A look at love the way God intended it to be, us to each other and the world.

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So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." -- John 13: 34-35 (NLT)

God has a system set up here on earth to spread the word about His grace and love and mercy. He has devised a plan where the people of God would behave in a certain way. A way contrary to the ways of the world. That through the manifestation of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, people on the outside would be able to clearly see in our lives - joy, peace, love, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness. Think about that for a moment. In a world filled with abject misery they would see joy within us. In a world filled with utter turmoil they would see peace in us. In a world filled with pure hate they would see love inside of us. Instead of mean-spiritedness they would see kindness. Instead of evil -- goodness. Instead of faithless -- faithfulness. Not just the pastors. Not just the ministry leaders or the holy rollers. All of us. I am not suggesting that we would succeed 24-7 but we would be trying and striving for it and yes beloved -- they would see it. God's plan is simple. Once they see it they would want it. I mean who wouldn't want peace in the storm and love instead of hate? Step three is they would ask us and we would tell them about Jesus Christ.

Somewhere along the way though, we have more trouble with displaying the fruit of the Spirit than God intended. Our flesh, the enemy and the world system all work together to rot our fruit. To make us ineffectual for the plan God has. I can probably do a series on the individual fruit manifestations but today I just want to look at one. Love. I choose love because the Bible places the greatest importance on it:

Three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love. -- 1Corinthians 13: 13 (NLT)

Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. -- Colossians 3: 14 (NLT)

When I see the phrase clothe yourself I am reminded that God understands that it is not innate within us to be loving people. We have to clothe ourselves with love -- we have to put it on. It requires a conscious decision. When you left your house today, you consciously chose what you were going to wear. What you clothed yourself with. You took great care I assume in doing so. Matching socks even! Well, if we want to match Jesus when we go out each day, we have to clothe ourselves with love. It is the greatest of the three things that last forever and binds us all in perfect harmony.

Unfortunately, love is one of the only areas that we as Christians seemingly ignore Scripture on in favor of the worldly version. That version of love has been twisted and distorted over thousands of years. In the world love is conditional. Love is reactive. It is not eternal and changes based upon circumstances. It is not love as God intended. It is a hideous shadow of real love. Thankfully however, Scripture does define love for us quite clearly:

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. -- 1Corinthians 13: 1-7 (NLT)

Ahh, the famous love verses from Paul. Recited at every wedding and then promptly forgotten about after every honeymoon. But I want to go deeper than that today. This is about love as God intended, not in romantic relationships, but with everyone. Note the first few verses here and you see God is talking not about how you love your spouse but how we are to "love others." Putting romantic relationships aside, these verses primarily deal with how we are supposed to manifest the fruit of love towards other believers, people outside of the church, and ultimately God. If we were to ask the average Christian if they loved God they would shout absolutely! Do you love other believers? Absolutely! People in the world? Of course!  

Let us start with being patient and kind. Notice that the first two aspects of love mentioned by Paul are actually two of the other fruits of the Spirit. Again, love binds all things together. But we do need to check ourselves as to how patient and kind we are. Within the church I have seen people treated very unkindly, rudely and without love. Towards the world we can be even worse. We can be judgmental and arrogant. James warns us about this:

People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God.   And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! -- James 3: 7-10 (NLT)

Isn't this too often the truth? The same mouths that pronounce judgment and curses upon others inside and outside the church are praising God on Sundays. Hands raised to the heavens covered in blood. The Bible commands us to go resolve any issues before offering anything to God! It doesn't even matter to God who is right or wrong. It does not matter to God who holds the grudge. The verse actually says if you know someone holds something against you -- it is up to you to seek that person out and make it right before making any offering to God -- praise included!

Next we see that love is not supposed to be jealous, boastful, proud or rude. Are you detecting a pattern yet? These are all things that by our human nature we are not. This is why we must choose to put on the clothing of love each day. Peter was boastful when he declared to Jesus that he would never desert Him and Christ had to let him know that before that very day was out he would deny even knowing Him three times. In the Old Testament when God decides that Gideon has too many men (32,000) to fight against an army of 120,000 here was God's rationale:

The Lord said to Gideon, "You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength. -- Judges 7: 2 (NLT)

God knew the inherent nature of man would be to boast that they had something to do with the victory God had given them. Likewise in the church we see people routinely being jealous of other's ministries. Facebook is always alight with proud stories, boasting of the great job done by the Pastor, or the ministers, or the leaders. God is given lip service but the headliner is usually man. We must realize that man centered ministry produces man focused praise. God has been clear about usurping His glory:

"I am the Lord ; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. -- Isaiah 42: 8 (NIV)

Beloved if we are rude, proud, boastful, or jealous -- we are not clothed in love. God gives us everything we need so there is no reason to be jealous. What might be a blessing for one might end up a burden for another. Jealousy assumes we know better than God. When we are proud we are taking credit for what God has allowed or provided. The Apostle Paul instructs us to boast in the Lord! When we are faced with great accomplishments it should be -- look at what the Lord has done! Some of the hardest people to come to salvation are those who believe they are self-made. I know; I was one of them.

Next we see that love God's way is not selfish, irritable, or unforgiving. More things that grate against our human nature. The world however needs to see a selfless Christian, who is slow to anger and doesn't hold grudges. Why? Because they sure wont see that in the world. The world not only teaches selfishness but it embraces it. We live in a selfish society that promotes greed and excess. So when the world sees these qualities in Christians as well, they will see us for our hypocrisy instead of our love. Remember, the world is watching us for a reason. Once we proclaim the mantle of Christianity we are under the microscope. People are looking for a reason to believe but they will just as quickly accept a reason to dismiss Christ. Which one will they get from an encounter with us? I have seen too many Christians who have the name of Jesus drip from their lips but their attitude is straight from hell. Talking down to people. Quick tempered. We should never forget that the things of God are still foolishness to those who are walking in darkness. They need to see the light of Christ within us to break through that darkness. Likewise within the church there are too many unforgiving Christians. Fights and arguments over the minutia of Christianity. Doctrine is doctrine and should not be compromised but most of these disagreements are over trivialities. We need to clothe ourselves each day with a scarf of unforgiveness, a hat of joy and gloves of unselfishness. By doing so, we start to embody the love of God as he intended by making things about everyone else and not ourselves.

Next we see that love rejoices when the truth wins out and does not rejoice about injustice. This screams to me about consistency. We cannot be one person on Sundays and a different person on Wednesday. Sometimes I am downright frightened at the Facebook entries by Christians! We should not be found on the wrong side of the truth! The truth of the Word of God is supposed to set us free. Free from sin and the trappings of this world. People need to see that we stand for the uncompromised Gospel of Jesus Christ. The church was supposed to infiltrate the world but it seems the world has infected the church! Well, you may say what does this have to do with loving others? You cannot claim to love the unsaved and not share the road to heaven with them! Evangelism is a calling but witnessing is a responsibility.

Lastly, if we are to truly embody love as God intended and as Jesus instructed us to, then we must never give up, never lose faith, remain always hopeful and endure through whatever circumstances life throws at us. Difficult? Absolutely. These four things are intricately woven together by God. How so? If we can hold onto our faith that will keep our hope alive, which in turn will ensure that, we will never give up and thus endure through all circumstances. How beautiful the connection.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. -- Hebrews 11: 1 (NIV)

Are we sure of what we hope for today? Has our faith been tested? Count it all joy. I know this is a difficult message but it is made for difficult times. Love is not a hallmark moment. It is not cupid firing an arrow into our eyes and blinding us from the truth of Scripture. It is meant for so much more than just relational romantic love. It is supposed to be the very embodiment of God on earth and we are supposed to be the caretakers of it. The morality of Christianity is not salt and light to a dying world -- the love of Christ is. We first have to be able to show our brethren that we love them if we expect the world to see anything in us at all. We cannot go around tearing each other down and burying our wounded. These lessons are not lost on the world. Verbal expression of love pales in comparison to a life lived in love. Think always of the power of the love God has for you:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. -- Romans 8: 38-39 (NIV)

Inseparable love! There shouldn't be anything stopping us from showing this great love God has lavished upon us to each other and the world. Love is the central and binding force within the fruit of the Spirit. Fruit does not just magically grow. It requires cultivation. It requires planting seeds in our hearts about what God's love is supposed to look like inside of us. It requires regular watering and pruning to encourage the growth. It requires a conscious decision each and every day to put on the love of God. To clothe ourselves in it. To be the love of God.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- July 26, 2012

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.