Love One Another

"And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God" (Phil. 1:9-11).

"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein 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 ought also to love one another" (1 John 4:7-11).

In these passages of Scripture we do not find any indication of an effort being made to provide a written definition for the word love. Love is a powerful word though it is used so loosely by people today. Multiple scholars and philosophers have tried to define it for ages. Musicians sing about love. Poets write about it. Valentine makers try to capture it in art, and merchants recommend we say it with chocolate candies and flowers. As it stands, nothing has ever nor will ever communicate the meaning of love better than God’s own Word and actions.

Love is one of the greatest factors in the life of a child of God. The love the Bible speaks of gives without expecting anything in return. It was God’s love for His creation that prompted Him to give His Son as the price for our redemption. It was the Son’s love that made it possible for Him to fulfill His part of the divine program which included His death on the Cross. Bible love is the demonstration of an intense feeling of deep affection clearly seen in a willingness to sacrifice. In the Bible, love is unconditional; love was GIVEN, 

love DIED FOR US, love LAID DOWN for you and I and did not stand with its hand outstretched expecting something in return. This same unrestrained love must be expressed in the life of a Christian. It must be evidenced in our actions toward our fellow man.

What consequence will loving one another have? Jesus said, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35). This verse points out the importance of love and the impact it will have upon those around us—the message of God’s love to the world by a living demonstration, not by verbal proclamation. Someone said, "Your talk walks and your walk talks, but your walk talks further than your talk walks." It is necessary that love—the love of God, loving one another—be allowed to speak by our actions and not so much by our words. Nothing else will speak so loudly to the lost as our love for one another.

Where does love have its beginning? If we are to love we must go to the Fountain from which love springs forth. The Scriptures declare: "God is love" (1 John 4:8). The inquisitive lawyer asked Jesus, "Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment"
(Matt. 22:36- 38). This is considered the command of highest priority—to love God with the emotions, determination, intention, spiritual faculties, and the intellect. In other words, above everything else in this world, man is to love God with his entire being. Obedience, genuine obedience, begins with love. To obey without love is not to obey at all. If we obey just for the sake of saying we obeyed, but do it not in true love, then we are not much better than that little child who did what he was asked to do when his mother kept insisting he sit down in

his chair. When he finally unlocked his knees and plopped down into his seat, his glare told the real story, "I may be sitting down on the outside—but on the inside I’m still standing up!"

In the sight of God, what is not done in love is not accepted. When our love is first and foremost anchored in God, it is then that our entire lives are put into focus. Loyalty to God puts everything else in its right place. It has been said that genuine love is not something we put on and off as the situation may dictate, like politeness. Love is woven into the very fabric of the Christian man or woman and determines what and who we are.

Jesus continued with His response to the lawyer. "And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Matt. 22:39). A person is capable of loving his or her neighbor when their love is directly connected to the Source and Fountain of true love. When Jesus said "is like unto it," He was saying it is "almost the same as" loving God. No person declaring to be Christian can rightfully and truthfully love God if they love not their brother. "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" (1 John 4:20). What significant and noteworthy words! One might even consider them harsh, but we didn’t pronounce them— they are found in your Bible! Doesn’t it seem like—nay, is it not clear that love to God is directly linked to our love for one another!? We can say we love God all we want, but if we don’t love our brother, then we lie.

None of us are exempt from obeying His following command, "And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also"
(1 John 4:21). We are to love one another in spite of offences, faults, or misunderstandings. In cases of offences and

misunderstandings, it is better to pray as one precious saint, "Lord, help me to bear a misunderstanding rightly, and to receive an unkind judgment in holy sweetness."

In God’s Word, we find the extent to which our love for one another must reach. It is a length of love, it is a breadth of love, it is a depth of love that Jesus Christ Himself demonstrated, established, and transmitted: "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another" (John 13:34). The command was not given as such without God first demonstrating the manner and degree in which this can and must be done. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God" (1 John 3:1). "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). "...I lay down my life for the sheep... Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself... This commandment have I received of my Father" (John 10:15, 17, 18). Special attention is here called to not only perceive through sight, but also to make an attempt to comprehend with our finite minds the way Christ loved us. Jesus expressed His love—which we did not deserve—and granted it to us through His sacrifice on the Cross. What we find in the gospel writings is Christ’s marvelous display of divine love; and by loving us in such a way, He became the model and standard for the love that was and is to be manifested among us. He said, "For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them" (John 13:15-17).

We find one of the most powerful (and challenging) statements ever made of the Christian faith in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." We can give it all, believe it all, speak it all, have it all, and know it all, yet without love, nothing else in the Christian experience has any legitimacy. Why? Because what is done must be done in love—first love God, secondly love thy neighbor—"On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matt. 22:40). Paul informs us that love is the foundation upon which our lives must be built. Love is so crucial that no matter what we say, do or give, if it is not rooted in love then it profits us nothing—it’s all in vain! The inconsistency of some folks failing to demonstrate the love of God, while at the same time seemingly manifesting the gifts of the Spirit in power and purpose, will someday ultimately be settled in heaven. According to the above mentioned Scripture, one can speak the tongues of men and angels, have the gift of prophecy, understand mysteries, have all knowledge, faith, remove mountains; nevertheless, in the eyes of God, he is nothing!

Some may find out far too late that the most important part of our Christian life is not the exercising of spiritual gifts but the authenticity of the love of God in us. In John’s first letter, he points out that love is not about what you receive, but what you give—it isn’t something that happens to a person, love is something that a person does! "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:16-18). Again, love is the demonstration of an intense feeling of deep affection and it is needful that it should "abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment" (Phil. 1:9).

Read 1 John 4:9-11 again in the text Scripture of this article. This is agape love. It is the love God gives and keeps on giving. He sends it out upon the deserving and undeserving and on the responsive and unresponsive. While we were yet sinners, God loved us and sent His only begotten Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Has anything more virtuous and glorious ever been written or done?

Dear reader, have you ever had a similar experience in your Christian walk where love spilled from your heart upon someone and they did not respond? Is there a person you considered undeserving? What did you do? Look to the example God has given you and ask yourself: "Is it too much for Him to require me to love the unresponsive and unlovely? Is it too much for Him to require me to have genuine love for my brother?" We are privileged to be a part of such a great family, it behooves us to remember that it is made up of people of different personalities and dispositions, nevertheless, the Lord Jesus Christ loves us, and we ought to be able to love one another.

Have we asked ourselves lately, "How much time do I spend in prayer for that brother or sister? Do I know about what troubles he or she has so I can effectively pray for them?" Are we truly loving one another and bearing one another’s burdens? If the answer to these questions is negative, we may be in need of reevaluating our spirit and compare it to the Spirit of Christ and making some changes.

Clement wrote to the Corinthian Church near the end of the first century: "Let him who has love in Christ perform the commandments of Christ. Who is able to explain the bond of love of God? Who is sufficient to tell the greatness of its beauty? The height to which love lifts us is not to be expressed. Love unites us to God. Love covereth a multitude of sins. Love beareth all things, is long-suffering in all things. There is nothing base, nothing haughty in love; love admits no schism, love makes no sedition, love does all things in concord…In love did the Master receive us; for the sake of the love which He had toward us did Jesus Christ our Lord give His blood by the will of God for us, and His flesh for our flesh, and His soul for our souls."

"LOVE NEVER ASKS HOW MUCH MUST I DO, BUT HOW MUCH CAN I DO."—Frederick A. Agar