Love is basic to human existence. It is basic to God: "God is love" (1 John 4:8, NKJV). We ought to understand love in order that we can love as God loves (1 John 4:20-21). Love is especially important for the Christian, because Jesus said, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35). What is it which Jesus expects out of His disciples that the world may recognize them as such?
First, God's love is accompanied by His rationality and volition. That is, God's love is not capricious nor whimsical. God's love is constant (1 Samuel 15:29; cf., Hebrews 13:8). Paul writes about the love of God: "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8-10).
God's love took initiative to seek for man (Genesis 3:8-10). God did not wait for sinful man to come seeking Him, but like the shepherd who had ninety-nine sheep but left them to seek for the one (Mathew 18:12-14), God takes a personal interest in every single person.
Second, we see in the love of God the willingness to suffer, depicted in Jesus. Jesus had compassion on the sick (Matthew 14:14) and on the spiritually misguided (Matthew 9:36). At the death of Lazarus, moved by the tears of Mary, Jesus "groaned in the spirit and was troubled" (John 11:33). "Jesus wept" (John 11:35) speaks volumes about the love of God. Where there is no pity, compassion, sorrow or suffering over the woes of others, there is no real love.
Someone said, in words similar to these: Could we with ink the ocean fill; were the whole sky of parchment made; were every blade of grass a quill, and every man a scribe by trade; to write the love of God above, would drain the ocean dry; nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.
We understand that love disciplines (Hebrews 12:6). The parent who does little to discipline his or her own child does not understand the nature of love. At the same time, God's love motivates Him to continually forgive. Peter asked how often he should forgive his sinning brother; Jesus said, "up to seventy times seven" (Matthew 18:22). If this is what God expects from man, would we not expect God to hold Himself to the same (yeah-higher) standard? That is, does not God lovingly forgive us of sin, sometimes the same sin, many times over? "Perhaps there is no other one thing which God does for us in this life which manifests the greatness of his unfailing love for us than this continual forgiveness of our unnecessary sins" (Roy Lanier, Sr., The Timeless Trinity for the Ceaseless Centuries, p. 76). Some find it hard to believe in the existence of God. Some Christians seem to find it hard to believe in the love and forgiveness of God! Is not one just as bad as the other?
From this understanding of the love of God, we learn how we need to imitate it (1 John 4:11). Let us briefly examine the love God expects from man: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7). The Bible says: "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."
Love "suffers long" and "is kind" represent the nature of God (Romans 2:4). "Suffering long" is self-control in the face of ill treatment by others. We picture Jesus in the midst of His trial, "when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten" (1 Peter 2:23). "Love is kind" is the opposite of that-it is blessing our enemies (cf., Matthew 5:44).
"Love does not envy" (cf., 1 Corinthians 3:3). The Corinthians had placed their loyalty in men (cf., 1 Corinthians 1:12-13) and this rivalry was threatening the unity of the church. Love recognizes there is no hierarchy in the church and therefore does not "envy" what another has. Love does not "parade itself." Have you seen Christians who feel they have to tell you how Christian they really are (cf., the Pharisee and Publican - Luke 18:9-14)?
Love is not "puffed up (literally)." It is not arrogant. (cf., 1 Corinthians 4:6). Love is not a "know-it-all." Neither does love "behave rudely" (cf., 1 Corinthians 7:36). The idea is that there are certain standards of behavior, which are both proper and becoming of a Christian.
Love does not "seek his own." In 1 Corinthians 10:24, 33, Paul told the Corinthians that liberty may motivate the Christian to limit his own freedom, "for the sake of the one who told you" (1 Corinthians 10:28). Rather, love "looks out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others" (Philippians 2:4). Love is "not provoked," that is; it does not take offense easily when others misbehave.
Paul says love does not "think evil." In marriage counseling, it is called "gunnysacking." It means keeping a ledger of the wrongs someone has done to you. God "thinks no evil," Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:19: "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them." Love "does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth." Love does not gloat when bad things happen, even to bad people (cf., Proverbs 24:17). On the contrary, love "loves" to see positive behavior displayed - behavior fitting of the Gospel.
Finally, Paul lists four characteristics of love in rapid-fire sequence: love "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." Notice Paul's repetition of "all things." Love is tenacious, in every situation, with any kind of people. Again, we have only to think of Jesus and all the struggles He endured, from relentless crowds to hypocrisy in His own ranks, to out-right hatred from His enemies. But the love of Christ "never failed."
If we want to love "as Christ loved us," we ought to replace the word "love" in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 with our own name. Where we fall short, we ought to try harder because "everyone who loves is born of God and knows God" (1 John 4:7).-215 E. Main Street, Livingston, TN 38570