I thought this would be an appropriate title for this article. The short answer to this question is simple: EVERYTHING. Love is the most important biblical concept. Why do I say that? Because Christ said it:
Matthew 22: 36-40 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.
The Apostle Paul also said it in his first letter to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 13: 1-3 If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love , I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
At the end of chapter 13, Paul sums it all up:
1 Corinthians 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Now that we know love has EVERYTHING to do with it, what exactly is love from a biblical perspective? The modern definition of love has more to do with feelings than actions or intent. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, love is defined as:
- : strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties. (2) : attraction based on sexual desire: affection and tenderness felt by lovers.
While I think section one is pertinent, I am confident that section two has no biblical significance. To know exactly what biblical love is, we can start by going back to 1 Corinthians 13. After Paul talks about the importance of love, he talks specifically about what it is:
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love has a distinct look to it. Let’s break this down.
Love is patient and kind: How quickly do we lose our patience with others and start to think unkind things? Often, we are quick to judgement and make decisions about others in a negative, unkind way because we lack patience. This is a pattern that seems to be universal when I look at social media, main stream media and work place communication. We must be less critical and more kind.
It does not envy or boast: “Keeping up with the Jones’” is the statement that comes to mind here for me. We constantly compare ourselves to others. There is nothing less biblical. I have seen countless examples of peoples envy (read insecurity about themselves) driving their decisions. These decisions are never the correct one because love has NOTHING to do with it. We have also lost the importance of humility and often boast about things in our lives that God put there, but we take credit for. It is so important to remember that ALL good things come from God. God allowing me to walk in these good things is a GIFT because He loves me, not because of how cool I am. Remember, when pride walks in, God walks out.
It is not arrogant or rude: In the beatitudes, Jesus states clearly, “Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth”. Despite how modern culture defines meekness, the biblical definition of meekness is “strength under control”. If you are arrogant, you are not under control. If we keep the correct perspective, which is that God has given us all of our accomplishments and strengths to further His kingdom, then arrogance will not creep in. We will not think less of others or be rude to them because we think we are better than they are. As Winston Churchill said, “Walk softly, but carry a big stick”. Be strong because God made you that way, but don’t be arrogant about it.
It does not insist on its own way: Man have we, as a culture, blown this one. In the land of the customer is always right, we have preconditioned people to insist on their own way. From a biblical perspective we MUST remember that compromise is actually a demonstration of love and strength, NOT the opposite. When I look back on my life, I am confident that my was not always right.
It is not irritable or resentful: Holding a resentment is not loving. It makes us irritable and turns our heart away from God. I am just as guilty as anyone when it comes to holding on to resentment. I have been resentful for YEARS at a time. The result: it negatively effected every aspect of my life. Forgiveness is key. One of the things that helps me to forgive others is the concentrate on how much God has forgiven me for.
It does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth: In our modern culture, nothing seems to be sacred. The truth is what we make it. We as Christians MUST understand that the truth is absolute and it is the Word of God. What is wrongdoing then? Any act that is contrary to scripture. When we rejoice in wrongdoing (cheating on our taxes, not tithing, being arrogant and disrespectful of others, insisting on our own way, lying to our loved ones and employers, etc.) we are acting in a way contrary to Gods word, which makes it wrong. What do they call a person who says the believe one thing, but acts in a way not consistent with those beliefs? A hypocrite. Do a search in scripture on that word. Jesus had no time for hypocrites because it is not loving to be one.
In conclusion, I would encourage you to do what I did right after I wrote this article: Test yourself and be honest. Love is a hard target to hit. We will never be perfect at it, but it is a target we must always aim for. Christ was very clear, love is the most important thing. Anything that is not done out of love, misses the mark. So are you loving God the way he deserves, with all your mind, soul and strength? Does your love for others look like the biblical definition or is it more worldly? While we will never be perfect, it is clear what we must strive for.
See you next time,
