Thoughts from The Bible

Thoughts from the Bible

Tuesday, 11 June 2024 06:28

What is Love?
by Cody Anderson Corinth Missionary Baptist Church

As we continue discussing John’s contrast between love and hate, we now find ourselves at the love portion. We’ve talked about the negative – what it looks like to hate through the example of Cain and Abel. Now John wants us to consider the characteristic of love, and there is nowhere else we need to turn to other than to Christ Himself. Remember that John has already discussed how love and hate are not limited to just an emotion; rather, they are practical. The actions of people define who is God’s child and who belongs to the devil in a spiritual sense.
“By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth,” (1 John 3:16-18, ESV).
What does it mean to know love? Notice that John answers this by telling us who is love. He equates love with Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death on the cross. Such a selfless act should be the hallmark of a Christian’s life. Not only are we given Christ’s example, but we are called to follow it. The call indicates an urgency and a readiness to make significant sacrifices for the well-being of our brothers and sisters.

What might this sacrificial living for others look like? Verse 17 gives us that answer. It talks about the world’s goods and those who have the means to help one another. Just as a side note, notice that it’s not bad to have these means. If you are not looking to use those means to help out your brothers and sisters, then there is a problem. If you recognize a brother in need, yet are unwilling to help, you have a problem with your heart.

The end of verse 17 leaves us with a rhetorical question, “How does God’s love abide in him?” If your claim to love God does not translate into acts of compassion and generosity, then your love does not look like that of Christ. We know that true love for God is demonstrated through love for others. True worship is taking care of those who can’t take care of themselves like orphans and widows, but it’s also in taking care of our brothers and sisters when they find themselves in times of need.

John calls his readers “little children.” John is emphasizing his compassion and intimate relationship with the readers, but also his concern for them. He wants the reader to be able to draw a clear distinction between a verbal, emotional expression of love and the genuine action-based love of reality. Lip service is no service at all according to John. True love is active and genuine, not superficial.
I imagine Cain, Abel, Adam, and Eve getting ready to lay down at night and telling each other, “Goodnight, I love you.” Yet Cain in his heart knows that he wishes for his brother to be dead. I think this is equivalent to someone saying he loves God, yet he never enters communal worship nor sees after the well-being of the brothers and sisters. He may not have killed anybody, but he sure is not going to help anybody. Somewhere down the line, we began to believe the lie of a “carnal Christian” being possible. Romans 8:6 says to set the mind on flesh is death. The “carnal Christian” is equivalent to death.

In summary, these verses call Christians to embody the self-giving love of Christ in their relationship with God and with others. The embodiment of self-giving, genuine love is demonstrated through practical deeds and compassionate actions, always placing others before themselves – all to the glory of God.