Love Overflows

What would happen, if I had 20 5 cent pieces and I decided to give them away?

Eventually, I’d run out.

Is love like money? Does love run out? If you had five friends and you added five more, would you have to take some of the love you had from the first five friends in order to give it to your new five friends? Is love like that?

In this letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica, he shares his love for that church. Timothy has just returned from them, and has told them all about what they are doing in support of Paul and his ministry. Paul wishes he could get over there and tell them himself, but he cannot. There were no cell phones, no internet, no email, snapchat, twitter or instagram. All he had was snail mail.

But he wanted them to know, he really wanted them to know how much he loved them, and how much he treasured their love for him. So he prayed and encouraged them by saying, “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.” You see, love isn’t like money, it has the ability to overflow; we’ll see why in a minute.

This year, GEMS, I’ve been keeping an eye out for you. I’ve been paying attention to how you were interacting with each other, and how you were interacting with your leaders. It has been awesome to see how their love for you has increased and overflowed! It has been wonderful to see God’s love for you, and your love for each other overflow this year!

Love isn’t like money. When you show love to others, it isn’t depleted from you, like when you take money out of the bank. Actually, love increases, the more you give it away! When you don’t give it away, when you try to keep it and hold onto it, and not share it, that’s when love disappears.

But the cool thing is this. Love has a source.

When we lived in Alberta, we often traveled to British Columbia. We would pass near the Columbia Icefields, the largest icefield in the Rockies. From it flows three rivers that wind up in three different oceans: the Frazer flows into the pacific, the Athabasca flows into the Arctic and the North Saskatchewan flows into the Atlantic. By the time the Frazer gets to the ocean, it is carrying 3.5 thousand cubic meters of water per second! That’s more than an olympic sized swimming pool filled per second!

Just as the icefields is where those three mighty rivers get their start, God is the source of love, because God is love.

God’s love overflows, in fact, one of the reasons why there is a universe, with our solar system, with our planet, filled with human beings is because God’s perfect love in the Trinity. God’s perfect love overflowed into creating a world filled with beings who could love and receive love. True love comes from God. God is love.

The most important thing to know is that God loves you. God created you. God pursues you. God saved you from everything bad—sin, and he not only gives you his love, without any strings, he helps you love without strings. But, before we go there, the GEMS Girl’s Club’s Staff has come up with a really cool thing I want to read to you. It is God’s loving way, from A to Z, telling you his love for you:

He Accepts, Approves, and Adopts you into His family.

· He Accepts, Approves, and Adopts you into His family.

He Befriends you and wants the Best for you. And check out what He says about your Beauty in .

· He Befriends you and wants the Best for you. And check out what He says about your Beauty in .

· He Created you in His image, Cherishes, and Chooses you. He Convicts and Corrects, but will not condemn.

He Created you in His image, Cherishes, and Chooses you. He Convicts and Corrects, but will not condemn.

· He Dearly loves you!

He Dearly loves you!

He is your greatest Encourager!

· He is your greatest Encourager!

He Forgives, sets you Free, and Fills you with His Spirit and love.

· He Forgives, sets you Free, and Fills you with His Spirit and love.

· He Gets you like no one else does.

He Gets you like no one else does.

He is your Helper and Holds your life together in His tender and mighty Hands.

· He is your Helper and Holds your life together in His tender and mighty Hands.

· He Intercedes, and

He Intercedes, and

· Just can’t keep His eyes off you!

Just can’t keep His eyes off you!

· He Knows everything about you!

He Knows everything about you!

· He Loves Loving you!

He Loves Loving you!

Make no mistake, you Matter to Him, He calls you Mine.

· Make no mistake, you Matter to Him, He calls you Mine.

· He Notices, Nurtures, and gives you a New identity.

He Notices, Nurtures, and gives you a New identity.

He Opens wide the gate to a relationship with Himself—inviting you deeper and deeper into it.

· He Opens wide the gate to a relationship with Himself—inviting you deeper and deeper into it.

He Pursues you and Purchased you with His blood!

· He Pursues you and Purchased you with His blood!

He Qualifies,

· He Qualifies,

Rescues,

· Rescues,

· Strengthens, Shields, and Sees you; He Sticks close!

Strengthens, Shields, and Sees you; He Sticks close!

· He is Transforming you into His image with ever-increasing glory. He never Tires of Telling you who you are to Him.

He is Transforming you into His image with ever-increasing glory. He never Tires of Telling you who you are to Him.

· He Upholds and Understands you,

He Upholds and Understands you,

He Values and Validates you,

· He Values and Validates you,

· And Wow and double Wow how He loves you!

And Wow and double Wow how He loves you!

He eXplifies and eXplodes with love!

· He eXplifies and eXplodes with love!

You are holy because You are His.

· You are holy because You are His.

He is Zealous for you!

He is Zealous for you!

He is Zealous for you!

All of this is ours. All of this is ours to receive. All we have to do is accept it. God doesn’t hold on to it and say, “Well, unless they do this or that, I won’t give it to them.” Nor does he say, “Because they did that kind of sin, I’m not going to love them. God loves us perfectly, no matter what we’ve done, are doing, or going to do. All we have to do is receive God’s constant, perfect love, and say thank you.

Have you ever had a bad day and a friend, a family member, anyone you love came up and gave you a big hug, encouraged you, listened and supported you? God is there, all the time, always doing the same thing.

But because of sin, we sometimes don’t go to God. We sometimes look for that kind of love in wrong places. We sometimes deprive ourselves of God’s love because we don’t think we’re good enough to get it. But God says, “I love you anyway, I always have, I always will.”

Maybe you’ve had a time where it was hard to believe that God loves you. Maybe you’re going through such a time. Or maybe you will go through such a time. Do you know what? God never, ever gives up. Paul’s prayer that love will overflow, wasn’t just for the people who read this letter when it was first written. It was written for us, he was praying for us, for you, for me.

Love isn’t like money, remember. This is a good thing! Because if love was like money, then it would be really hard to love our family members. Dads and Moms would start with love for each other and maybe they’d be able to afford to love one child, but two? Three, Ten?

Praise the Lord that love isn’t like money! Love increases, it overflows, when there are more people to love!

The greatest thing we can do, is love God and love others. That sums up all the teaching of this book. Love God, love others. It’s why God created us! Love increases as it is given out, as it is shared. God, who is the eternal source of love, keeps pouring His love into us, so that we can keep pouring it back to him and into others around us.

There are a few more things that the GEMS team sent me that I need to share with you:

When we realize we are loved as we are, we are enabled to love others as they are.

· When we understand that we are accepted and we belong, we are enabled to accept other people and give them a place to belong.

When we understand that we are accepted and we belong, we are enabled to accept other people and give them a place to belong.

· When Jesus is our closest Friend, we are enabled to be a true friend.

When Jesus is our closest Friend, we are enabled to be a true friend.

When we grasp how patient God is with us, we are enabled to be patient with others.

· When we grasp how patient God is with us, we are enabled to be patient with others.

· When we blush that our Maker would call us beautiful just as we are, we are enabled to see the beauty in others just as they are.

When we blush that our Maker would call us beautiful just as we are, we are enabled to see the beauty in others just as they are.

· We will love as we see His love for us!

We will love as we see His love for us!

Know that you’re loved by God; the proof is that Jesus died for you, to pay for your sins, to tell you your sins are forgiven, to love you perfectly so that you can love Him and love others.

Show your love for each other by encouraging each other with words. Bless others with gifts and praise. Build one another up. Befriend those who don’t have friends. Share who you are with others, God created you to do great, awesome beautiful things! Let his love overflow through you! Amen.