ABOUT LOVE

Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia.  But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more.  I Thess. 4:9-10

            It seems that the believers in Thessalonica love well. Paul praises them for this.  It appears as if they’ve mastered it yet Paul does not assume that.  He urges them to excel still more in showing Christ-like love.  It’s too important a subject to relax in because what often appears to be love is far from it.

• I can love someone who badly needs it because I will be glorified for loving the unlovely.  I know Christian ministries who treat their employees badly.  But, when they’re hurting, they rush to their side.  This is confusing for the one who needs love and is, most always, self-serving.
• I can sow good deeds in the name of love to enhance my reputation.  How many philanthropic ventures are carried out to enhance someone’s perception in the marketplace?
• I can give lavish gifts to friends and family members so that I get attention.  I have a need to give the best gift, show everyone else up, and have people praise me for choosing something no one else would have chosen.  If I give you a coat, encourage you to wear it, then admire it on you, I can do all this so that you’ll thank me again and again for making such a great choice.

           None of the above resembles the kind of love Jesus gives to us but each can certainly look like it.  Paul had no way of knowing the motives of the believer’s acts of charity.  It had the appearance of godly love but he rightly assumed that mankind has a lot to improve on to be like Jesus.  Though Jesus was God, He willingly emptied Himself of his equality to become our servant.  Phil. 2:8-9  While on earth, He reserved his most loving acts as ones to be performed in private.  When others would make him King, He retreated.  When love required a sacrifice, He gave His life.

           Most of us are so desperate to be loved that we have, at times, fallen for proclamations of “I love you” that were entirely self-serving.  When we woke up and saw the counterfeit, it was painful.  It takes time with Jesus to know what real love is – and then to know how to give it away.  This lesson, above all others, is critical.  Jesus said, “The world will know you are my disciples if you love one another.” When I love poorly, Jesus is veiled.  When I love well, the ache in another’s heart for God rises to the surface.

So much of what I do can be self-serving.  My motives are never perfect and this just points out how much I need You.  My flesh and my spirit are always at war.  I need You, Jesus.  Amen