How Important Is Love to a Christian?
Jesus came to be a sacrifice, the final
and complete sacrifice, for all the sins of the world. But while he was on this
earth, he also taught many things to his disciples and all those who would
listen. The most important of those lessons was one about love. As we’ll see,
in his own words he said that the commandment of love is the greatest of all commandments,
and all the laws and prophets (from the old testament) hang on love.
He taught that love was more important
than burnt offerings or sacrifices. That’s a pretty amazing statement
considering he was talking to those who were still living by all the old
testament laws which required those things.
He also said that our love for one
another will be what defines us - what shows the world that we are his
disciples. More than any preaching or public prayers, love will be the sign
that we belong to him.
Jesus introduces this concept by going
back to the law and expanding on it:
43 “You
have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and
hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your
Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends
rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
He
explains a little about God’s love here. Evil, good, righteous, unrighteous…He
extends the same sunshine and rain to all. God loves all, and wants everyone to
come to Him in love. To be children of our heavenly Father, we need to also
love, not hate, and pray for our enemies.
At one
point, the Pharisees tested Jesus. The Pharisees believed strongly in the oral
law passed down from Moses, which wasn’t written down till much later. They
believed they not only knew the law, but understood how it should be
interpreted and applied. They considered themselves pretty much experts in the
law. So they asked Jesus a question to test his knowledge:
34 Hearing that
Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an
expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which
is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the
first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second
is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and
the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
In
effect, Jesus threw them a curve ball. What he said was unexpected, and not
directly a part of the ten commandments. He said that these two commandments of
love are the basis of all the law, and the words of the prophets.
Everything
hangs on love.
Here
is where Jesus tells his disciples that love is more important than burnt
offerings and sacrifices. He would later prove that, by showing the love of God
through his own sacrifice to end all sacrifices.
“To love him
with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than
all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Jesus set the example of love for his disciples, and for all of us:
“A new
command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved
you, so you must love one another.
Then he said that love would be the way the world would know his
disciples. It is what truly defines and sets apart the ones who truly follow
him:
“By this
everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one
another.”
In
Romans, Paul reminds the early church that love is the basis of the law, and even
the fulfillment of the law:
9The
commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You
shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may
be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as
yourself.” 10Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is
the fulfillment of the law.
There are some believers who see the law in a very
harsh, rigid set of rules by which to judge each other. You can see the fire in
their eyes when they see someone breaking the laws of God. It’s as if they
almost want to see the offender punished in some way. That is not the spirit of
love that Jesus was talking about. That is judgment. To be angry with those we
see not keeping the commandments is misguided. The Bible says that the anger of
man does not work the righteousness of God.
According to all these teachings in all these
scriptures we’ve seen here, love is the correct response to those who are in
sin, and those who are not living in the light. We should pray for them and
above all show them God’s love through our own actions, and set an example,
just as Jesus did.
If we see the law as a set of instructions, not to
burden us, or to oppress us, but to guide us to love, and not harm one another,
it all makes sense. We are not justified in God’s eyes through keeping the law.
Jesus provided that justification. But to truly understand His will for us, we
must know and practice love. In 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, we see some examples
of how to display the love of God. It tells us what love is, and what it is
not:
13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not
have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am
nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to
hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does
not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love
does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It
always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there
are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I
shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is
love.
How
important is love, to a Christian? It is extremely important. Without God’s
love for us, He would not have sent His only Son to prove it. Without our love
for Him and for our brothers and sisters, we cannot fully know Him. We cannot
understand the meaning of the law, the prophets, the commandments, the
teachings of Jesus, or have a true spiritual connection with Him…without love.
Without love, all our attempts to serve Him miss the mark. That is the
importance of love.
So how do
we live by that commandment? Only through the Spirit can we see its full
meaning and truly practice love. We must want to. We must make it the desire of
our heart to learn it, to live it, and to share it.
The next
time you read the Bible…any part of it, think about it as it relates to the law
of love. It may amaze you how well it fits everything in the scriptures.
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