The Focus of the Father's Love
Greetings and good morning 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 will ponder our lives as we seek to understand the focus of the Father's
love.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Focus of the Father's Love
"Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.
Doth not behave unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things,
hopeth all things, endures all things. Love never faileth." 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13, Verses
4-8
"The finger writes, and having written, moves on." The focus of the Father's love is on truth, beauty
and goodness. Never does love focus on evil, error, or ugliness. The Father's love is always positive,
always fills a void. Never does love take something negative away. Evil, error, and ugliness are not
real as is the love of goodness, the love of truth, and the love of beauty. Love is infinite, eternal, and
absolute. Those realities that have no eternal meanings and values of infinite worth are not apart of
the focus of love.
To overcome some character defect, to overcome some evil habit or to accept some disagreeable
reality, cannot be achieved by the force of human will alone. The human self has a finite amount of
power. To try and apply this power in greater amounts than is normally applied means that some
other area will go lacking.
Brothers and sisters. the most effective way of overcoming some character defect or to accept some
disagreeable reality is to wholeheartedly pursue the Father's will, while faith realizing that all things
work together for the good and eternal salvation of the individual. To wholeheartedly pursue the
Father's will is to have a limitless amount of moral and spiritual power and energy at our disposal.
This power and energy is able to overcome anything that stands in our way of achieving divine
perfection. This is so because the Father has commanded us to become perfect. And though time may
delay this attainment, and space may handicap the actual achievement of this goal, neither time nor
space can prevent us from attaining the goal of the ages: spiritual perfection.
To move from one emotional attitude to another, to move from one character state to another, we
must pursue the emotional attitude and the character traits that are desired. To attempt to move from
turmoil to peace can never be achieved by trying to get rid of the turmoil. To focus on peace in the
midst of the turmoil effectively dissolves the turmoil. Peace is a desirable quality, but this peace is
spiritual and exists in spite of those factors that might be responsible for the turmoil.
But how does one achieve this spiritual peace? Spiritual peace comes about as the result of true
insight into reality and acceptance of true reality. True insight is understanding--the ability to
differentiate between what things appear to mean and what they actually mean, both materially and
spiritually. Understanding comes from knowledge and leads to wisdom. Wisdom leads to patience,
and patience leads to spiritual success. Spiritual success not only brings peace but joy.
True insight views the problem of life the way we might view a coconut. A coconut has an extremely
hard outer covering, but at the center of the coconut lies the milk. The milk is surrounded by the
meat of the coconut. In order to get to these delicious treats, we must first penetrate the outer
covering. With the proper amount of force and persistence, the outer covering gives way.
The problems of life are similar. At the very center of every problem lies an opportunity. The
opportunity is concealed by a very tough outer shell called problem. Persistence of force will
penetrate to the core of the problem and reveal the opportunity. The greater the problem, the greater
the opportunity concealed within it.
True spiritual insight views life as a series of assignments, entailing trust and responsibility. True
spiritual insight reveals that all moral assignments are assigned by the heavenly Father though this
may not be apparent. These assignments have supreme value for the Father, and he trusts us with the
responsibility of carrying them out. True spiritual insight concludes that in serving our brothers and
sisters, we are indeed serving the heavenly Father. By pursuing the Father's will, we allow the focus
of love to constantly enhance us, elevating and transforming us in the process.
This concludes today's message on understanding the focus of 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
nspirational Messages
By Dr. James Perry
Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done!
The Focus of the Father's Love
