The Commitment of Conviction to the Father's Love
Greetings brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series where we seek to
explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years, the heavenly
Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them with you. This
morning we seek to understand the meaning of the commitment of conviction to the Father's Love.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Commitment of Conviction to the Father's Love
Jesus said: "A new commandment I give unto you. That ye love one another; as I have loved
you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have
love one to another." John, Chapter 13, Verses 34 and 35.
Brothers and sisters until we are convicted of something as being the right and truthful thing,
we will never commit ourselves to it. Even so, free will still operates. No one or nothing can
force us to choose truth and righteousness or choose them for us. We may pay outward
tribute to something, but without conviction our souls will never pursue it. This lack of
pursuit reveals our true motives every time. And this is the reason why we do not obey Jesus'
new command that we love one another as he loves us. We are not committed or loyal to His
command. We lack the level of loyalty towards him that makes this commitment possible
in our lives.
If we want to determine if we have truly committed ourselves to Jesus' supreme command,
we should observe our behavior. We might start out weaving back and forth, backsliding
when bestowing the Father's love, but eventually the true motive of our souls will emerge,
as all of our energy and all of our will power will be used to pursue our real intent. And
herein lies the reason for personal tragedy: if we pursue an untrue goal, there can only be
disappointment, pain, and sorrow at the end of our efforts--absolute failure.
Brothers and sisters, when we become committed to our conviction to follow Jesus, as is
revealedin our outward pursuit of divine love, we will follow this divine love wherever it
leads, always seeking to love those who are devoid of this divine affection. We become like
a person afflicted with the flu, spreading the virus of love wherever we go, infecting others
with this virus who will in turn infect still more, in this way eventually infecting the whole
world. And no one can stop the spread of this virus of love, for this is the essence of the
heavenly Father.
Brothers and sisters, this virus of love causes a raging fever of patience in us that keeps
getting hotter and hotter until we are consumed with it. This virus of love produces cold
chills of mercy, shaking us deep down in our souls, causing us to shower other souls lost in
the burning fires of evil with the coolness of mercy. This virus of love causes aches and pains
of forgiveness and will not let us rest comfortably as we turn every way but loose, kicking
the covers of forgiveness off on to those in need of it. And that unrelenting cough of
repentance eventually causes such sincerity of faith that our souls cry out, "who convicts us
of sin"? And that pounding headache of love's heartbeat keeps right on pumping love, no
matter what happens.
Brothers and sister, the commitment of conviction to the Father's love drives us on through
the gauntlet of evil's darkness. This commitment of conviction does not allow anything to
deter us from our quest for divine love. No matter how badly or how unjustly we are treated,
we go right on loving; no matter how painfully or how deeply we are wounded, we go right
on loving. No matter how futile our efforts may appear in starting the spark of love in some
loveless soul, we go right on striking the matches of faith.
Brothers and sisters ,when we pursue this commitment of conviction, in our hearts we are
filled with hope, trust, and faith. We are overwhelmed by the power of love, patience, mercy,
and forgiveness. We have long since learned to separate spiritual reality from material reality.
We know that these are qualities of our soul and have nothing whatsoever to do with the
material world. We have learned that the material world is governed by physical laws that
are absolutely reliable. Our hope, our trust, our faith, love, patience, mercy, and forgiveness
are directed solely at the spiritual aspects of ourselves. We know that these spiritual qualities
will eventually insure that we will break the fetters of material existence, and allow us to
escape into the freedom of pure spirit existence, just like Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, there is only one way to escape the fetters of material existence, and that
is through the Father's love. Nothing can stand before the power of His love. Neither sorrow,
pain, or disappointment can remain in the presence of divine love as any of us can attest to
who have taken their mind off themselves to love another unselfishly and who has
consequently experienced the supreme joy.
Brothers and sisters, if only we would dedicate our lives to loving others unselfishly, if only
we would shift our emphasis from receiving to giving we would be spiritually happy all the
time. The passing trials and tribulations of time will remain just that, passing, rather than
covering our souls like a curtain of darkness year after year. Brothers and sisters, the
commitment of conviction will truly lead us from the isolation of self with its sorrows, pains,
and disappointments to the brotherhood of other selves with its happiness of spiritual
pleasure, and its everlasting success with the love of the Father of love.
This concludes today's message on understanding the meaning of the commitment of
conviction to the Father's love. We hope you find something in this message to ponder and
pray about as you go about your day. Until next time, this is Dr. James Perry.
Inspirational Messages
By Dr. James Perry
Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done!
The Commitment of Conviction
