- Are You a Disciple?
- The Key is Surrender
- The Old You vs. The New You
- Time for a Check-Up
- Learning to Float Upriver
- It’s About Time
- The Bible in Your Quiet Time
- Your Daily Quiet Time
- Livin’ On A Prayer
- To Serve Man
- What’s That About Spiritual Gifts?
- Together We Stand…
- Growing Through Giving
- Don’t Be a Dead Sea Christian
- All You Need Is Love
One of the most misused, misunderstood, and confusing words in our language today is the word “love”. We use this word every day: “I love your outfit,” “I love this weather!” When I was six years old I watched a movie called The Love Bug.” When I was 16 years old I watched a TV show called “The Love Boat.” When I was 23 years old I met Kim and “fell in love” with my wife, which was a whole new experience. When I was 32 years old my first child was born, and that was a whole new kind of love!
But what is love? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines love as “strong affection for another…,” and “affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests.”
In the Greek language, the language of the New Testament, there are three primary words for love. The Greek word we’re looking at today is agape, which, according to the Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, refers to “affection, goodwill, love, benevolence,” and is used in expressing “God’s love to man…man’s love to God…and man’s spiritual love of his fellow man.”
You didn’t come here for a grammar lesson in either English or Greek, but as we wrap up this series of posts on what it means to be a true disciple, at least now you understand the kind of love that we’ll be talking about today. This isn’t loving someone’s outfit or haircut. We’re talking about agape: true, selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love.
And when it comes to this kind of love, Jesus had something very important to say:
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35)
How will other people know that we are his disciples? Not by our church attendance, or our bible knowledge, or how much we give to the church – people will look at us and know that we are disciples of Jesus by how we love one another.
Paul also has something to say in Romans:
Pay all your debts, except the debt of love for others. You can never finish paying that! If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill all the requirements of God’s law. (Romans 13:8)
Paul says you are in debt. After all that God has done for you, you owe it to God to love other people. Everything we do has to be filtered through this command.
Are you being challenged and are you learning to love and accept people who are not like you? Are you willing to open up your life so they can experience what you have that has made such a difference in your life?
Listen to what Paul says in the next two verses:
For the commandments against adultery and murder and stealing and coveting – and any other commandment – are all summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to anyone, so love satisfies all of God’s requirements. (Romans 13:9-10)
The bottom line is, do people look at your life and recognize your love for others? Are you characterized by a love that involves action? The kind of love we’re talking about here is more than just a feeling or an emotion. The kind of love Jesus and Paul are talking about is a love that is more about doing than about feeling. This kind of love will cost you. It will cost you time, or energy, or resources, but it will cost you something.
If you want to be a true disciple of Christ, learn to truly love others. Ask God to give you the same kind of love for others that he has for you. While you’re praying for that kind of love, don’t sit around and wait for God to give you the feeling. Go ahead and start doing for others. The feelings will come as you do.
Imagine for a moment what our world would be like if every person on the planet who professes to be a Christian actually started living like a disciple, with an active, giving love for his/her neighbor. Think about that for a moment. What if for the next 3 months every Christian started being generous and forgiving? What if, just for the next 3 months, every believer, in every decision, put others first? What if we truly started loving other people the way that Jesus loves us?
I believe the entire world would change. Obviously, you and I can’t get every believer to cooperate with us on this. But it can start with us. Would you be willing to ask God to help you start to live your life with an active, generous love for other people? Both those who are easy to love and those who are not easy to love? I believe if you do that you can change the world.