Love is our nature. More money, power, and no love will not necessarily improve our world.
Throughout the ‘Love’ series, we have established that love is our nature. When we receive God’s nature – the nature of love, it allows us the ability to love other people.
How can love become the culture in our families, organizations and cultures?
Think of it this way, we humans are creatures of habit. Culture is the collective thinking and habits of a group of people, be it a family, organisation, or nation.
Culture passes from generation to generation, and it reaches a point where people continue certain behaviours and habits without knowing the reason for the habits.
Changing these habits then becomes stressful, because we have to bring the habit into the realm of conscious thinking, and work on it consistently for a while, before the new behaviour goes into our subconscious and becomes a part of our life.
When love is practised consistently over time, it becomes the culture, and it is the same when there is a lack of love in a community.
When God gave the ten commandments through Moses, He was trying to create a national culture. They had just come out of slavery, and there was a culture that was prevalent within them, but God wanted to create a new one, a culture of Love.
One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
~ (Matthew 22:35-40 NLT)
What kind of culture were you raised in, was it kind or harsh, trusting or suspicious, free or manipulative, one of forgiveness or one of revenge?
We challenge you today, in the family, organization, and nation, it is important that we create new cultures.
How do we create new cultures?
This is where we need leadership. Creating a healthy culture is one of the most important functions of a leader:
- Leaders change culture by communicating vision and values and giving people strong reasons to shift their thinking and change their habits.
- Leaders change culture by modelling; they show people the example of what is right and what is wrong.
- Leaders change culture by changing policies and laws
- Leaders change culture by changing their environment
You have to have the nature of love. Remove the nature of sin by taking on God’s nature.
And we have to cultivate new love habits. They might not be normal to you right now, but be consistent and cultivate them.
Sermon excerpt from Sunday sermon by Pastor Sam Adeyemi – Sunday 26, February, 2023
Watch this sermon here.
