What is Love?

“1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2

Hey there; happy Saturday and Shabbat shalom! Wherever you are, I hope you’re staying warm. My family and I are currently snuggled up in our respective spots on the couch, chair, and floor, feeling incredibly grateful for the miracle of climate controlled housing. This week, I’ve been listening to/reading a lot about the call to abide in the love of Christ. I talk about this subject a lot, but that is only because I feel like it is a poorly understood subject for most of us; we know definitionally what love is, but somewhere between the page and our heart the meaning seems to change, becoming less than what it should be. We tend to undervalue love. One of my favorite examples of this is Revelation 2:1-7, where Jesus addresses the congregation at Ephesus. He begins with a commendation of their efforts, saying “1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: 2 ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; 3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary.” If only we were all so diligent in keeping the Body of Christ free of these pollutants and encumbrances. He then concludes this section with a stern reproof that we would all likewise do well to remember and take to heart, “4 ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.” (This is one of the few instances where I prefer the ESV translation, because I feel that the phrasing “you have left your first love” carries less connotative weight than the ESV phrasing, which says “you have abandoned the love you had at first.” It is a slight difference, and the NASB isn’t less accurate for it, but it does lack a certain amount of the emotional weightiness that I feel the ESV does a good job of capturing.) I have quoted and spoken on this passage several times elsewhere, but it bears repeating. Do we love enough? Do we mistake our acts of service for love? Service can certainly be an expression of love, but it is not love itself. 

How Does God Love Us?

My wife and I began reading a book several months ago titled Love or Die by Alexander Strauch, which is framed entirely around this passage in Revelation 2. It’s a short read, but incredibly dense and meditative. We haven't finished it yet because every time we resume it we will read a few pages and then got lost in the resultant conversation. I recommend it highly, whether you are struggling spiritually or believe you are in great health. One of the first illustrations it presents is of Christ walking through His churches, examining and testing them. Mr. Strauch urges us to imagine “if Christ were to look down at your church, walk in your midst, and give you His evaluation,” and I echo the thought, for you and for me. Be honest with yourself, please, and don’t hide behind the reflexive, self-protecting thoughts that will try to justify our spiritual weak points and incongruencies with His word. Those things do us no favors. Hebrews 12:1-2, like it says at the beginning of this post, pushes us to “lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Frankly, most of us are more like one of the other congregations- Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Laodicea- for whom He had much harsher admonitions, but they were all, like the one given to Ephesus, given in love and for the purpose of drawing them back to the one who loved them and who loves us. It’s hard; hard to hear and hard to bear up under the weight of such things. It is unpleasant to our flesh to be reproved by God, because it makes us look with clarity at ourselves; when you shine light into a dark, dirty house, the house is no longer dark, but it is still dirty. Most people will respond- spiritually- by turning the lights back off, but Jesus commands us to act on that which the light reveals and start cleaning. Hebrews 12:4-13 has something to say about the unpleasantness of this experience that I find quite encouraging: “4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; 6 FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.” 7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. 12 Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.” That first verse, “you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin…” is deeply humbling to me. In the past, I found it very easy to fall into a “worldly sorrow” as 2 Corinthians 7:10 describes; a depressive, “woe is me” attitude that felt oh-so bad about sin but gave lip-service as repentance. That kind of sorrow leads only to death. That kind of sorrow is unable to produce change- unable and unwilling and hypocritical. It comes from a lack of understanding of the injury caused by our sin; viewing ourselves as the ultimate victim of an angry God rather than the abusers of His kindness, for which we justifiably will be held accountable apart from Christ. Godly sorrow births this fresh understanding and calls us back to Him, putting things back into perspective. Godly sorrow calls us to return to the love of God. The author of Hebrews is right; most of us have not resisted sin to the point of shedding blood- if anything, some of us may have shed blood in the pursuit of sin. The shame that this should cause is addressed in the following verses, as the author reminds us that God does not chasten absentmindedly or cruelly, but because He loves us; if He didn’t, He would allow us to continue on our merry way without any resistance to speak of. “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” I believe I was spiritually disciplined by God last year, and while it was a miserable and painful period of time, I now believe it was the greatest kindness He could have shown me. He loved and loves me enough to correct me as a son- how incredible is that? And He loves you enough to do it for you, too; you need only listen for His voice. “Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.” The purpose of the correction of God is to bring healing. Does God have wrath? Yes. Will He judge sin? Yes. Is His judgement righteous, just, and perfect? Yes! It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, and Hell is terrifyingly real. But He is also deeply compassionate and delights in mercy (Micah 7:18-19), and would rather pardon us and look past our sins. 

What is Love?

Revelation 2 and 3 are very intense, very powerful chapters which give a lot of insight into what God Himself expects from His people, but they also demonstrate the lengths He is willing to go to, the love and patience He is willing to have towards us in calling us back to Him. 1 Corinthians 13 is the famous “love is” passage, and I want you to read it with Revelation 2:1-7 and 1 John 4:8 in mind (“the one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”):  “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” This passage was obviously written to the congregation at Corinth, but consider how it also applies to what Jesus said to the congregation at Ephesus. The works may be good, but their ultimate value is determined by their root. Now consider what this means in light of 1 John 4:8; God Himself embodies all of these qualities flawlessly, by His very nature. He is love! And if we are in Him and He in us, we will bear fruit that shows it, as Galatians 5:22-23 tells us: “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” If we are lacking in these things then we are either not in Christ or we are acting in disobedience to Him, for if we act in obedience to Him we will bear fruit that evidences His character, His life in us (Galatians 2:20). 

I’ll say it again; imagine that Christ Himself were walking through your church- or your home- and evaluating you as you fellowship, worship, watch TV, make dinner, and go about your daily business. Examine yourself honestly against His words and the words given by His Spirit through His prophets and apostles. Are you living according to His word? Is His word what you are living by? Ask yourself, “Am I still in love with Jesus?” If the answer is yes, praise God! Now, what are you doing with that love? It doesn’t have to be bombastic, it just needs to be real and obedient and humble. If your answer is no, then I am sorry, and I hope that you will allow the words shared here to assist in rekindling your love for Jesus so that you may bear fruit for Him. Love is not service; service is only an expression of love. Our love for God is found in our admiration of Him, our daily acknowledgement of and submission to Him, and our ongoing delight in Him. He is holy, He is wonderful, He is mighty, and He is frightening. He is worthy of all praise, glory, and honor. He is worthy of our gratitude. It is difficult to adequately explain, but to be blunt, He doesn’t need us. We, on the other hand, do desperately need Him. If we see in scripture that we are to be known by our love for one another, (John 13:35) but we do not have love for one another, what does that say about our relationship with Him? If scripture says we are not to have any filthiness or silly talk (Ephesians 5:4; obscenity, buffoonery), but we curse and blurt out every vapid thought, what does that demonstrate? (I say this as someone who used to suffer from road rage.) The list goes on and on, and I’d be writing for a very long time if I tried to list every failing one might find in the lives of believers. The point, though, is that we need Him, and we need Him badly, because apart from Him we can do nothing, but if we abide in Him we will bear much fruit, (John 15:5) and it all starts with love.