Biblical Love

What is Biblical love?
part 2

Most, especially Christians, like to claim that they are loving individuals. If, however, you ask people to define what they mean by love you will get responses that vary from “love is dying for a friend” to “love is a warm puppy.” It is understandable that the world would be confused about what constitutes love but should Christians be? Is there a standard to which all claims regarding love can be verified? Not to put too fine an edge on my answer but, yes, absolutely there is a standard. If someone, especially a Christian, wants to claim that he is truly a loving person, there are certain benchmarks that must be met. Let’s take a look at what the Bible lays out as the tell-tale signs of a loving heart.

1. For Love to be Biblical it must be indiscriminate.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? “And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-47)

A love that is pure, or perfect, is a love that is like God’s love, it must love its enemies. The validation of love occurs when it truly loves those who are categorized as its enemies. It is interesting to note that it is only in this life that we will be able to “prove” our love in this way. When we arrive in heaven there will be no enemies to love, only those who love us in return. When we are in eternity we will be in God’s presence surrounded by love, with no opportunity to manifest the depth of our love by loving our enemies face to face. Thinking about this puts a new perspective on loving our enemies now doesn’t it? Someone who claims to love and yet hates his enemies does not love with a biblical love. Such love is at best a self-serving emotion and action.

2. Biblical love is an evidence of a deeper relationship.

True love, a love that can love even its enemies, is only possible when there is a deeper relationship. A person’s resolve to love an enemy comes from a deeper love which wants to please the one who loves him, namely God. A person who loves Biblically knows that he was first loved by God when he was an enemy of God.

"We love, because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19, NASB)

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 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. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us." (1 John 4:7-12, NASB emphasis mine)

"“But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? “And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:44-48, NASB emphasis mine)

When we love as God does, when we love the unlovable, we give evidence that we are in fact God’s children and that we have passed from death to life.

3. Biblical love is mandatory.

For this reason true love, loves because it is compelled to do so it really is no longer an option. When God loved us, he shed the love of Christ abroad in our heart.

"and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (Romans 5:5, NASB)

"For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf." (2 Corinthians 5:14-15, NASB)

Next time… How does Biblical love manifest itself in the Body of Christ?
New American Standard Bible . 1986; La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

Biblical Love
Where’s the Love?
part 1

After watching Christian people for about 25years I am frequently forced to ask the question, “Where the love?” Remember the old woman in the hamburger joint commercial? While many Christians feel that love is actually on the rise within the church, in reality, love is had in such small proportions as to be virtually undetectable. I understand that many Christians who read this might protest that, while the church as a whole may be lacking in love, they are in fact full of love and that their own church is also full of loving people. My response to that reaction would be to point out that I am not referring to a love that is a nebulous fog of sentimentality, good thoughts, well-wishing, and gift-giving but to a Biblically defined love. Biblical love is always manifested in very specific verifiable ways and these objective signposts are virtually missing from today’s Christian circles.
I hope that Christians who read this will not be offended, but instead be motivated to read further and then Biblically evaluate their own claim to love. To help us evaluate whether or not we truly, Biblically, love it is vital that we spend time looking at Biblical love by asking and then answering these few questions.

· How important is it for to Christians love?
· What is Biblical love?
· How do Christians begin to love others in a Biblical way?

How important is it for Christians to love Biblically?

This is a very important question. After all if it is not important for Christians to love Biblically why worry about it? If love is not important why be motivated to evaluate the extent of it in our lives?

John 13:35
“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

By making this statement Jesus is elevating love to a status unequalled by any other attribute. Love for one another is the one thing that will tell the world that we are the Disciples of Christ. When Paul was reciting the reasons he was thankful for the Thessalonians one of the reasons he gave was their love.

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3
We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father,

The Thessalonians labors were labors motivated by their love. Our love for each other is a mirror of our love for Christ. Jesus said these words.

Matthew 25:40
“And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

If we were to try to define God, one of the ways to do that is say, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Because God is love, anyone born of God will, by definition, love.

1 John 4:7-14
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so 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 Go so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is 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. 14 And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

How important is it for Christians to love others, especially brothers and sisters in the faith? It is vital. If we do not love others it says more about us than it does the ones we find it difficult or impossible to love. It is after all the definition of Godly love to love the unlovable.

Matthew 5:43-48
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? “And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

So go out and love! Be perfect in your love as your Father in heaven is perfect. Next time we will answer the question what is Biblical love? What does love look like when it is practiced?

Christmas: Celebrating a life of purpose

The life of Jesus was a life filled with purpose. From the very beginning God made it clear to all who would listen that Jesus would be a person with a very special purpose indeed. The angel Gabriel told Mary concerning Jesus.

"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”"

(Luke 1:31-33)

An angel of the Lord said to the shepherds the night Jesus was born,

“Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy

which will be to all people.

For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”"

(Luke 2:10-12)

God the Father spoke through Jesus, Jesus’ purpose was to be God’s express image to the world.

" God, who at various times and in various ways

spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,

has in these last days spoken to us by His Son,

whom He has appointed heir of all things,

through whom also He made the worlds;

who being the brightness of His glory

and the express image of His person,

and upholding all things by the word of His power,

when He had by Himself purged our sins,

sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,"

(Hebrews 1:1-3)

Jesus lived out the purpose for which He was called. He never wavered in the least in the living out that purpose. Jesus is the bread of life, and he was born to die. It is fitting that the “bread of life” should be born and laid in a manger, the feeding trough of livestock.
The Bible says that Jesus was obedient to the point of death, he paid the full cost of living out His purpose.

"And being found in appearance as a man,

He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death,

even the death of the cross." (Philippians 2:8)

Have you ever thought about your purpose? We have been created for a purpose as well.

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,

which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

(Ephesians 2:10)

As we celebrate the birth of our messiah, let us not forget how faithfully He lived out His purpose. Let us all join together and ask for strength to be faithful to our purpose.