The Bible describes love as a verb, contrary to the world view of love, which believes it is an emotion cultivated by experience or circumstance. Jesus described the love believers are to have toward not only Himself, but toward fellow man. Jesus describes the active love toward individuals who are in need as ministering not only to themselves, but also unto the Lord Jesus Himself. These acts of charity, such as feeding the poor, clothing them, visiting those in prison, taking in strangers and ministering to their physical and spiritual needs, is the love of God manifested among His people. Jesus goes on to teach that ignoring these facets of the Christian faith is evidence that an individual is in fact unregenerated and therefore unsaved, dismissing those who refuse to manifest love to everlasting judgement into the lake of fire.
Paul describes that of all the spiritual gifts, love is the only one that will follow us into eternity. Faith and hope will disappear when the believer reaches the end of their pilgrimage on earth and finally sees Jesus face to face, but love endures and will accompany the believer into heaven.
Love's character is patterned after God's own love. It stands to reason that since “God is love” (1 John 4:16) it is His example that the believer is to follow. Without God's indwelling love, a “Christian” ceases to be what he claims to be; since the love of God indwells a believer, a lack of love reveals the true heart of an individual in the realm of spiritual standing. An individual could live a life of a martyr, giving everything he owns, even to the point of death, without love it is useless. It is useless because the Spirit of God does not indwell the individual, therefore there is no assurance of eternal life in heaven.
Love is described as the concern of other over self. Love rejoices in the happiness of another and sorrows with them in pain. Love seeks to protect and preserve the integrity of others. Love is long suffering, that is, even in the light of hatred and persecution, a believer loves and manifests that love toward the antagonist. Pride is absent in love, with humility dominating the thoughts and actions of a believer. Love is as simple as providing a cold cup of water to a stranger on a hot summer day, and as profound as a Savior dying on a cross for sins that are not His own. In either case, it is the manifestation of love in real time and in a real way that shows the Spirit filled heart of an individual.
Love among the brethren is also stressed in the scriptures. The apostle John, who has been nicknamed the “apostle of love”, describes a love for one another in the church that elevates itself beyond the temporal and sinful nature of individuals before being perfected in death and resurrection. It recognizes and applies the principal of sacrificial love, as seen in the life and atoning death of Jesus, as it's pattern. It is this love that indwells a believer in the form of the Holy Spirit, that enables them to love those who would otherwise be tolerated or even hated. Anyone who claims to love God and refuses to love his brother is a liar. The Bible commands we love God, but also to love one another.
This type of supernatural love is only available to those who confess Jesus as the Son of God (1 John 4:14). The believer then abides in God and God abides in him and is made perfect through that love, so that in the day of judgement, the believer has no fear, since God's great love has been manifested in our lives on earth.
Are you living in fear.....or are you living in God's love????
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