Today’s Passage: “Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:10
Dear sisters, it has been quite a long time since our last Priceless Pearls devotional series on Living by the Spirit. You may wish to review the previous lessons by clicking on the links below.
Living by the Spirit I – Flesh vs. Spirit
Living by the Spirit II – Lusts of the Flesh
Living by the Spirit III - Fruit of the Spirit
Living by the Spirit IV - Love Is Not
In our last lesson, we studied what love is not. Today our lesson will focus on what love is.
There are many passages in the Bible regarding love and this short lesson will not begin to touch the hem of the garment, so to speak, of this wonderful topic. In the letter to the church in Rome, Paul wrote a beautiful description of love: “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:8-10.)
Let us look at some of the things that love is and does according to the Scriptures:
1. Love covers sins (Proverbs 10:12.) This means that love does not hold a grudge against past wrong that has been forgiven. God forgives us when we seek forgiveness according to His Word, and we must forgive others who seek forgiveness from us as well.
2. Love keeps secrets (Proverbs 17:9.) This passage is very clear: “He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends.” To love one another, we must not repeat secrets to others, for this is gossip. Instead, if we learn of something which troubles us about an individual, it is best to go to that person and ask privately. Perhaps we have misunderstood or have been told something that is untrue. Or, we may discover that the person who is the brunt of the gossip just needs some guidance and encouragement by someone more mature in the faith. We may be able to help a sister correct her sin without being subjected to public humiliation by gossip. No matter how we look at it, spreading hearsay is never the right answer.
3. Love is a debt we owe to others. We owe love as a debt to others because God has forgiven our debt through Christ. Romans 13:8 teaches us that we should owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. How does love fulfill the law? Jesus reveals that the greatest commandments are these: 1) Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind and 2) Love your neighbor as yourself.’ He goes on to say that “on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40.) If we truly love God and others, we will seek to please them and not seek our own selfish gain. We will not lie to, commit adultery with, steal from or otherwise hurt others because we have love in our hearts for them. We will sacrifice for God and for our spouses, children and those in need. It is by loving others that we experience the greatest joy, for we realize that God has loved us first (I John 4:19) and sacrificed His own Son, Jesus Christ, that we might be eternally blessed (John 3:16.)
4. Love rejoices in the truth and bears, believes, hopes and endures all things (I Corinthians 13:6:7.) Love leads us to forebears others’ weaknesses while recognizing our own. Love believes and hopes and endures because God has promised us eternal life if we overcome (I John 2:25.)
5. Love is the greatest thing. I Corinthians 13:13 states, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Why is love greater than faith and hope? Because faith and hope are temporary. We have faith in God’s promises and the hope of eternal life, but someday, our faith and hope will be sight! We will no longer need faith in the unseen or hope of the future because we will live in eternity with God. Faith and hope are necessary for our pilgrim journey, but in the land of endless day, we will have pure and perfect love.
6. Love serves others. Just as love is a debt to others, we are taught that because we are under the law of liberty, we are called to serve one another (Galatians 5:13-14.) Jesus demonstrated service to others through the tender act of washing His apostles’ dirty feet (John 13:13-15.) In this passage, He tells them that He has done this as an example of what they are to do to others. He did not literally mean that we must wash one another’s feet as we live in a different culture, but by performing this service to His apostles, He taught us that no matter how great our position is on earth, we as Christians are to be servants. We are to be humble and caring and tender and compassionate to others. We must not be afraid to roll up our shirtsleeves and get dirty or do something that seems “beneath us” when serving others. God values every person on the earth, and we should, also.
7. Love is imitating Christ. Ephesians 5:1-2 states that we are to be imitators of God and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us.” Jesus came to earth as a man not only to die for our sins but also to teach us of the Father. We see God the Father through God the Son of whose example and words of ministry we read in the Word of God (John 14:8-10.)
8. Love is deep and genuine (Ephesians 3:17.) Christ is to live in our hearts through faith and we are to be “rooted and grounded in love.” If Christ’s love is our foundation, we are firmly rooted indeed.
9. Love is always growing in knowledge and understanding. Love does not reach maximum potential maturity level while we live. No matter how much Bible study we have done or how many prayers we have offered in our lives, we can still continue to grow. In the letter to the church at Philippi, Paul writes, “For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment” (Philippians 1:8-11.) The Christians were told to continue growing their love in knowledge and discernment. We do this by meditating on God’s Word and continuing to pray for discernment and wisdom to understand and apply what we read in the Bible. We also grow in love by exercising it in works of service.
10. Love is being united. In Philippians 2:2, the church is urged to fulfill Paul’s joy “by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” Christ wants us to be united in love. We can only do this if our love is genuine and based on God’s Word. Our love cannot be based on how we feel but how God feels about the matter. United love does not mean that we overlook sin and accept everyone as they are in order to keep a sense of peace. This is not true peace, but is instead tolerance of sin. The church can only be united in love if we speak where the Bible speaks and remain silent where the Bible is silent. In other words, we must not add to God’s blessings and likewise, we must not take away from God’s warnings. We must be united in our desire to save the lost, “hating even the garment defiled by the flesh” (Jude 1:23.) We must encourage people to repent and be obedient to God’s Word as many in Corinth did (I Corinthians 6:9-11.)
11. Love is humble, compassionate and recognizes needs. One of my favorite passages is Philippians 2:3-4: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” We are to be aware of others’ needs and act quickly to assist. Sometimes we can get so caught up in our own lives that we fail to speak to those outside of our usual group. No one should ever feel isolated or alone in the Lord’s church! It is the duty of every Christian to seek out visitors, those who are sick or lonely. We might invite those who are not often invited out to eat instead of eating with our same favorite friends every week. Certainly, friends are wonderful and we should spend quality time with them, but how wonderful those who have few friends might feel if they were invited to eat out on occasion. Getting to know one another outside of worship services is very important to learn about each other on a personal level and to discover one another’s needs.
12. Love is perfect. “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection” (Colossians 3:14.) Perfection means completeness. We are not complete in our Christian walk without true, godly love. Love is that which should cover us like a garment wherever we go. We are to be filled with love so that it overflows in our hearts and is shared with everyone we meet. Love is not something we do occasionally; love must be who we are.
There are so many more qualities of love in the Scriptures but these are wonderful passages with which to begin. I pray that this study encourages each of us to research more of the love passages and meditate on them. I Thessalonians 5:8, II Timothy 1:7, Hebrews 10:24-25, II Peter 1:7, 1 John 2:10 and I John 3:16-18 are but a few more passages regarding love.
Having read all of these wonderful passages on love, it would be unjust not to mention a warning on love:
We cannot love God unless we obey Him. John 14:15, I John 5:2-3, II John 1:6 are three passages that clearly teach us this fact. We may be “good people” who care about others and do many good works, but if we have not obeyed God’s Word regarding how to be saved and how to live faithfully, then we do not love God. This is what His Word says. We cannot expect to love God on our own terms, but we must love Him by obeying His commandments. He is the great Creator, Sustainer and Savior and He does not accept it when we try to circumvent His laws by thinking that we can worship Him in our own way and contrary to His Word. Let us always read the Word and strive to ensure that our worship is acceptable to Him by the commandments and examples in the New Testament (the law of Christ.)
May each of us glean new treasures from God’s precious Word by daily study and meditation.
Above all, “let all that you do be done with love.” I Corinthians 16:14.
