If I were to say, “I wish to speak with you about love,” what would you anticipate? Would you expect me to speak of birds and bees, and old oak trees and “lilt” about the morning dew ? No, that would be better left to poets. Would you expect me to speak of that “warm summer night of gentle caresses as we sailed down a moonlit bay ?” No, that would be better left to lovers. Rather we would expect and hope, as followers of Christ, that our thoughts and actions would reflect our love in our Lord and Saviour. What, then, would be our approach to love ?
Would our approach be to speak of the first great commandment, that we should “love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind ?” This, indeed, would be a very wise approach (Matthew 22:37). Would our approach be to speak on the second great commandment, to love thy neighbour as thyself? This would indeed be a worthy approach of practical application, for we learn from 1 John 4:20,21: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar : for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen ?” “And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.” Would our approach be to consider the utter worthlessness of any virtue without love ? This would indeed be a very enlightening approach, for we could do no better than learn from Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 :2,3 : “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge ; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.” “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing.”
Or, would our approach be to consider the ingredients of love, that love is ” . . . not puffed up,” “Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil” (1 Cor. 13:4,5) ? This approach would also be a truly helpful one, for our analysis of love would allow us to see where we fall short and what we need to do in order to correct our faults.
Now there are four approaches to love : (1) Considering the first great commandment, that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind; (2) Considering the second great commandment, to love thy neighbour as thyself ; (3) Considering the utter worthlessness of any virtue without love, even though that virtue be faith enough to move mountains ; (4) Considering the ingredients of love, that it is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil . . . These four approaches to love would indeed merit our meditation and consideration, and yet, if we were to meditate on each one individually or consider all four approaches together, we would still be in danger of overlooking the most important approach to love. Yes, we might very well overlook love itself, for it is so obvious, so easily taken for granted, so very much in evidence about us. We cannot hear music or survive a night of sleep without experiencing it.
What, then, is the most important approach to love ? I think the Psalmist best expresses it when he exclaims : “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained”; “What is man, that thou art mindful of him ? and the Son of man, that thou visitest him ?” “For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.” “Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands ; thou hast put all things under his feet.” “0 Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all of the earth” (Psalms 8:3-6,9).
Simply put, it is the grace of God, His abundant mercy, the love of God for man. Thus, the love of God for man is the starting point and the most important aspect to the subject of love. Consider, if you will, how freely God has poured out His love on man. First, He is the Father of us all. We owe our very existence to Him: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). It is our Heavenly Father then whom we should thank for the experience and joy of living.
Second : It is through His grace that we enjoy the stature we have on earth. We were made a little lower than the angels, given dominion over all the animals, and provided with a helpmate with whom to share our pleasures. The ability to enjoy the fragrance of a flower, to compose a love song, or to build a towering skyscraper is the result of the grace of God, who has given man this high dominion on earth.
Third : The most important aspect of the love of God for man is evidenced by His promises. He promised death to a disobedient Adam, and life through His obedient Son, Jesus Christ. Now we know that our Creator is all-powerful and cannot lie. He promised death to Adam, who became a dying creature and did die. We can be equally sure that His promise of life through His Son will be fulfilled, for what our Heavenly Father has in love provided will always come to pass.
The mercy and love of our Father are evident in more than just the fulfilment of His promises. They are present also in the very nature of the promises, which are wonderful beyond all expectation and human conception. Now a promise embodies the idea of an expectation of a condition not yet established. First, then, Adam was created “very good.” After his fall, the promise was that he would become a dying creature. The point is that when God promised Adam he would become a dying creature, he was not at that time mortal.
Now God could have promised us that through the obedience of One, man would return to the original state of Adam, who was created very good, a state in which man, through an outside tempter, would always be capable of sinning, and hence having the sentence of death passed upon him. Although the promise of a change from a dying creature to the state of “very good” would have been a very real promise, God, in His infinite love and mercy, so fully accepted the sacrifice of His Son that He promised us eternal life! Through the obedience of One, the promise was not a return to the sate of “very good” but a promise of abundant grace, even unto life eternal. How exceedingly great and precious are our Lord’s promises! How much has he caused his love and mercy to shine upon us !
And yet, in still another way, the love of God for man is strongly manifested, for another condition of a promise is that it may be conditional. Thus, one may say that if you do such and such, then I promise to do such and such. And so God has promised that those who are obedient through the Son will receive eternal life. Eternal life then is conditional on our believing in our Lord and being obedient to our Father.
But who among us can ever claim that we have been completely obedient to the Father. David, a man after God’s own heart, sinned in numbering Israel and taking Bathsheba to be his wife ; Moses, one of God’s most obedient and faithful servants, sinned in claiming a miracle to be due to his own power.
So, again, it is only through our Father’s exceeding great love and mercy that we, who stumble so often down the road of life, are still allowed to seek and search that one path, and this we do with our Lord’s help. Only with humility and appreciation of God’s love for man can we begin to understand that eternal life is a gift and not a payment.
Thus far, we have been considering a few of the ways in which the love of God for man has been manifested. First : He is the Father of us all whom we should thank for our very existence. Second: It is through His grace that we enjoy such a high stature on earth. Third : We can be sure His promises will be fulfilled. Fourth : The very nature of His promises is wonderful beyond all expectation and conception. Fifth : Eternal life is a gift and not a payment.
Now some of us may be wondering if we are not belaboring a simple and obvious truth, that our God is one of love and mercy. We might feel that we are spending too much time talking about love, while the only important thing to do is to live a “good Christian life.” The point is well taken, except that man’s vanity might prove to be a stumbling block. If our approach to love is to follow the first great commandment, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind, we might still stumble in claiming that man does not die, that he has an immortal soul, in spite of all the promises of God which revolve around the death of man.
If our approach to love is to consider the utter worthlessness of any virtue without love, we might still stumble in that we do not consider faith very important —faith that God cannot lie ; faith the Bible is divinely inspired ; faith that our Lord was resurrected from the dead ; faith that He will return to earth ; faith that He will establish the Kingdom of God.
If our approach to love is to analyse the ingredients of love, we might still stumble in not realizing that the only perfection possible is through Jesus Christ, making our minds and wills obedient to Him, and that perfection is not reached through what others call “a good personality.” Thus, the most important approach to love is that of humbly endeavoring to gain a greater appreciation and understanding of our Father’s love for us, by using His book of. Instruction to follow His will.
Peter exhorts us as new born babes to desire the sincere milk of the Word that we may grow thereby (1 Peter 2:2). So, with the conclusion of our discussion, let us begin our approach to love by studying such chapters as Romans 5, particularly verse 10: “For if, when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” What is meant by this verse ? At the first opportunity, let us study one of the most beautiful chapters in the Bible for it so clearly depicts the manifestation of God’s love for man through the death of His son.
Another excellent chapter for study is 1 John 4, particularly verse 10: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” What is meant by this verse ? Let us study the entire book of 1 John. We will be richly rewarded if we do, for in our desire to have the sincere milk of the Word, to learn more of God’s promises and what He requires of man, we humbly pray and hope that we will gain a greater appreciation and understanding of such verses as : “He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.” “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One