If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.[i]
-1 Corinthians 13:1-3
When it comes to love do we really know how to in a way that is godly or proper? Or do we even know how to love at all? Think to yourself and look hard at your motives. Is love a feeling or is there something more to it? Do we find it easy to love things or even love a certain feeling more then people? Loving a feeling or an object is easy because it requires nothing back from us. On the other hand, when it comes to people, it is another story. We seem to find ourselves distant from others when it comes to love. Why is that? Is it because love requires us to give of ourselves in a way that makes us feel uncomfortable or maybe it is an action that is very undesirable? We may find it easy to love certain people because they don’t require anything from us or maybe because we are on the receiving end of love. How do we expect to love as the bible calls us to when we resist on giving of our time and ourselves in such a way that we push others out of our lives. One thing is true, if we are apt to push others away from our hearts, then we will certainly push God away also. Scripture states:
“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.”[ii] (1 John 2:9-10)
Do we love our brothers? Or is there something that is in the way of that relationship. Is there a roadblock to having a meaningful relationship with the ones we say we love? We may have no problem with family members and dismiss the scripture as meaningless to us. But when the word brother, sister and even neighbor is used in the bible it is in a much broader sense then our family and those who may live next door to us. We can rationalize away verses like that of 1 John 2:9-10 as the expert of the Law did in Luke 10:25 – 29.
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind”; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”[iii]
Did you notice how the expert of the Law tried to rationalize and justify himself by wanting to know who his neighbor was? As if he was ignorant of what the Law required of him. How many times do we carry feelings of resentment towards others and say we have been unaware of it to justify ourselves. We may even say we “hate the sin, but love the sinner”. But do we? Do we look for a way out of loving certain people as the expert of the Law did? In Jesus day the most hated people by the Jews were the Samaritans. And that is whom Jesus told the story about as being their neighbor.
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”[iv]
Luke 10:30 – 37
Jesus does the same to us. He doesn’t give us an excuse to hate or resent others because they have done something to us, or because of their race, sex, religion, or because they believe differently then we do. If we use excuses to withhold love then we are like a clanging cymbal in the wind; lots of talk about loving others but it is full of noise without substance.
We can be knowledgeable Christians who can quote scripture from memory and serve others in the church without reward. Also we can show affection to those who are in our families and to our friends. But we are called to go past that in our love for others as Jesus says in
Luke 6:32 - 36:
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.[v] Luke 6:32-36
Dietrich Bonhoeffer states it; “Christian love draws no distinction between ones enemy and another, except that the more bitter our enemy’s hatred, the greater his need of love.”[vi] We may say that writing lines about love is easy, but Bonhoeffer was not talking about a person who had betrayed him in a small matter. He was talking about the Nazi’s whom were in charge of Germany at that time, that opposed and threatened his freedom to teach and worship God as he chose. Those same Nazi’s would eventually take his life by hanging him by the neck because of his love for God and love for others. The love and obedience to God and His love for us did the same to Jesus. He chose to love those who would later chant the words “Crucify Him, Crucify Him”.
We may not have people after us that threaten our lives, but we still have brothers and sisters whom we consider enemies that we refuse to love. Think to yourself for a minute of those whom you refuse to love and give of yourself too. Maybe they are not enemies at all but they are normal people in your daily life that you encounter. Could it be we are afraid to love them? What is your fear in loving them? What would it look and feel like? Maybe a better question to ask is what does love look like to you? Is it something that brings you pain and eventually loneliness? Does love feel more like abandonment and end up being a one way street. Do we tend to desire to give love to those who refuse it and shy away from loving those who need it? Maybe the problem is our view of love. I am sure if you could see inside any persons’ heart today you would see someone who doesn’t truly understand love from a godly prospective. We all are corrupted by the world’s standards in a way that we don’t truly comprehend the love of God. We need to look to Christ for a proper interpretation of what love really is. Let’s look at what scripture describes love to be.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. [vii]
1 Corinthians 13:4 – 8a
Does that describe the love you have experienced before in your own life? If we fear love, then it is safe to say what we have experienced wasn’t the love that God desires. We need to ask God to show us what love truly is and what it can be. God is the only one who can love us without selfishness, self-centeredness or conceit. Scripture says:
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.”[viii] 1 John 4:18
We all need God’s help to see love in a way that reflects His love for us. And to ask Him to bring people in our lives that can, and will love us in such a way that it will reflect, and bring glory to Him. Asking Him to use the love He has for us to drive out and rid us of the fear of loving others. In turn, filling us with His love and giving out of His abundance to those who need it. We need to be willing to love Him, and those He brings into our lives that reflects His love in us.
Michigan, 1973, 1978, 1984, 1985. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
[ii] The NIV Study Bible The New International Version, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids
Michigan, 1973, 1978, 1984, 1985. 1 John 2:9 - 10
[iii] The NIV Study Bible The New International Version, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids
Michigan, 1973, 1978, 1984, 1985. Luke 10:25 - 29
[iv] The NIV Study Bible The New International Version, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids
Michigan, 1973, 1978, 1984, 1985. Luke 10:30 - 37
[v] The NIV Study Bible The New International Version, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids
Michigan, 1973, 1978, 1984, 1985. Luke 6:32 - 36
[vi] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, Touchstone, New York, NY 1937, 1959, 1995
[vii] The NIV Study Bible The New International Version, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids
Michigan, 1973, 1978, 1984, 1985. 1 Corinthians 13:4 – 8a
[viii] The NIV Study Bible The New International Version, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids
Michigan, 1973, 1978, 1984, 1985. 1 John 4:18
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