The word "love" is mentioned 500+ times in the Bible. While some may think of hearts, roses, and romance when they think of love, a better, more Biblical understanding of love is sacrifice.
When a couple marries, they take their wedding vows and make a promise: “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.” With this vow, they swear to choose their spouse in all circumstances. They promise to act out 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 in their life together - that they will be patient and kind, they will not envy, they will not boast, they won’t be proud. They will not dishonor others, they will not be self-seeking, they will not be easily angered, they will keep no record of wrongs. For love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.
Even when you care so much about your spouse, it can be difficult to choose love and to live out the promises you made at the altar. Can you imagine trying to live out this love with your enemy? Well, God did just that.
Romans 5:7-10 states that we were sinners and enemies of God, but out of His love Christ died and reconciled us to Him. The most famous verse of the Bible - John 3:16 - “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” We were dead and He brought us life (Ephesians 2:4-5). 1 John 4:9-10 echoes the same: “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.”
Christ was and is the ultimate example of love - Philippians 2:4-6 “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
With such great love on display, Christ asks no more of us than what he did himself: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” (John 15:12). “If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” (1 John 4:12). When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus answered “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40).
Anyone can talk about love, but few really live out love. Our Savior is one who lived out a perfect picture of love. May you be encouraged by 1 John 3:18: “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”
Join us next week as we will celebrate the joy surrounding Jesus’ birth and His return.
