Last week, I talked a little bit about how genuine Christianity is characterized by two traits: love and holiness. Tonight, I'd like to talk about love.

What is love?



(Alright, enough of that.)

The bulk of the fandom spends their energy racing to find a mate or to find a friend. Sometimes all "we" want is to find someone that makes them feel good. Often this pursuit of a significant other or a mate comes across as "love." But the love that the Bible speaks about isn't something that keeps you emotionally happy all the time, but neither is it something that ends after a few years (whether that's 5 years or 50).

But if you really take a look at the story the Bible presents, you'll find something that may alter the way you look at things: when the Bible talks about love, especially the New Testament, the marriage relationship is not the prime example. In fact, Jesus has very little to say about love as it relates to spouses; when he wants us to know what love is, and what love looks like He points to His Church, the community of Christians who call on his name.

When Jesus wants us or the world to see what love truly is, He points to the Church, His People. 1 Cor 13 isn't a love poem about how one treats his beloved, but a hymn witnessing the love of God that manifests in and through Christians. It's less about "playing nice" and more about loving well. It's not really a definition of love, per se, but a demonstration of how true love plays out in one's life.

If our cartoons and novels and movies were any indication, we definitely see love as the most powerful force in the universe. It's that powerful compulsion, that wonderful feeling that either moves you to wrestle alligators, travel across the country or even just hold the hand of the person you love. It can be utterly terrible when that feeling is unrequited, or worse, given to someone else. Taken to it's logical extreme, this isn't anything more than infatuation. The moment that someone comes along with a "stronger pull" the heart finds itself pointing somewhere else.

If you've listened to many an evangelical teacher or preacher, then you've heard the idea that the highest love, popularly called agape love, is love that does what it has to do regardless of the circumstance or situation. While it is true that love is a big dose of commitment, sometimes this definition can make love into a dry, cold duty, where everything is done out of commitment, and not out of longing or genuinely wanting to.

When God's love captures and captivates a person, when one's life is shaped by the Gospel of Jesus, however then love, True Love, becomes the natural outflow. This love isn't merely affection, though the bubbly feelings are a definite part of it. God-love is more than commitment, though the commitment that characterizes God-love is something that goes far beyond the "thick and thin" that we're normally used to. Love, as the Bible describes it, is the joyful and commitment pursuit of the the loved one's highest good.

Often, this means meeting another's needs. If we go back to what Micah says about love ("to do justly and love mercy") we get a super condensed view of what God repeats over and over to us in the Old Testament. This was a time when the lead male was the head of the household, if he was rendered unable to work, or he was killed, the family he provided for would die soon afterword. But with the commands to "love your neighbor as you love yourself" (Lev 19.18) and other various laws, Jesus was teaching His people that love meant going above and beyond what was culturely "required" to what was loving. "To do justly" (or acting justly) meant being fair and just - making sure that the law protected the innocent from harm by punishing evil or promoting welfare. "Loving mercy" meant to not hold grudges and to live in peace, providing a voice for those who may not have a voice for themselves (often in the Bible times, these were orphans and widows). God was always talking about and demonstrating his love for his people: First by making them his own, then by rescuing them from Egypt, then by giving them His laws. The Old Testament is full of the Lord's love.

When came to Earth and started teaching, as the Messiah, one of his roles was to expand on the Old Testament laws, clarifying their role and the realities they pointed to. In doing so, with the "love your neighbor" command, Jesus extended the love that His people were to have to each other to those "outside" God's People, even their enemies. And in this way, we know we're to love and meet the need of those who do not know or do not accept their need. In response to our love for them, Jesus taught that his followers were to expect unfair treatment - even persecution - but to return that hostility with humility and love.

That's what Jesus did for us after all. While we were still rebels and his enemies, He came into our world, became one of us and died in our place. Our neediness was for reconciliation with God, for someone to take our punishment and to make right what we made wrong between us and God. Before any one of us even cared a thing for God or his Son, and in fact, while we were still intimately opposed to Him, Jesus became our substitute. That's the sort of love we need to demonstrate to the world. Sometimes people need a shoulder to cry on. Sometimes they need a place to stay or food to eat. Sometimes they need a voice in a corrupt social institution. But people always need the love of God to show them their sin and bring them to repentance.

God's gracious. His love is so vast and wide that He has even let people who snub him, actively or not, experience that thrill of being loved and loving another. But that's really only a small, Sam's Club sample of the real thing he has in store for us. The love of God is enduring, and sometimes it's misunderstood (which results in pain), but it will never let you down, ever. But why stay with only a sample, when you could start on the main dish here and now?

Start trusting Jesus today. It was his main message while he was on Earth: Repent and turn from your sins, because God's loving rule is hear!