Thomas á Kempis, a monk writing in the late Middle Ages, observed, “Whoever loves much, does much.” Believers often struggle to function in a society where displays of love are temporal and downright confusing. In our good intentions, we may busy ourselves with actions that attempt to communicate love, compassion and unselfishness but still feel we aren’t quite measuring up.
There is hope. As followers of Christ, we have the ultimate example of the one who “does much” and the right kind of “much” for all people. As children of God, set apart for holiness, we are called to live this mandate of love for others, rather than operating from society’s “me first” perspective.
Love’s source (1 John 4:7)
Love comes from God. God is our source of love. Often when we try to love others, we fight against ourselves and our pride. We can become paralyzed, believing our efforts and energies never will be perfect, and neglect to remember that God loved us first.
While we were sinners, God pursued us, desiring to make us his own. “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are” (1 John 3:1). God doesn’t love us by our worldly, societal standards of love which are incomplete and fleeting. God lavishes his love on us.
As a loving and compassionate parent, God made us his children and gave us the opportunity to engage in intimate relationship with him. Have you ever stopped to consider this point: You have been invited into an intimate relationship with the one who created you? This relationship is not because of anything you did or failed to do. The relationship is made possible by God’s act of grace.
Being born of God and in order to know God better, we love. How can we love when our human capacity to love seems so tainted, flawed and our motives impure? Everything we say and do must flow out of who God is, not who we are on our own. We must remember that God is the source of our love for others.
It is only when we affirm that the only true source of pure love is God that we are able to tap into the ever-abundant source of love. It is in God’s love that we are able to do the right things in the right way for the right reasons.
Love’s example and standard (1 John 3:10-12,16-18)
John wrote that love expresses itself in action and not merely in words. Our most powerful witness is the way we love one another. Christ commanded us to love one another (John 13:34-35). We are to love one another just as Christ loved and died for us. John describes the extent of that love: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
What is love’s example and standard? The answer to this question is essentially both a “who” and a “what.” We look both to who Jesus was and what he did. Jesus Christ is our ultimate example of love. If we want to know what true love is and how it acts, the life, ministry and heart of Jesus revealed in his own words and actions show us the way. Loving words are meaningless without loving deeds. If you claim to love someone, act like it.
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Love’s power (1 John 4:7-13, 19)
By this love, all people would know Christ’s followers. Love with actions and truth. “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Believers express their love by using whatever resources they have to help others in need.
Read 1 John 3. Just as actions demonstrate love, actions can also demonstrate a lack of love (v. 12). Or, perhaps more often, the lack of love is demonstrated by inaction (v. 17): “If anyone sees his brother and has no pity, how can the love of God be in him?” In Christian community our responsibility to love is reciprocal.
We are given God’s spirit to love others as he loves them. It is the Holy Spirit of God who enables us. Unbelievers will be able to see the love of an invisible God through our visible expressions of love. “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his spirit” (1 John 4:12-13).
What is love’s power? It is the Spirit of God within us, whom he has given us, that not only makes loving possible, but empowers our love. Since God’s love and power is able even to raise the dead, imagine what it could do to change our confused and needy world if we would unleash it through ourselves. As Paul wrote elsewhere, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
Questions for reflection
• How did Jesus model love for God to those around him, including those who questioned his teachings, distrusted his motives and physically persecuted him?
• How can you better depend on God’s Spirit to love others?
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