LOVING BECAUSE HE LOVES
The Bible does not command emotions, but it does command love. So biblical, Christ-like love is more than a feeling. It may involve feelings and lead to feelings, but it is a decision to put the well-being of others above our own. It is doing for others exactly what Christ has done for us– thinking of them first.
This kind of love is only demonstrated by the believer whose dependence is upon Christ. We look to Christ as our example, because He loved us when we did not deserve to be loved. And we still don’t, yet He still does. God’s love was fully shown when “Christ died for us” even “while we were still sinners” (Rom. 5:8).
This kind of sacrificial love stands in contrast to the way that the world views love. This is not something that you “fall into.” It is a decision of the will. We decide to love others, whether we feel like it or not. God’s love for us shown in Christ is not a feeling. It was a decision to take care of us. So this is the way that we are to treat others. We are to “walk in the path of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us” (Eph. 5:2).
Without love, the best deeds we can do mean nothing (1 Cor. 13:1-3). And true, Christian love is defined by how it deals with others. Paul wrote that “love is patient, love is kind...love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4,7).
Christ-like love “covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8). It will overlook the faults of others, and it will cause God to judge us with the same mercy and kindness that we show to others (James 2:13; Matt. 7:1-2). You can never love “too much.”
The greatest thing in the world is love. Because “now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13). Yes, if you dedicate yourself to loving Christ Jesus and loving others because of your love for Him, then you will be doing exactly what we are supposed to do on this earth. Loving God and loving others, Jesus said, is what God’s intention for us has always been (Matt. 22:36-40).
We are to love others because our God is love. He defines love. Christ is our salvation, our covenant, and He is our love. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7). Nothing shows that we belong to God and receive our life from God like love does.
Without this reflection of God’s nature in our lives, we cannot claim to be followers of Christ. “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8). It is easy to see the logic. God is love itself. Jesus is love embodied. If we claim to be united with Him by faith, which is what being a Christian really means, then we will be people of love.
Let God’s amazing love change you and flow through you to other people.
Bryan Dewayne Dunaway
