What's love got to do with it

Today we are going to look at a few scriptures which provide us with advice and guidance as to how we should conduct ourselves in our relationships with family, neighbours, friends, co-workers - in fact  - all those we come across in our daily lives. 

In Jesus' words...

 

John 13: 34 & 35 "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall all men know you are my disciples, if ye have love one to another".

But just how "should we have love one for another".  Jesus again...

Luke 6: 27, 28, 29, 30 & 31 "But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully [spitefully] use you.  And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat [tunic] also.  Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.  And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise"  

"Love your enemies" - uncompromising - we who follow Jesus, just like him, cannot be selective whom we love.  We must love everyone - including those people whom we perceive to be our enemies - just like Jesus did. 

To the fellow countrymen and women of Jesus, who would have heard Him say these things, it must have sounded rather odd; remember the land at that time was occupied by the hated and despised Romans and to people with strong nationalistic leanings these teaching of Jesus would have been just the opposite of what they really wanted to hear! 

What Jesus was seeking to do was re-orientate his followers' minds to think differently when they received an affront, 'injury' or apparent injustice.  If you get a punch on the jaw my overriding natural reaction is to punch the assailant back twice as hard.  But Jesus is asking us not to retaliate (self-defence aside of course), not to seek revenge for an ''injury'' - but be ready, if needs be, to accept another one. 

In so doing our behaviour and attitude is the opposite to what people expect.  They may well be taken aback, shocked and certainly mystified by our measured, assured response so that, as Jesus teaches, they begin " to know that you [we] are my [His] disciples".  

Jesus drives home this mind set for Christians in the next few verses of Luke 6 ...

Luke 6: 32, 33, 34, & 35 "For if ye love them which love you, what thank [credit] have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.  And if ye do good to them which do good for you, what thank [credit] have ye? for sinners also do even that same.  And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank [credit] have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.  But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again [in return]; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil."

In other words even people who have no allegiance to Jesus practice some virtues; they love those who love them; they repay good deeds done to them; they lend to those in need if they can be sure of getting what is lent back again. 

Therefore, before we as followers of Jesus claim that we are obeying Jesus' command ''to have love one for another'' we need to reflect and challenge ourselves by asking if we are doing anything more than that which someone with no belief in God would do in similar circumstances.

Paul provides guidance as to the composition  - the elements if you like  - of this love Jesus expects His followers to show consistently, genuinely and sincerely show no matter what:

1 Corinthians 13: 4, 5, 6, & 7;  ''Charity [love] suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.''

I've provided the following summary of more contemporary meanings taken from the original Paul's Greek in this passage from Corinthians:

• Love is patient, not short-tempered where people are concerned
• Love reacts with goodness to those who ill-treat it
• Love gives itself in kindness to the service of others
• Love does not envy, it is not displeased at the success of others
• Love does not boast
• Love is concerned to give of itself, not to assert itself  in order to seek out its own advantage
• Love is not rude, indecent, disgraceful or dishonourable
• Love is not self-seeking, does not insist on its own way
• Love is not easily angered, or 'touchy'
• Love does not harbour a sense of injury; it does not record every misdemeanour to be cast up at some future time
• Love takes no joy in evil of any kind, it cannot rejoice when the truth is denied
• Love rejoices in the truth of God and the gospel
• Love protects, it does not give way easily but endures
• Love is not deceived by the pretences of any rogue, but is always ready to give the benefit of the doubt
• Love is always eager to believe the best, is not gullible, but does not automatically think the worst 
• Love refuses to take failure as final
• Love is not overwhelmed, but robustly plays its part whatever the difficulties

One final thought of the unfathomable magnitude of God's love for you and me to take with us into next week....

1 John 4: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 & 14 "In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and send his Son to be the propitiation [atoning sacrifice] for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.  No man hath seen God at any time.  If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.  Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.  And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world"