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True Christian Love: Difference between revisions
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The apostle John is clear: | The apostle John is clear: | ||
The message you heard from the very beginning is this: we must love one another. ...Whoever does not love is still under the power of death. ...This is how we know what love is: Christ gave his life for us. We too, then, ought to give our lives for our brothers and sisters! ...My children, our love should not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action.<ref>American Bible Society, The Holy Bible: The Good News Translation, 2nd ed. (New York: American Bible Society, 1992), 1 Jn 3:11, 14, 16, 18.<ref> | The message you heard from the very beginning is this: we must love one another. ...Whoever does not love is still under the power of death. ...This is how we know what love is: Christ gave his life for us. We too, then, ought to give our lives for our brothers and sisters! ...My children, our love should not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action.<ref>American Bible Society, The Holy Bible: The Good News Translation, 2nd ed. (New York: American Bible Society, 1992), 1 Jn 3:11, 14, 16, 18.</ref> | ||
As is Peter: | As is Peter: | ||
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:b. Love does not parade itself: Love in action can work anonymously. It does not have to have the limelight or the attention to do a good job, or to be satisfied with the result. Love gives because it loves to give, not out of the sense of praise it can have from showing itself off. Sometimes the people who seem to work the hardest at love are the ones the furthest from it. They do things many would perceive as loving, yet they do them in a manner that would parade itself. This isn’t love; it is pride looking for glory by the appearance of love. | :b. Love does not parade itself: Love in action can work anonymously. It does not have to have the limelight or the attention to do a good job, or to be satisfied with the result. Love gives because it loves to give, not out of the sense of praise it can have from showing itself off. Sometimes the people who seem to work the hardest at love are the ones the furthest from it. They do things many would perceive as loving, yet they do them in a manner that would parade itself. This isn’t love; it is pride looking for glory by the appearance of love. | ||
:c. Love … is not puffed up: To be puffed up is to be arrogant and self-focused. It speaks of someone who has a “big head.” Love doesn’t get its head swelled; it focuses on the needs of others. | :c. Love … is not puffed up: To be puffed up is to be arrogant and self-focused. It speaks of someone who has a “big head.” Love doesn’t get its head swelled; it focuses on the needs of others. Among Christians, the worst pride is spiritual pride. | ||
:d. Love … does not behave rudely: Where there is love, there will be kindness and good manners. Perhaps not in the stuffy, “look at how cultured I am” way of showing manners, but in the simply way people do not behave rudely. | :d. Love … does not behave rudely: Where there is love, there will be kindness and good manners. Perhaps not in the stuffy, “look at how cultured I am” way of showing manners, but in the simply way people do not behave rudely. | ||
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:g. Love … thinks no evil: Literally this means “love does not store up the memory of any wrong it has received.” Love will put away the hurts of the past instead of clinging to them. Real love “never supposes that a good action may have a bad motive | :g. Love … thinks no evil: Literally this means “love does not store up the memory of any wrong it has received.” Love will put away the hurts of the past instead of clinging to them. Real love “never supposes that a good action may have a bad motive | ||
:h. Love … does not rejoice in iniquity: It is willing to want the best for others, and refuses to color things against others. Instead, love rejoices in the truth. Love can always stand with and on truth, because love is pure and good like truth.<ref>David Guzik, 1 Corinthians, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2013), 1 Co 13:4b–6. | :h. Love … does not rejoice in iniquity: It is willing to want the best for others, and refuses to color things against others. Instead, love rejoices in the truth. Love can always stand with and on truth, because love is pure and good like truth.<ref>David Guzik, 1 Corinthians, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2013), 1 Co 13:4b–6.</ref> | ||
=How does love manifest itself?= | =How does love manifest itself?= | ||