We grow up with all sorts of ideas about love. Many movies, secular songs, and books express a love that comes from emotions, attraction, and passion, but it’s usually just lust masquerading as love or selfishness disguised as kindness. We can love country music, hunting, watching football, our kids, our spouse, hot rods, prime rib, God, and our hometown. We quickly learn that love changes. Last year we loved our barbeque, but this year we love our new smoker. As a kid, maybe you loved snowball fights, dodgeball, and Saturday morning cartoons. Now you might love quiet walks through the woods, an evening with friends, and a good book by the fire. You might not have married your first love. To say love is fickle is an understatement. But there is a love that never changes. “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever” (Psalm 136:1 NIV).
I’m thankful that God’s love is not fickle or conditional. God loved us when we were sinners, when we had no righteousness. Surely, we did not deserve it. I’m very thankful that it is God’s nature to love. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
It sounds pretty easy, but there are millions and even billions of people who have difficulty accepting His grace and love.
God loves us with agape love: selfless, unconditional, and righteous. It is a sacrificial love that gives without expecting anything in return. Many times, that is easier said than done. It can be difficult to love those who cause us grief or falsely challenge our character, but God wants us to love them, too. Jesus said, “But love your enemies and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people” (Luke 6:35).
God clearly instructed Moses, “You shall not take vengeance, nor hold any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:18). We are to love others as ourselves. Jesus took it a step further when He instructed the disciples just before He was betrayed: “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). We are to love others as Jesus loves us so that others will know that we are His followers. The way we love others should tell the world that there is something different about us—and that difference is Jesus. “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). The way we love others is our greatest witness.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:38-48
Personal Application: God never promised that loving someone would always be easy, but He wants us to love them anyway. His Word teaches us what perfect love looks like. Take a few minutes to meditate on 1 Corinthians 13:4-13. Do you love like this? How can the way you love others, even the unlovable, be your greatest witness?
Jim Grassi, D. Min.
We cherish any verse in Scripture that reminds us to keep focused and intentional about evangelism and discipleship. “But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:5