TRUE LOVE

                      TRUE LOVE

Different people have given different definitions of Love. To some love is a feeling. To others  love is attraction. To some other persons, once they hear the word love what comes to their mind is romance and sexual relationships . Though love may include one or all of this, but love is beyond all of this. The Bible gives us a clear definition of what love truly is. Let’s look at the scripture. 

1John 3: 16  Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren  (KJV )

1 John 3 :16 In this we see what love is, because he gave his life for us; and it is right for us to give our lives for the brothers. (BBE)

From the above scripture we see what TRUE LOVE REALLY IS. TRUE love is that Christ gave His life for us so we can give our life for others. This is in line with one of the definitions of Love given by Webster in his dictionary.  He defined love as  unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another. 

For love to be love, it must be unselfish and it must involve sacrifice. You can’t say you love someone  without letting something  go. This must be a mind set for everyone showing love. God is love. 1John 4:8. we see true love in God so we can model  Same love to people.

CHARACTERISTICS OF TRUE LOVE. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love suffers long. To suffer long means to persevere patiently and bravely in enduring misfortunes and troubles and to be patient in bearing the offenses and injuries of others. That means that love is not deterred by any action of the receiver. Like when the Bible Said husbands should love their wives, it means they should suffer long with their wives. 

Love is kind.  Kindness has to do with acting benevolently. It means doing good and bringing happiness to others. This is true love.

Love does not envy. Envy has to do with boiling with anger or hatred for someone, This is not love. Love has nothing to do with anger. No wonder we were told not to sin when we are provoked. Anger and hatred is of the devil. It does not produce any good. It can only lead to other evils. So we must watch out against it.

Love is not boastful and is not puffed off. Pride and boastfulness is not of love. There is always a tendency to be puff off because of knowledge or other things we have, but love must constrain us. Love regulates how we use our knowledge and possessions.

Love seeks not his own and doesn’t behave himself unseemly or indecently. This is a core quality of love. Love is primarily interested in the welfare of others. There is nothing selfish in love. It is the nature of love to be selfless. In Philippians 2:3 we are told to esteem others more than ourselves.

Love doesn't rejoice in evil but rather it rejoices in the truth. It is not love to rejoice when evil befalls someone no matter who the person is. Even the person that makes himself an enemy, we are not to rejoice if evil befalls the person.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things.

                    THE NATURE OF LOVE IN GOD AND MAN

1John 4:8... God is love.   love is in the nature and personality of God. This means that all the attributes of love is who God is. God suffers long, He is kind, He doesn't envy, He doesn't rejoice in evil. God does not rejoice in the death of the wicked. His power is in towards saving. So we know that if God wants to punish someone it must be with good. If love mean you, you will enjoy His love. We see Christ the visibility of God how He walked in love even with sinners. He never killed anyone. In fact in Luke 9:51-56 He rebuked the disciples for wanting to call down fire for vengeance. This is the God we  serve. He is the best lover. He so loves that He died for His Enemies

Romans 5:

6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. note

7  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

God in Christ didn’t die for the godly but for the ungodly. What manner of love is this. It is difficult to die for a friend how much more dying for an enemy. Indeed God's love towards us is extravagant and excess. Anything that is not love is not God.  This is the God we serve. To read more on the nature of God click here  GOD'S SELFIE.

Talking about love in man, One of the greatest privilege we have in Christ is that we have become partakers of Divine nature. Therefore in Christ, OUR NATURE IS LOVE. The love of God has been shared abroad in our heart by the Spirit of God in us. 

Romans  5:5 ...the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

So we see that by nature, everyone in Christ has all the attributes of Love. 

Dear believer, you are kind, you suffer long, you are not envious, you are not selfish, you are not proud, you don’t rejoice in evil, you endure all things, you are lovely. This is your nature because you have God. So any believer acting otherwise is deceiving himself. He has forgotten his true nature. This nature is what Is described as the fruit of the Spirit in

Galatians 5:

22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. note

25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Notice it says the fruit is not are. It is a singular fruit which is love. Every other thing listed is an attribute of love. It is not what we are to  have, it is what we have already. We have love as our nature. Many Christians lie against there true love nature by talking or living contrary to love. This is why whenever we act otherwise we are not always comfortable within. When you in Christ say you are unforgiving,  you are not kind, you are selfish, you are envious. You deceive yourself. LOOK again at the real new creature you have become.

It is base on this nature that we are given so much admonishment to love people.

1Jn 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

We cannot  be told to LOVE if we don’t have the ability. All we need do is to express the love. We are like God our father. We are even told to LOVE our enemies just like God loves them too. What an irony if God was a killer of enemies, He then tells us to love our enemies. That God must be a confused God. That is not and can never be our God. Naturally,  loving your enemies doesn’t make sense. But, that is why we are not mere men.

Matthew 5: 44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

46  For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

47  And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

Romans 5: 20  Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

21  Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

It is very clear. The way to punish evil is by  doing good not by doing evil. This is what makes us different from unbelievers. Just like our papa(God) deals with wicked people by showing them love, we do same. It is our nature. You may say, man of God is it possible to pay wicked people with good? Yes! it is with God. This is why the christian life is beyond Religion.

LOVE: THE MASTER OF EVERY RELATIONSHIP 

In relating with people at different levels, there is one important attribute we must show, it is true love. What people call types of love are all expressions of love. Philia love is the expression of love to family, Eros is to husband or wife or someone you share a romantic relationship with. In all this forms of relationship, TRUE LOVE WHICH IS SELFLESS AND UNCONDITIONAL is the key. Some people have asked over the years, is LOVE ENOUGH IN A MARRIAGE Relationship ? This question is unnecessary if we really know what love is. Love is enough for any kind of relationship. Love is what sustains any relationship . Never forget the definition of true love which is concern for another without any selfish interest. So when next you tell someone you love him or her, this should be primary in your heart that it is not because of what you will gain.

For example, in marriage, if you marry someone for reasons like beauty which is important, what happens when the person gets old. When all those glittering ravishing skin is no more, when the beauty fades away. Will you still love the person? That guy you are crazy about because of his money, what if something happens tomorrow and he doesn’t have much money as he has now? Will you still love him? So unconditional love must be the core in any form of relationship.

In the family for example, some parents train their children primarily because of what they will get from them. Though it is good for children to honour their parents by giving but what if the Child didn’t give as you expected after training him due to one reason or the other, will you still love him? As a parent you should love your children not because of what you will get from them. Love in any relationship will help you to tolerate, it will help you to endure all things, it will help you to be selfless. It will help you to forgive always.

In summary, God is love and love is selfless, therefore let us love one another as love is our nature in Christ. In fact, we are told to owe no man anything but love.

Rom 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another...

Therefore let us daily work in love with everybody including the good and the bad.

            

  BY EMEKE MODESTY OBIAZIKWOR

www.emekemodesty.com

GOSPEL AND MIRACLE CAMPAIGN (GAMC) : Bringing people to the knowledge of Christ via the Gospel of Christ with the supernatural by Campaigning for the gospel of Jesus and setting people on fire to do the same .

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THIS GREAT CAMPAIGN

Kindly visit 

http://bit.ly/GAMCinfo

Email:gospelandmiraclecampaign@gmail.com