Hey Family!
I cannot wait for the day when I can confidently say that I love. Over the last few months I have been doing a word study on the word love in the bible because I was beginning to realize that I actually do not love that well. My actions compared to the worlds I suppose it seems like I love, I am friendly, fun, love life, and I am nice and kind to people.
But is that what Jesus's Love was?
That's what I set out to discover. Because if there is one thing I want to be true of me when I die, it is that I loved much and loved well. It has been very exciting to rip through the verses in the New Testament and see what Jesus, Paul and others talked about when they said the words love.
Love is basic. In the sense that everything Christians do should revolve around love. This is tough for me because I feel like really loving some one is so hard, but memorizing scripture or knowing facts about the Holy Spirit ect. is so easy.
Why is it that I have skipped learning how to love God and people well and deep, but spent my time on other more in depth things? It is like a basketball player who spends all his time dunking and spinning the ball on his finger, but never learns how to correctly dribble, pass or shoot. This player doesn't learn anything about team work, leadership, or playing defense. Instead he looks impressive on the playground because he can dunk and spin the ball on his finger. But, when college scouts come along, they will not give this guy a second look, simply because he is not a basketball player.
I wonder if that is what has happened to me? Have I learned how to do Christian things that are impressive and recognized, but forgotten to learn the basics of love? I think it has, because I always have been told I love well, that I love much. In reality I just love the people that are easy to love. The fun, popular people. My family, girlfriend and best friends when we are not arguing or are annoyed with each other.
This is hardly how Jesus loved.
So this is my unprofessional summary.
Jesus said Love is the most important commandment. Most important, as in if there was one we should try to do, one to sum up all the others, it would be this. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. Loving God with all our hearts means we chase him with everything, not just make sure he is a part of what we do. He is what we do. Loving him and holding him high is thee thing we as a human do daily. We don't chase worldly things, because that is giving our heart to the world. Loving your neighbor as yourself, meaning you literally love the guy or girl next to you as much as you do yourself, you make selfless decisions because you love that person as much as you love you.
John is very black and white, especially in 1 John. He says that If we love God, we will keep his commandments. If we don't keep his commandments, obviously we don't love God. Because the way you tell if some one loves God is not if some one says "I love Jesus", it is the one who keeps Gods commandments.
Paul echoes these in 1 Corinthians 13. He puts this right in the middle of 12 and 14 which deal with what I like to call "special God stuff". Stuff like healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues, different gifts and jobs of the body of the church. All stuff that is more attractive and more glamorous sounding than getting dirty and loving some one when its tough. I encourage you to read these chapters, Paul says, look at all this stuff I've just said, all these things that are really cool in this new Christian life. IF YOU DON'T LOVE, NONE OF IT MATTERS EVEN A LITTLE BIT. These things are useful definitely for the believer and Christian body. But without love they are inert. Completely useless.
Then Paul lays out what this love might look like.
Love is patient: It gives people a break when they mess up, it gives them time to grow. It doesn't jump all over them at the first sign of trouble.
Love is Kind: It cares more for others than for self. It is nice to people even when they are not popular, healthy, or fun.
Love is not Jealous: It is content with what it has, no more needed. That way it can spend more time preoccupied with giving than getting.
Love does not boast: It is not prideful, it doesn't walk around trying to get credit for stuff. All Credit goes to Jesus.
Love Does not force itself on others: Doing this is rude, self seeking and only about your feelings not others.
Love is not quick to anger: It stays calm, even when you want to explode. People don't respond well to anger, they respond well to love.
Love doesn't keep score: This is God's business, not mine. It doesn't matter that your roommate/spouse/child keeps messing up, keeps forgetting to do dishes ect. Just love.
Love doesn't get excited when others fail: This is just mean hearted
Love takes pleasure in the flowering of truth: Love and Truth go hand in hand. Love loves when truth comes out and frees people.
Love never gives up: It is tenacious. Puts up with everything and anything.
Love trusts God always: God has the truth, God has the plan, Love knows this and never loses faith. Keeps the child like faith that God knows what is best for us.
Love always looks for the best: It is always 1/2 full. Not negative, complaining, but positive and encouraging.
Love endures: Pushes through all the hard times. When you don't feel like loving God or people.
Love is selfless: It is really about others first, not just in our minds, but in our hearts. We actually want life to be better for others, even if it means sacrificing a little life for ourselves. This is one of the biggest ones for me living in America. How could I do something for some one else, that doesn't benefit me at all? That just seems backwards.
Love is Backwards: It is counter-cultural. It is different that what others are doing. It is hated on by the world and smiled on by God.
Love never dies: It lasts forever. It stands in the fire and comes out as gems when we get to heaven.
We are marked by our love: This love is different than anything the world has ever seen. It is actually attractive in its complete state. It draws people to wonder about what is going on in our lives. It points people directly to Jesus, which is the whole reason we have it in the first place.
So I write this not to say I love, but to say that I don't. Not yet, not fully. When I look at the above list of what love is, I daily do the opposite of at least half of them. But I want to love, and love well. I keep praying every day for God to help me love. For him to give me such a big view of him, that keeping his commandments just make sense. To make me humble, and to see what God sees so I can help others and serve others instead of just thinking about my self. The cool thing is that none of this is possible on our own. God gives us his Holy Spirit, because he knows we cannot do it on our own, but need to rely on him to do all those.
Wouldn't it be great, if the world, or most of it shared this One Love? Gods love? I think so : )
Have a great day!
Jake MacLean
