Love - By: Lisa Grant

Love

The New Testament of our Bible has a theme and a great purpose

Turn to almost any page, and we meet Jesus. The Bible is filled with countless descriptions of Jesus and His disciples performing great miracles and teaching. He fed the masses, healed the sick, and gave sight to the blind.  Let's explore the theme of Jesus' life and His commandments.

 

God Is Love

1 John 4:16 explains;

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him

God Commands Us To Love each Other

Matthew 22:37-40 quotes Jesus himself saying:

He said to him: You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and with your whole mind.  This is the greatest and first commandment.  The second like it, is this: you must love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments the whole law hangs, and the prophets

 We see this same message again in Galatians 5:14

For the entire law has been fulfilled in one commandment, namely you must love your neighbor as yourself

God commands us to love through the entire New Testament.  

Romans 13:8-10 explains;

Do not owe anything to anyone except to love one another.  For whoever loves his fellow man has fulfilled the whole law code.  'You must not commit adultery, you must not commit murder, you must not covet, and whatever other commandment there is, is summed up in this saying, 'You must love your neighbor as yourself'.  Love doesn't work evil on ones neighbor, therefore love is the laws fulfillment

Commandment

Again in John 15:17 Jesus gives this commandment;

These things I command you.  That you love one another

John 4:21;

And we have this commandment from Him, that whoever loves God must also love his brother

1 John 2:23;

Indeed this is His commandment: that we have faith in His Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as He gave us a commandment

1 Timothy 1:5 goes into more details about the how and the why:

The real objective of this instruction is love out of a clean heart and out of a good conscience and out of faith without hypocrisy

and Proverbs 10:12 give us practical advice:

Hate is what stirs up contentions.  But, love covers all transgressions

Peter 4:8;

Above all things have intense love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins

1 Corinthians 16:14;

Let everything you do be done with love 

 

How to Love - Unconditionally

Our Bible even breaks love down to its essential components with this beautiful definition in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8;

Love is patient and kind.  Love is not jealous.  It does not brag, does not get puffed up, does not behave indecently, does not look after it's own interests, does not become provoked.  It does not keep account of injury.  It does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails

The Bible helps us recognize love's precise nature in our heart, and how to share it with others.  I feel the first and best example of love is John 3:16;

God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that everyone having faith in Him may not die but have eternal life

Jesus expands upon this verse in John 15:13-14 when He says;

No one has love greater than this, that someone should surrender his life on behalf of his friends

Gods love for us is deep and unending.  He sent His only Son to take all the sins of the world onto Himself.  God wants us to follow Jesus' lead.  Jesus left his story and the legacy of His life with us to study.  Romans 5:8 gives us the following instruction:

God recommends His own love in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us

We are encouraged to follow God's the example of God's love here on Earth in 1 John 7-11;

The love is in this respect.  Not that we have loved God but, He loved us and sent His Son as a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins.  Beloved ones, if this is how God loved us then we are also under obligation to love one another

Follow Jesus Lead

We know that God is love. Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life here on Earth as an example for our own lives.  We also know He commanded us to love each other.  He taught us that love covers and fulfills the Law and covers a multitude of sins.

God wants us to follow Jesus' example. We can't be him, but we can act like him!  Ephesians 5:1-2:

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children go on walking in love, just as the Christ also loved us and gave himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice, a sweet fragrance to God

To follow Jesus example we are told in John 3:18:

Little children, we should love, not in word or with tongue but in deed and truth

Jesus tells us what He expects in John 13:15:

For I set a pattern for you that just as I did to you, you should also do

An Example To Follow

We are told to use Jesus' and His life as a lesson and example for our own lives in 1 Peter 2:21:

In fact to this course you are called, for even Christ suffered for you leaving a model for you to follow His steps closely

James 1:22 tells us how to be doers of the word, not just hearers. Love is an action, not a description. He explains in John 15:10:

If you observe my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have observed the commandments of The father and remained in His love

and in John 3:36:

The one who exercises in the Son has everlasting life.  The one who disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him

 

John 14:23:

If anyone loves me he will observe my word and my Father will love him and will come to him and make a dwelling with him

John 14:15;

If you love me, you will observe my commandments

Review

Looking back we remember Jesus' commandments are:

1. Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul
2. Love others as we love ourselves

The theme of Jesus' life and teaching is: LOVE.  We must have intense love for others just like He has for us.  He commands it and lived it as an example for us to follow.  1 Corinthians 13:2 sums it up well:

And if I have the gift of prophesy and understand all the sacred secrets and all knowledge and if I have all the faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing

and Romans 12:10 tells us where to begin;

In brotherly love, having tender affection for each other, in showing honor to one another take the lead

By studying God's word we clearly see that we were created by God to worship Him and to love each other. It IS our purpose in life. 


God Bless you!