“Love.” Each of us often hear the word used in a wide variety of ways. When we’re sharing a meal with a friend, how many times do you hear something like, “I just love the flavor!” Or how about overhearing a conversation where someone has just romantically confessed with stars in their eyes, “I’m in love.” Or, sadly, in the news we hear the report of someone who declared he “loved” his girl friend so much he just couldn’t bear to have her leave him, and so killed her.
Not too long ago I realized that with this abuse and overexposure to the love word, I’ve lost sight of its rich meaning and significance for me as a Christian. Yet it’s a key element to living a truly fulfilled Christian life as described in the Word!
Come join me as I rediscover its rich meaning. I’ve enjoyed pondering on this taken-for-granted concept, discovering just a smidgen of the wealth held in this great gift—God’s gift of love. I think you will too.
There is a divine reason Jesus’ answer to the arrogant Pharisee was, “‘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 22:37-40 niv)
When I looked up this portion of scripture, the words, “All the Law… hang on these two commandments,” jumped out at me. He was saying the Jew’s whole religious, legal and social system, including the well-known 10 Commandments, hinged on the concept of love! And so does Christianity.
Do you realize what that means? Simply put, without love we’re not able to put into practice a life of spiritual victory, and reap its benefits… or be able to have meaningful relationships with others! (Think about it. Can you imagine what a world without love would be like? Talk about a “living hell.” We would be in it!)
Whoever first penned the well-known words, “Love makes the world go round,” in their love song was inadvertently right on. Love provides the framework for all that is good from the heart of man.
As my thoughts went deeper, I began to understand that even after accepting Christ as my Savior, if I don’t love Him I will have very little desire to be with him, let alone serve and emulate him! My contact with him will then be out of a sense of duty and drudgery, not enjoyment. Other things that I do enjoy will then quite naturally take precedence above Him in my life.
To see this at work, think of a child with a stepfather he doesn’t love, and just tolerates as being a necessary part of his life. What will the child do if the stepfather wants to spend some quality time with him, or share something, so they can get to know one another? He may not express it as such, but won’t the child see him as an interference in his life? Someone who doesn’t understand him? And so he will either blatantly tell his stepfather to buzz off, or will keep his mouth shut but ignore his stepfather’s overtures of companionship. Either way, the child will want to do as he pleases. Not what will please his stepfather.
Now let’s add love to this same scenario. Let’s say the child loves and idolizes his stepfather. Isn’t the child now hungry for his attention? Doesn’t he desire to be like him? What then happens when his stepfather invites him to spend some time with him? Is the child anticipating a time of duty and drudgery? Of course not! He’s excited! He’s anticipating a good time of camaraderie and enjoyment with his new dad.
But loving God that way is just the beginning. From there it isn’t too hard for me to see how this kind of love also affects our relationship with others. I decided to reread what’s known as the “Love Chapter.” (I Corinthians 13) It reminded me of some wonderful things.
Did you know the Bible tells us that we can possess great knowledge and riches, and even be the greatest givers of all time, but if we lack love we have nothing? It’s true. Take a close look at verses 1 – 3 of the Love Chapter.
And did you know scriptures tell us that love is even more important than faith or hope?! (Verse 13) This one really blew my mind! Did you pick up on what I saw? The verse was telling me that love is even more important than “faith”! But this is one I’m going to dig into later. As I mentioned in the beginning, we have used the word so loosely for so long we’ve lost sight of its rich meaning and significance as Christians. So for now I’m going to concentrate on getting a grasp on what God means by “love.”
Verses 4-7 gives us a marvelous picture of what love looks like in action, and describes what a loving person is not. We see that a person full of love is patient and kind, and always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres. They don’t envy what others have. They don’t build themselves up, or put others down. They’re not full of pride. It takes a lot to make them angry. Truth is important to them, and they take pleasure in living righteously. I’m beginning to understand why Jesus said everything hangs on love of God and neighbor. It’s a powerful gift!
This kind of love makes a tremendous difference; its presence changes attitudes and lives. That is the kind of love I want to reflect in my life. How about you?
