I was walking with my great-niece in the park. As we continued to walk, she saw a woman pushing her baby in a stroller. She said “oo look at the beautiful baby.” Then something dropped out of the bag hanging on the stroller. Immediately, my niece ran over, picked it up, and gave it to the lady. Smiling she said, “what a beautiful baby, I just love her”. The woman was a little amazed, smiled, and embraced my niece with a hug. This drew me into the equation, and we all were acquainted. They developed a relationship and kept in touch. Love, pure and simple. She was authentic, caring, and compassionate. She did not care whether the woman and baby were a different race or how they would respond. That was just pure and simple.

Or yet, is it simple? Maybe it is complex. The world has various meanings. Do we truly understand it? This word in its truest form is genuinely pure and simple. So, what am I talking about? This word is LOVE. I thought I would take time to look at and define this word love because I think we’re missing the mark as a people and as the church, the body of Christ. How do we define it?

The world defines it in many ways. Some view it as self-gratification, some view it as controlling others, some view it as obtaining material possessions, some view it as working 24/7 to provide wealth for the family or themselves, or being pampered, feelings and emotions for your family, boyfriend, girlfriend and many more examples we could go on and on. Yet none of these examples are love pure and simple. The bible defines the world’s way of love in 1John 1:15-17 as the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life.

I am not speaking of “phileo” love which speaks of affections, fondness, and the like of the other. I am speaking about “agape” love. Agape love is “loving the undeserving despite disappointment and rejection.”

True love in its purest form has nothing to do with you or me, but it does have to do with everyone else. It is not dependent on you or me receiving anything. In fact, we become a servant, we make sacrifices, we give up our rights because we die to self. It is unconditional. We were chosen to be holy and blameless before Him in love. Pure and simple. Do you know of anyone around you, that will take a bullet to spare your life? Not many of us do. Of course, there is only 1 person who defines the description. Jesus, The Christ. Jesus, the Servant. This is love in truth. He is our example of love and how to love one another.

That God stepped off His throne in heaven to come to earth in the form of a man, Jesus, laid aside His deity to walk amongst sinners, heathens, and the most despicable of mankind, yet loving them, healing them, teaching them, comforting them, encouraging them, building them up; not judging the person, but judging the sin, that we might be saved. And even as he hung on the cross, He continued to humble himself and prayed to the Father to forgive his enemies who persecuted Him. He did not seek retribution, He prayed. This is love, which has nothing to do with the world definition of love. Does worldly love forgive its’ enemies and genuinely love its’ enemies, does worldly love die for another person?

Love is the foundation and basis for every Christian. It begins with truth. What truth? Glad you asked. It is the truth that impacts our life. The only truth that can change our life, define love, and show us how to live. It consists of salvation and having a living acquaintance with God. In knowing God, love should follow. It is pure and simple. If we’re out of fellowship with God, we’re not walking in the light, nor walking in love. God’s greatest two commandments, love the LORD with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Wow, and second, love thy neighbor as thy self. And then it states in John 13:34 “love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” And Ephesians 5:2 states “walk in love”. It is a commandment from God. Love pure and simple

Though this is a very simple commandment we find it very difficult to obey and keep on obeying it. If we were genuinely walking in this love, the world would take notice and we just might draw them to the Father; and we just may change the world. In a sinful and suffering world, our divine love should show itself in compassion for others, and a desire to win souls to Christ.  We can’t do that with pride, jealousy, racism, selfishness, hatred, and a heart not surrendered to God. Jesus said He wants ALL YOUR HEART, not a piece.

We get a good look of love when we look at our behavior towards others. And “others include ALL people”. I used to get angry with people every day driving to and from work, fussing, and a mean face. What a testimony. Right? Suppose I saw one of those people walking into my church, how would I feel? You get the point.

Love begins to get lost when we think wrongly about people. This happens when we envy others, who we think are better off than us or covet what someone else has. Or finding fault in others and judging them. Or when you sit with others gossiping and slandering other people. Another big one is complaining 24/7. OMG, this was me for way too long. You know what I am talking about.

1 John 4:20 states “If someone says, “I love God” and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen.” You can’t love God without loving your fellow believer.

Of course, we are not perfect, but our goal should be to strive for this each day by walking in the Spirit and practicing it. Because, if you have evil thoughts they will lead to evil talk and evil talk will lead to evil actions. Love means we do not think, speak, or act negatively against each other.

If we are not loving, what does that show us and others about ourselves? Love one another is the most repeated commandment in the New Testament and it is the command Jesus left to His disciples at the Last Supper.

So why can’t we get this right? Why are we pretending? We speak it, but our actions deny it. We love because God loves us and because we love God. Pure and simple. Jesus gave us the example to follow. He was a servant. Love, obedience, and truth are the evidence of salvation and essential for fellowship. As Christians, how often do we reach out to others, our neighbors, to strangers, our friends, and family? Are we quick to respond to others’ needs or do we withdraw to our comfort zone? How do you deal with people you don’t like?

If you’re walking in the light, you’re obedient to God’s Word, love is demonstrated in your life. Pure and simple. However, if you hate your brother you walk in darkness, so stop fooling yourself. If you have hate towards other people, other races, other groups, the poor, the sinners, then you truly are not walking as a child of light, nor in the power of the Spirit. We need to examine our hearts, pray and ask God to show us our sin and ask Him to remove it; no if you profess to be a Christian because many of us are walking in denial.

This love is not something you can do on your own, it is the work of the Holy Spirit within you. How does it work? It works when you yield to the Spirit, God’s love will flow through you. One thing to make clear is we love others not just for their good qualities, but in spite of their bad qualities.

We’re moving into the latter days, therefore, we must take our Christian faith seriously. Stop just naming the name with no action behind it. Now is the time to dig deep in your bible, pray, and walk daily in the Spirit. We need Christians to take back the world from the hand of the enemy. We can only do this by living and loving like we were taught by Jesus’ walk on earth. The life of the church fellowship should be saturated with love. 1 John 3:11, God commands us to love one another. Don’t let your heart grow cold.

 

One last thing, Christian love does not mean we have to agree on everything a person does. You may not like some of their characteristics, but because they’re in Christ, we love them for Jesus’ sake. If Jesus loved us we can love others. Most people in the world don’t know what a Christian is because we don’t show love or our light. Let’s learn to love as Jesus does. Amen