The word love seems so easy to define, when you say the word. But so many people come up with so many different definitions. I’m sure if you took a street poll, you’d get some interesting answers for the question, “how do you define “love”.”
Biblically, 1 John 3:16 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” OK, not necessarily the descriptive words we often think of, but speaks volumes at the same time. Regardless of what Jesus said and did during his ministry, in the end he gave his life up for everyone… from the blind and poor, to the Pharisees and Caesar (and even for me).
Also, in 1 John,we are to “not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” In truth? What’s that supposed to mean? My generation doesn’t believe in truth (or at least truth that’s truth for everyone, absolutely) anymore, so how do we define it?
Essentially, God knows our hearts… He knows what’s in there… He knows what’s not in there. If we’ve got a bunch of crap running rampant in our hearts, we can’t possibly be living in truth (trying to hide it from God, or trying to make God see things “our” way (non-absolutism).) But if we obey God’s commands, there’s no room for crap! and “Voila!” we’re filled with truth!!! And what’s more, if we’re obedient, we’ll receive what we ask for in prayer, because our desires are God’s desire for us!!!
And the biggest commands that God has for us… Believe in the Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another. And when we believe, Jesus lives in us, and we’ll know it because of the Spirit he gave us!!! (All of this is in 1 John, by the way)
So, love becomes an outpouring of the Spirit within us, who shows up powerfully as a result of obedience to God’s commands… so we are better equipped to love each other (to lay down our lives for each other… whoa). At this point I’m just trying to put all of this 1 John stuff together to make it make sense to me (maybe not to you).
Am I at the point where I could give up my life for my brother/ sister? I know I could do it for Scott (although he probably would say he wouldn’t want me to). Is “giving your life” a physical death, an emotional death, a death to self? Is it finally being at home with Jesus (I guess that’s a cool way to look at it)?
DC Talk had a song out when I was a teenager called “Luv is aVerb.” I used to listen to it all the time (I thought it was hard core stuff). But it speaks volumes of truth. You can’t love someone if you don’t
show it. Jesus healed the paralytic, he drove out demons, he raised the dead, he overturned tables, he turned water into wine. These were, first, to show God’s glory, and second, to show his deep care for the Jews and Gentiles alike. Not everything Jesus did came with a warm, happy feeling. He came with the Five love languages (most of us have read about them), but he also came with force, with concern, with a sword. Although, Jesus got angry, it was a Holy anger, an anger that showed just how deeply he wanted this world to WAKE UP! That is also a form of showing love.
“Jesus loves us as we are, but He doesn’t want to leave us that way,” the book
Just Like Jesus says. Jesus showed His great love for us even though we are sinners, but there’s no way he wants us to live complacently and take his sacrifice for granted. We can talk ourselves silly about “loving” Jesus, but until we put our “money where our mouth is,” it’s still just words, a feeling. We sing songs in church about loving God, and then we (including me) go home and watch the Pats and forget all about the words we sang. Where’s the change in me/ us? How do we show our love for Him?
I used to say to myself, well, I go to work all day, I’m saving money, I’m moving up in the world, I go to church, and do a ministry, and sometimes I even read the Bible. Aren’t I showing Jesus that I love him by doing that? Well, I’ve come to realize that our example for all of this (Jesus) didn’t go about working a full time job, saving money, trying to fit into a “worldview” or an economy, he didn’t do church one a day week, and do some (fill in the blank) ministry to show that he loved his father and his neighbor.
Jesus went to the people who were in need, who needed to be shown love, and ministered to them… he didn’t wait for them to come through the front doors of the church, he was the church on wheels and his doors never closed, because he poured himself out. He never worried about being worn-down, or not having enough time to himself. His love for the people he ministered to filled him up to the brim with joy.
So, I guess it comes down to Jesus’s example (as does everything pertaining to Christianity), it’s up to us to take him up on it. Do we see him as just a good example of love and continue on doing our own thing? Or do we follow that example. Jesus ministered (loved) to people in many different ways, and he could discern people’s hearts… he held the Pharisees just as accountable as the Samaritan woman, but he knew how to show them love (some was tough love) and he knew how to tell them how to love. To the rich young ruler he said, “Sell all your belongings and follow me.” But to the woman at the well he said, “Go, and sin no more.” That’s how Jesus knew he was being loved… if the people he ministered to (and today we have his written word, as well as the Spirit) listened and obeyed!
What’s stopping us from loving (it’s a verb!) Jesus first? Once we understand how to do that, then we’ll know how to love each other better!
