What is Love?
by Don Murphy 5/11/09

        The Lord has been speaking to me quite a bit recently about the nature of love.  We’ve been blessed to read about it this week in the writings of the apostle Paul during our daily family Bible study and I’ve been reading about it recently in the writings of 16^th century leaders such as  Michael Sattler (d. 1527), Jacob Hutter (d. 1536), Ulrich Stadler (d. 1540), and Peter Riedemann (d. 1556). 
       It seems that the Lord God is trying to teach me more about love so that I can live more fully a life of love.  He seems to think that I need to develop a better understanding of what love is.
       Love is mentioned hundreds of times in the New Testament.  The Greek words translated as love are agape, phila and eros, each with a slightly different meaning.  Agape is unconditional, unselfish love, phila is brotherly love and eros is selfish love.

God is Love

       “God is [agape] love, and those who live in [agape] love live in God and God lives in them.”  (1 John 4:16)  This Bible verse is an important verse to reflect on and make it true in our lives.
       One of the reasons that Jesus came to earth was to preach and teach us about agape love.  He said that we are to love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength and with all our mind and we are to love our neighbor as we love our self.  (Luke 10:27)
       It seems clear to me that all of the teachings and commands that Christ gave, all 125 or so commands listed in the four gospels, are designed to show us how to obey this need to love God and our fellow man.

Loving God above all Things

     An example would be His teaching on possessions.  “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.  No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and Money.”  (Mt 6:19, 24)  This is quite a challenge for us as we still need to live in this world.  Jesus knew this so He gave His people more instructions on dealing with finances (Mt 6:19, 19:21, Mk 10:21, Luke 12:33, 14:33, 18:22, Acts 2:44-47, 4:32-5:11) because it not only can separate a man from his heavenly Father but also from his brothers on earth.  The desire for material possessions (Greek pleonexia) is condemned a number of times in the New Testament.  Paul calls it idolatry.  (Col 3:5)
       The apostle John wrote:  “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.  If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?  Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”  (1 John 3:16-18)

Love your Neighbor as yourself

       Jesus said that we are to love one another to the same extent that He loves us so that the world will know that we are His disciples.  (John 13:34-35)
       The apostle Paul taught us something about what love is between people:  "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."  (1 Cor 13:4-7)
       Paul also wrote:  “As God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”  (Col 3:12-14)
       Paul teaches us:  “Be like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”  (Phil 2:2-4)
       The apostle Paul is a good teacher for helping us to learn to love one another as Christ loves us.  So I need to review these teachings frequently and seek God’s grace to live accordingly.
 
Father God, I pray in the Name of Jesus for the power and grace to commit myself to live a life of love this day, in humility considering others better than myself.  Thank you, Lord!

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