Christian Love

[Khristeeanos]

Here are a few references of love in the New Covenant Scriptures:

Matthew 22:38-40
This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

(For reference Mark 12:30-32 adds, "There is no commandment greater than these.")

Do you see how the entire Jewish Covenant was specifically created to be a Covenant based upon love?

Romans 12:8-10
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Are we "devoted to one another in brotherly love?" Not just here at Worthyboards forums, but at your local congreation, your home, your neighborhood, your place of work, and even in places like the grocery store, bank, post office, and any other place you go.

One of the most important passages in the entire Bible concerning love is not one I have ever heard quoted before:

Romans 13:8-9
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Again, love is the fulfillment of the Law. I personally believe that love for God will always lead to a love for others.

1 Corinthians 13:2
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

I think that The Apostle Paul states that nothing matters if it isn't motivated by love.

Colossians 3:13-15
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.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Love should be our first priority. Is it? As Christians who profess to follow Christ, how can we individually make this our goal to "put on love?"

1 Peter 1:21-23
Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

Ahh, the Apostle Peter. He was formerly argumentive, abrasive, worldly, and self-seeking before he met Jesus. But look at how he was personally transformed. He tells his sheep to "love one another deeply, from the heart." How much do we fulfill this?

1 John 2:9-11
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.

This is just a short list of the references in the New Covenant Scriptures that deal with Christians loving other Christians and non-Christians as well.

How do we here at Christian forums love each other? Do we as a group love each other or are we more focus on our own lives and profit?

If Christ were here among us, we would have the greatest understanding of loving one another. While He isn't physically here, we have His life recorded in the Scriptures. We can take heart that Jesus #1 goal was to save us from our sins, and I personally believe that His #2 goal was to demonstrate true love.

Jesus prayed for the unity of His believers. He went as far as to say:

John 17:20-26
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

Did you catch that? Jesus was praying just hours before He would be crucified and His prayer was that all of His followers would be unified. How can that happen?

Here is the key:

John 13:34-35
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

The message is clear, the fulfillment is difficult.

Let us tear off the shackles of hate and pride and selfish ambition and seek first His kingdom and His righteousness so that we can love one another deeply, from our hearts.

I love you all.

(All Scripture references from Bible Gateway are are from the New International Version of the Holy Scriptures.)

 

[Skipdawg]

A most awesome post. Thanks! :

 

[Rick W]

1 Corinthians 13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
1 Corinthians 13:5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
1 Corinthians 13:6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
1 Corinthians 13:7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
1 Corinthians 13:8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

Where you see "charity" (love) put your name in there.
Now, put in "Jesus". ;)

Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Romans 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Oftentimes we miss the mark. But not Christ. We stumble, but not Christ.
To miss the mark is to know the target. To stumble is to stumble toward Him. We are not always faithful, but Jesus is. We do err, but He does not. Our focus isn't always on Him but He's always there. He paints a picture in the sky every morning for all things are created through Him. We may not always be there to see it but He paints it anyway.

Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 

[Khristeeanos]

Anybody else have anything to add?