LOVE. It is a small four-letter word, but it has great meaning. It comes straight from the heart of God. In John 3 we read of Jesus preaching the gospel to Nicodemus. That man knew his Bible, but not the love of God. If Nicodemus was like most Jews of his day, he thought that the love of God was confined to him and his friends and that God would condemn everybody else. Jesus put him straight. God doesn’t want to “condemn the world,” Jesus told him. He wants to save it. He loves the world so much that He gave His only Son in a tremendous effort to save it. Not “it,” but real people.
Love, like giving, must have an object. You cannot love in the abstract. You must love someone. In God’s case that someone is an unworthy sinner like you and me. Jesus wanted Nicodemus to grasp the height and depth and breadth of God’s love, and start life all over again with that heavenly love in his soul. From the love he showed much later, we believe that Nicodemus was humble enough to learn Jesus’ lesson.
Jesus was a Jew. Most Jews received him not. They couldn’t conceive of a son of God being born in a stable, or living in a place like Galilee that was not royal or famous. Confident that they were always right, the love of God was lost on them. But, though tragic, as a result of their rejection we here sit in heavenly places in Christ.
Sadly, in today’s language, “love” often combines love and lust together. Lust is simply love that is selfish and demanding. True love is spiritual. Lust is self-love. True love is sharing. “Be ye all of one mind,” wrote Peter, “having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing.” Note well, brethren, those words compassion, pity, courtesy, blessing. They are all part of true love. I would like to focus for a moment on courtesy. Paul said that love is not rude. Jesus was invariably courteous. “Friend, wherefore art thou come?” was the greeting given to his betrayer, Judas. He did not snub anybody. Neither should we.
Love reaches out
Love enables us to feel the hurt and pain that somebody else is feeling. Love longs to reach out to others, as Jesus did. Remember, he broke down and wept over those people who deliberately spurned him and treated him badly: how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! A little picture of love. When we love, we don’t see ourselves any more. We don’t retaliate. We don’t brood on wrongs. Love forgives. If we cannot forgive, we are not “taught of God.”
It was at the Lord’s supper that Jesus said, a new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another. That is significant. Communion is a gate, not a fence. It is at the Lord’s table, above all, that we must let brotherly love continue (Heb. 13:1).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One