love between marriage partners provides harmony in the home and it is for the well being of the children but first and foremost love is for the presence and flowing of the Holy Spirit.  When love is expressed between a believing man and a woman the Spirit of God is there. 

God parallels marriage with our relationship to Him.  He said that marriage is a picture of His love for the church.  He created us human beings for love, not for ministry.  He already had the angels to minister to him.  He did not create us to make his ministry on earth more efficient.  We are clay vessels with a treasure inside.  He wanted a creation that loved him and because they freely loved him, ministry followed.  We were primarily designed for love and worship to God.

God does not seek us out to gain ministry from us and we do not draw close to God just to find out what ministry we are to do.  God seeks us out to gain our love and we draw close to God because we love him back.  From this deep love, ministry will come.  When Jesus called Peter, he said, "Peter do you love me?"  He answered, "Yes Lord" and then Jesus said, "Feed my sheep."  First comes love between you and the Lord, and then comes ministry. 

So if you are single and seeking a Christian marriage partner, ministry should not be your first or primary reason to marry some one.  This had brought about quite a change in my thinking.  For I would say or think that the only reason I would marry is to better my ministry or my service to the Lord.  This sounded good to me.  I feel now that it is a wrong reason.  Christ wants to be united with the church, his followers, because He loves us.  Thinking of ministry or service when thinking of marriage is getting the cart before the horse. From the root of love, ministry and service to the Lord will grow.  The thing that makes ministry better is love.  The more I love my spouse and my brothers and sister in the Lord, the more power of the Holy Spirit in my life.  Love is kindness, accountability, exhortation, caring, and communication. First comes my love for the Lord and second comes my love for the brothers and sisters in the Lord and out of those two come ministry, the work of the Holy Spirit.  If you are married to a Christian and you truly love the Lord and deeply love your spouse and your spouse truly loves the Lord and you, ministry, the work of the Holy Spirit, will naturally fall in place.  If your spouse is an unbeliever, then your ministry will flow from your love for the Lord and your love for them.

Ministries or operation in the gifts of the Spirit, can change according to the need.  For the Lord gives them as He wills.  This is why the Lord is interested in our love for Him.  When we are in love with Him then we are flexible as far as our ministry.  He is not so much interested in our ministry as in our heart.  God wants our heart.

Couples in a marriage are like a team of oxen that pulls a plow behind them.  Singles are in this illustration too, they are teamed with the Lord.  Those married to an unbeliever are at a disadvantage and you can see why God said not to be unequally yoked as it weakens your team and the unbelieving partner can lead you astray.  The strength of the team is not the plow but the bond between them.  The bond is love.  The plow is our ministry.  If the bond is weak or damaged the plow will not operate correctly.  The type of plow will change according to the season and what type of work needs to be done to the ground.  So to with ministry, it will change according to the seasons but love will remain. 

End Note:  I wrote this about 28 years ago when I was young and disillusioned with the shallowness of people's love in the churches and how they would talk about their ministries like it was all about them.  I know the English is weak in the word expression of love but I was thinking of the Greek word, Agape, when I wrote it.  I know that kind of love is a work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, it doesn't come so easy with us humans.  I guess the closest in our natural love is our love for our kids and in my case the love I have for my husband too.  I do have warm fuzzy love for them but I also know that I would give my life for them, if they were in danger or needed me.  But that is human love and God puts his love in our hearts.  That is what I long to see in a followship, that there be time and opportunity to develop that kind of love that comes by the Spirit.  I know that is one of the things that I was told in the church system was that  a lot of people really don't love you and you just had to put up with it.  If you thought you would try and find a church where people really did love you, you would never find it.  In a way they were right but I know the Lord said that his disciples would be known by their love.  So, I know it can exist and I know now that it can happen in the right fellowship that the Lord has set up and not the church system's way.