It is delightful when an intended insult is a blessing instead. A memorable parting shot is when I was told, "You know, there's more to Christianity than love!" This critique was offered because God's love was viewed to be an unnecessarily pervasive theme in my teaching at church. Instead of feeling defensive, it was music to my ears and a testimony of God's grace and faithfulness because I know love is not of me. I had been upbraided before for being "too black and white" and insensitive with my remarks, but this was something new: the LORD had been doing a work in my heart and changing the way I thought. Rejoice with me friends: God can change a hardened, self-righteous Pharisee to the point love becomes so prominent a theme it bears mention by others.
It is true there is more to Christianity than love, but looking from another angle reveals there cannot be Christianity without love. God's love is foundational in providing for our salvation, to govern all aspects of our lives, the primary fruit of the spirit, and a defining characteristic of God's character. The new commandment Jesus gave to His disciples was to love one another as He loved them. Paul wrote in Romans 13:8-10: "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." Jesus did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfill. God's active, sacrificial love is a main theme of scripture and demonstrated by Christ by dying for sinners.
In his epistle John wrote in 1 John 4:7-13: "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit." Through faith in Christ a believer is indwelt with the Holy Spirit who enables us to love God and others. Walking in God's love is a convergence of freedom and joyful duty in response to the love of God we have freely received.
God's love is perfected or fulfilled in us when we love one another. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. When we walk in love towards one another it proves God has empowered and enabled us to do what we cannot do ourselves. The love of God was manifested to us through Jesus Christ, and the love of Jesus is then expressed through us by the Holy Spirit. The love of God is not discovered at some lofty peak of divine revelation where angels fear to tread but in humility, brokenness, and weakness where Jesus finds us hungry and thirsty for Him. I have not arrived; I have not attained. But I rejoice in the miraculous work God has done in demonstrating His love for me and enabling me to value and proclaim His love more than before. May the love of God be perfected in all who believe that the world may also know God's love and that we are in Him.
It is true there is more to Christianity than love, but looking from another angle reveals there cannot be Christianity without love. God's love is foundational in providing for our salvation, to govern all aspects of our lives, the primary fruit of the spirit, and a defining characteristic of God's character. The new commandment Jesus gave to His disciples was to love one another as He loved them. Paul wrote in Romans 13:8-10: "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." Jesus did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfill. God's active, sacrificial love is a main theme of scripture and demonstrated by Christ by dying for sinners.
In his epistle John wrote in 1 John 4:7-13: "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit." Through faith in Christ a believer is indwelt with the Holy Spirit who enables us to love God and others. Walking in God's love is a convergence of freedom and joyful duty in response to the love of God we have freely received.
God's love is perfected or fulfilled in us when we love one another. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. When we walk in love towards one another it proves God has empowered and enabled us to do what we cannot do ourselves. The love of God was manifested to us through Jesus Christ, and the love of Jesus is then expressed through us by the Holy Spirit. The love of God is not discovered at some lofty peak of divine revelation where angels fear to tread but in humility, brokenness, and weakness where Jesus finds us hungry and thirsty for Him. I have not arrived; I have not attained. But I rejoice in the miraculous work God has done in demonstrating His love for me and enabling me to value and proclaim His love more than before. May the love of God be perfected in all who believe that the world may also know God's love and that we are in Him.
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