Perhaps no other subject throughout human history has been
written about as much as love. People
are captured by the idea of love. As a
society we spend untold hours and billions of dollars on the subject. Our heroes seek it. Our bards opine it. Our youth are inundated with its value. Countless authors have written myriads of
books revolving around this universal subject.
And problem with all of these conditions is most of us have no idea what
love really is. God’s spoken word
authored this world. It would then stand
to reason that He has the authority to define the seemingly most captivating
subject within it. So, what does God say
love is?
First I want to point out that love is a commandment. Look with me at Deuteronomy 6:5
You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
It is given to us as a commandment again in Leviticus 19:18
You shall not take
vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you
shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
You see, love is given to us in the law as a
commandment. The implication then is
that love is an action you commit. If
God did not command that we have an emotional response to him, He commanded us to action. So many times in marital counseling someone
will say, “I just don’t love him anymore,” or, “We just don’t love each other
the way we used too.” I inevitably find
myself wanting to scream, “Then you better start right now.” Contrary to what this world wants to sell
you, love is not
an emotion. Desire is
an emotion. Happiness is an
emotion. Infatuation is an emotion. Love is an action. Love
is not something you fall into. Love is
not something that finds you. Love is
not something you find. Love is something
that you are commanded to do.
This means that when your spouse does something you don’t
like you still have to love them. This
means that when someone betrays your trust you still have to love them. It is a scary concept. It means you are responsible and accountable
for whom you choose to love. There is
suddenly no acceptable reason for not loving; anyone. Accepting love as a commandment changes the
horizon. Suddenly, love has nothing to
do with an inexpiable force. Suddenly
no one is a victim. Suddenly love is no
longer something that happens to you; but something you do. Suddenly you are empowered to love the way God
intended.
Love is not just a commandment. Love is the greatest commandment. It
is preeminent above all other aspects of God’s law. When asked the greatest commandment Christ points towards love. As a
matter of fact in Matthew Chapter 22 Verses 37 through 40 he states that all
the law hangs upon the precept of love.
And Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love
your neighbor as yourself. On these two
commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.
Christ showed that love is very foundation of the old
covenant which God established with Israel.
But, in John Chapter 15 Verse 3, He gave it as His own personal
commandment to His disciples.
This is My commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his
friends.
Love’s prominence then as a commandment is astounding. It is the most inescapable aspect of God’s
communion with mankind through His Word.
However, it goes far beyond God’s chief concern of our conduct. Under the New Covenant love becomes the
out-pouring of the new creation we are in Christ Jesus. According to Paul’s letter to the Galatians love is the
fruit which the Holy Spirit produces within us. Chapter 5 Verses 22 and 23 read as such:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Not only is love given as on of the fruits the Holy Spirit
produces in our lives, it is given as the first of these. Love’s place among these most profound gifts
is solidified in the 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.
Here Paul, in some of the most beautiful language of the entire Bible,
forever shows love is not only a fruit of the Spirit. Love is the preeminent fruit of the Spirit.
Though I speak with the
tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I have become sounding brass or
a clanging cymbal. And though I have the
gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I
have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am
nothing. And though I bestow all my
goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not
love, it profits me nothing.
Wow, the escalation of love’s prominence keeps going. To see love as the greatest fruit borne by
the Holy Spirit is to begin to appreciate its importance in the life of a
believer. In fact, love identifies us as believers. You know a fig tree by its figs. You know a believer by their love. Christ put it this way in John in John 13:35:
By this all will know
that you are my Disciples, if you have love for one another.
So, love is Christ’s preeminent commandment (action) which
transcends the law as the preeminent fruit of the Holy Spirit which is used to
identify and individual as a true believer.
That seems like a lot. But wait,
there is more. Love is also used to define God. There aren’t many words which by themselves
can be used to define God. However, love
is used in that very manner in 1 John 4:8
Beloved, let us love
one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and
knows God. He who does not love does not
know God, for God is love.
To say that God is love then is entirely accurate. God then goes on to define the word which He
used to define Himself. Look in the
second epistle of John at verse six.
And now I plead with
you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we
have had from the beginning; that we love one another. This is love, that we walk according to His (God’s)
commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have
heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.
Now we have a definition of love that we can sink our teeth
into. When God says I am to love my
neighbor He is telling me to observe His statuettes and commandments in regards
to that person. How beautiful is
that. If you want to know how to love
your spouse the way God intended all you have to do is live your life the way
God told you to. If I truly love someone
God’s directions for what is holy and right are my guiding principles on my
relationship to that person.
This is a stark contrast to how many people view love
today. Many times I see people treat God’s
law as if it were in total opposition to love.
How many times have you heard someone say, “Well I know what the Bible
says. But, God loves us and wants us to
be happy.” God does love us. That’s why the Bible says what it says. In His infinite love God wants what is best
for us; not what makes us happy. You
see, God’s love is given to us in His Word; not in spite of it.
What does that love look like in our lives? The Apostle Paul describes it in his first
letter to the Corinthian church. In
Chapter 13 Verses 4 thru 8 it’s given to us in this way:
Love suffers long and
is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
does not behave rudely, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the
truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all
things. Love never fails.
I fear that love, as described here, is almost unrecognizable by us today. When I walk into churches today I see little
suffering of any kind; much less long suffering. In truth, I've seen people leave churches
because they were asked to move seats. “Can
you believe what he said to me?” Our pastors encourage envy by promoting a
gospel of prosperity. “If you entreat
God’s favor you will prosper (have material possessions).” We as “Christians” today lack humility. As a matter of opinion, some of the least
humble and most rude people I know claim to be Christians. Furthermore, we use love as an excuse to
condone iniquity in someone’s life rather than speak God’s Truth. “Well I know what the Bible says. But, God wants us to love everybody,” is
given as the common excuse for whatever sin we want to overlook. We no longer bear anything. We believe little of what God actually says
and view all others with skeptical eyes.
I am to hope all things. That
hope is to include the redemptive work of sanctification in the lives of my
fellow believers as well as God’s promise thereof. These characteristics of love are missing
from our lives. They have been replaced
with this world’s view of love. The love
our society boasts of today is one that is fickle, frail, and failed. “We used to love each other,” or, “I fell in
love with someone else,” are the death rattles of many a marriage today. Our society’s love is one that fails continually. This is not the love that God described. It certainly isn’t the love He demonstrated
for us.
But God demonstrates
His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us.
Romans 5:8 describes not just what love looks like, but what
it accomplishes. Love redeems the one
who is without merit. Our churches are
in need of that love. Our homes are in
need of that love. My soul is redeemed by that love.