It is written: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. … So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-8, 13)
But what is “love?” The dictionary (dictionary.reference.com) would define love in a couple of the following ways: 1. a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. 2. a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend. 9. affectionate concern for the well-being of others. 10. strong predilection, enthusiasm, or liking for anything. 12. the benevolent affection of God for His creatures, or the reverent affection due from them to God.
The love of God can be described as love perfected. The first letter or “epistle” of John is an excellent book to read in regards to the subject of love. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7) But what is the “love of God?” Fortunately the apostle John tells us; “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.” (1 John 5:3-4) Also he says: “Who says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” (1 John 2:4-6)
Jesus was asked by a scribe: “Which commandment is the most important of all?” He answered “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe responded, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Jesus then replied “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” (Mark 12: 28-34)
The two greatest commandments; love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Let’s flashback to 1 John 5:3; “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” Loving God involves the first 4 commandment of the Ten Commandments while loving our neighbors involve the final 6. Let’s run through the ten commandments to see an itemized list on how the love of God can be perfected in us.
"1) You shall have no other gods before me.
2) You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
3) You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
4) Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. ..
5) Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
6) You shall not murder.
7) And you shall not commit adultery.
8) And you shall not steal.
9) And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10) And you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. And you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s. "
But discussing the commandments of God would show people sin in their lives possibly even making them feel grievous or bad, and that’s not love is it? To quote Paul “If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1: 10) He also says “As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” (Corinthians 7: 9) At the opening of this writing I quoted Paul when he said that love “rejoices in the truth.” But… “Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?” (Galatians 4:16) “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.” (Proverbs 13-24)
Please allow me to ask a question. If you were witnessing a blind man walking towards a cliff is it “loving” to inform this man by all means possible of the danger that is before him? By all means yes. However what feels like a modern definition of love would be more like no, it would be insensitive to remind the man that he’s blind, and we might even end up hurting his feelings. We have watered down love and forgot about the personal responsibility of love. The blind man represents a sinner that has been blinded by sin. He is unknowingly marching toward a cliff which represents eternal… once again for dramatic flair… eternal… damnation. Eternal means forever. Often Christians are treated negatively for reminding people that they are sinners. But isn’t that love? “Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?” (Galatians 4:16) Isn’t the only purpose of Christians on this planet is to spread the gospel and tell people about the forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus? How can you explain the forgiveness of sins without explaining what sin is?
Now it’s clear that Christians should not be self righteous and judgmental. For, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-7) But is also doesn’t mean that we should overlook or excuse sin. “And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” (2 Timothy 2:24) I find the phrase “correcting his opponents with gentleness…” to be interesting and relative. Why are so many of us afraid of confronting sin as sin and expressing our disdain for it? “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4: 18-19) If we are afraid of another persons reaction to hearing the gospel more than we are afraid for them facing judgment then we have not been perfected in love.
Okay, yes, loving someone does mean being nice to them. It does mean doing nice things for them. It also means supporting them and trying to make them feel better. However if we are not guiding people away from sin and explaining the perfected love of God, and preparing them for the kingdom, do we really love them? Love is hard sometimes. Often truly loving someone is hurting their feelings for a greater good. I imagine most people would agree that they’d rather a friend tell them honestly something looks bad on them or about them than to lie and allow them look ridiculous. Throughout the gospels there were several people that Jesus left sad because he told them the truth. The truth is intended to set you free, not to put you in bondage. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6)
Return to homepage
No comments:
Post a Comment