LIVING IN
LOVE
Christians are taught
by God to be loving people. "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye
love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know
that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:34-35).
In this
verse, Jesus uses himself as an example of how we are to love one another. We
are to love in the same way Jesus loved us. This command is repeated in John
15:12-13, where we are told, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends." In both his teaching and his example, Jesus was love.
Some of his
teachings were to:
Ø
Love
your enemies (Mt. 5:43-44).
Ø
Love
your neighbor as yourself (Mt. 19:19).
Ø
Love God
with all your soul, heart and mind (Mt. 22:37).
Ø
Obey
Jesus to prove our love (John 14:23).
Ø
Understand
that love is a command, not an option (John 15:17).
Love often is advocated these days but seldom practiced scripturally. Everyone thinks they deserve the love of others but, based on their actions, apparently do not believe they are obligated to love others. We excuse our unkind and critical remarks against our brethren with the thoughtless comment "That's just the way I am" instead of striving to grow in love (Eph. 4:15-16).
Christians
are not to love occasionally, when convenient or desirable, but are to
"walk in love as Christ hath also loved us" (Eph. 5:2). It is to
become a way of life, with Jesus as our guide. We are to be "be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one
mind" (Phil. 2:2). We are to "increase and abound in love" (I
Thess. 3:12).
We are
instructed to "let love be
without dissimulation" (Rom. 12:9), or hypocrisy. Our love must never be
hypocritical but always be true and genuine. The friendly, pat-you-on-the-back-in-person
Christian who becomes critical, unkind, backstabber when talking to others in
your absence practices a love of dissimulation. Our love is to be unfeigned
and from a pure heart (I Pet. 1:22).
“Love worketh no ill to
his neighbor” (Rom. 13:10). Christians are good neighbors. We should be the
kind of people whose association others would want.
James reminded people
who were partial, "If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to
persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors"
(James 2: 8-9).
The word “love” is used
310 times in the King James Version of the Bible, not counting other forms,
such as “loved” or “loves”. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God
and second to that is to love your neighbor as yourself (Mt. 22:37-40). I
Corinthians 13 emphasizes love and gives some short but plain definitions. One
article cannot begin to cover all the teaching concerning love but can remind
all of the emphasis that God, Jesus and His disciples placed on it.
Many of our problems,
both physically and spiritually, come because we do not love as the scriptures
define love, and the practice of it. We seem to think we can disobey the
second-greatest commandment, at will, and God will ignore our transgressions.
What a sad day it will be if we have lived faithful in all things and are
condemned in the judgment because of the unloving things we do to one another.
Paul wrote this to the
Thessalonians: “But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto
you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another” (I Thess. 4:9).
I need not have written this article for the same reason. But I urge all of
us to take it to heart and practice the love that God has taught you and me
from the beginning of time.
Jack