I could probably leave it there, and that title statement could stand alone, uncontestable. Love. Maybe this is a message just for me, or maybe it is for you too.
God, please forgive my opinions, should you find them without warrant, or indeed love.
Where is the love? Where is it?
Love, as we know, is a fruit of the Spirit, if not THE fruit of the Spirit. That is to say, it is the ultimate fruit.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith”
Galatians 5:22
1 Corinthians 13 has been read aloud throughout the world for over 1600 years. Even the non-believer has had an opportunity to grasp the idea of what Christ’s love is through church marriages.
“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
1 Corinthians 13:13
The extraordinary thing about this Love is that it is both the beginning of Faith, and the end of it.
In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul is describing spiritual growth, the pinnacle of which is Love. For what it’s worth, the whole message to the Corinthians is rooted in spiritual maturity.
The word used for love here is charity. Do you want to know the difference between the two? Nothing. In Tyndale’s 1526 and 1534 KJV translation of the New Testament, the word ‘charity’ was not present. In fact, he avoided the use of the term because he thought it reflected works and an alignment with Roman Catholicism.
However, translators chose to use the word ‘Charity’ to emphasise active benevolence, tangible acts of selfless generosity. Both ‘love’ and ‘charity’ come from the same Greek word, Agape. And in fact, they do mean the same exact thing. To use charity was simply a stylistic preference, nothing else. Agape is used to describe divine, volitional love, choosing to act benevolently toward others, even enemies, distinct from romantic eros or brotherly philia.
And yes, Agape is Divine love that originates and radiates from God, which, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are not only enabled to produce, but are commanded to produce.
“God is Love”
1 John 4:8
There are 23 explicit instructions or commands to Love in Holy Scripture. You can look into the verses. However, the following are some of my favourite verses in Scripture:
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:13
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
1 John 4:10
“Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:39
“As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.”
John 15:9
This love we are talking about is a love that puts aside objections such as embarrassment. I love my son’s view on embarrassment; he says sometimes to his sisters, “Embarrassment is not a real thing” he genuinely feels that way; if only more of us were like that.
Probably the other side of the same coin is rejection, or rather, the fear of it.
The Lord Jesus reminds us numerous times not to fear, and commands us to love.
He provided us with the most excellent example of how to love. He quite literally said, do it like this, lay down your life. And then he said, no I’m not talking about for your friends, for your enemies! Yes, I’m paraphrasing. Do you want to tell me I’m wrong? This is the fruit of the Spirit our Lord is talking about.
So, this is my problem, the command is to love our enemies, and we STRUGGLE to love even our Christian friends, our brothers and sisters.
You know what, I wouldn’t mind if you were too busy to demonstrate your love if it were because you were so busy loving your enemies, but you’re not.
I have a brother (in Christ) in Romania, who showed our family love. You know when the Holy Spirit has worked in the heart of a person, bearing the fruit of Love.
The Holy Spirit is working on my heart as much as the next person, probably more.
You know the love that the Lord Jesus Christ called us to, especially the commandment to love the Father? Do you have any idea how that is to be worked out in our lives? It’s through a deep commitment, deeper than you know right now, to love me as much as you love yourself!
I am serious.
If you do not or cannot love me this way right now, beg God, first for forgiveness, second for the pure heart to love without limits.
If you cannot identify with loving me because you don’t know me, replace the me with someone you know but don’t particularly care for.
Let me tell you, brothers and sisters, where the failure to love abounds, grace does all the more. But please:
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
Galatians 6:7
Let me encourage you with this verse, and hold it dearly:
“Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.”
1 Corinthians 13:8
Finally, and please don’t miss this. If you don’t understand it, or you think you know it, ask God to expound your heart and mind to the depth of this truth:
“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.”
