Discipleship Network Forum

This Week’s Question: Since too many have a romanticized view of love, what is love from a Biblical perspective?

Love is one of the three foundational pillars that Christianity is built upon, with faith and hope being the other two pillars. Unfortunately, many claim to be Christians based solely upon their love for God. Nevertheless, from a Biblical perspective these pillars work synchronously and cannot be dichotomized. To be more explicit, true faith is dependent upon love according to I Corinthians 13:2, “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, but have not love, I am nothing.” In the same vein, genuine hope must be fueled by love according to Romans 5:5, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Similarly, faith cannot be divorced from hope because hope is embedded in it according to Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” In the final analysis, those who claim to have faith without also having hope and love are, in actuality, governed by superstition not faith. Similarly hope that is not accompanied by faith and love is only wishful thinking; and love that is disconnected from faith and hope is mere sentimentality.

In our last post we identified the fundamental element implied in James 2:1-9 to be love, and three reasons were discussed to justify its importance: (1) God commands His followers to love; (2) Love is the distinguishing characteristic that separates God’s children from satan’s; and (3) The motive behind a person’s love is more important than that person’s deeds. So what is love? Four types of love are described Biblically and they are: Eros – Sexual or romantic love; Storge – Natural mutual affection or familial love; Philia – Brotherly love that unites true believers; and Agape – The love God has for humankind. Although each has a place in scripture, agape is focused on in this post because it is the love God has for the world, and is the love that His disciples must have for one another for acceptance into His Kingdom. Paul makes this point very clear in Romans 13:8 when he writes, “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.”

So what essentially is agape love? Paul, beginning in I Corinthians 13:4 describes agape love beautifully: “4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails…” Someone once said, “love is what love does,” which confirms the fact that love is not an emotion. Also, it is not rhetoric. Instead love is the mitigating force that controls one’s speech, thoughts, and works. By examining I Corinthians 13, it is evident that love forces true disciples to be patient, mild, and kind toward others. It also prevents them from being envious of or hating others; and keeps them grounded whereby they neither think too highly of nor feels the need to elevate themselves. Instead, proper behavior is the modus operandi for disciples because they are not easily provoked into behaving inappropriately. True love causes disciples, by their thoughts, to internalize Paul’s words in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things.” Meditation, of this nature, prevents true disciples from thinking evil thoughts or gloating when another succumbs to sin. Instead that disciple is happiest when others also stand on God’s truth!

The bottom-line is since love never ends, it is infinite, has no bounds, cannot be measured, transcends time, and, unlike faith and hope, it is the only pillar that extends beyond this realm into eternity. Therefore, since love is infinite, disciples who have it withstand hardship and adversity because love bears all things! Since love is infinite, disciples who have it recite Romans 8:28 as their mantra, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose,” because love believes all things! Since love is infinite, disciples who have it do not allow their circumstances to dictate their actions because love hopes all things! Finally, since love is infinite, disciples who have it are confident of the power behind Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, since love endures all things! To bring true love to life, love was the force behind the Civil Rights Movement because despite the murders, lynchings, jailings, protests, beatings, discriminatory laws, biased government officials, hosings, dog bites, and sheer humiliation; my forefathers, as a group, knew that love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails! They knew it, they lived it, and God delivered to us, as a community, several major victories because of our communal love for everybody!

Next Week’s Question: The Bible has many vivid examples of love, can you think of any? And if “yes” is your answer, can any Biblical principles be gleaned from them?

Parts 1 and 2, in this series about what matters most to God in a disciple, focused on a very challenging reality: For a person who places their faith in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior from “the wages of sin,” following God means much more than learning about Him and skillfully studying the Bible.

In fact, the disciple who focuses only on growing in knowledge and skill will fail sooner or later. Formula: Knowledge + Skill – Character => Failure.

1 Corinthians 13 identifies what matters most to God: A true follower of God reflects His love as a lifestyle. That love reflects outward in Christlike character. This is the light that Jesus welcomes in Matthew 5:14–16: “You are the light of the world . . . Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

This is also the highest form of worship that a disciple can offer to God. It is the offering of that disciple’s heart and lifestyle to Him. Knowledge + Skill + Character => Worship!

As a light beam refracts when passing through a glass prism, God’s love beams into the heart of a disciple and reflects outward to others in various “colors” that comprise a “spectrum of love.” Those colors are qualities of Christlike character.

Through the pen of Paul in 1 Corinthians 13, God names several specific character qualities included in agape love. Immediately, He gets personal: Love is patient.

“I should be patient with whom?” you may ask. Answer: With others, of course. But—as arrogant as it is to do otherwise—we must also be reverently patient with God. Let’s ponder these briefly.

Godlike patience with others includes, but exceeds, letting another car cut in front of us on the freeway or slowing our walk to fit the pace of an older or younger companion. It means responding mildly, with self-control, when someone challenges our opinions or acts other than the way we prefer. It means we are habitually slow to get angry with someone, or to resent them.

Godlike patience also means that we are slow to punish. If we are in a position requiring us to enforce consequences for someone’s wrong behavior, we discipline ourselves to do that responsibly, not impulsively or angrily. Interestingly, God led Peter to use that same Greek word for “patient” in 2 Peter 3:9 as he describes God’s patience toward us. And aren’t we thankful!

Some tests of our patience may be more severe. What if someone maliciously and intentionally offends us, provokes us, or somehow harms us? Godlike love endures it. Paul shares his pilgrimage and patient endurance in 1 Corinthians 4:11–13.

What’s more, James 1:2–4 challenges us to accept such trials with joy. Wow—we do not see that kind of response in popular movies. Yet Christ Himself is our example (Hebrews 12:1–3). He patiently ran His race. He did not lose heart along the way. He knew the joy that was coming.

Looking upward, we who follow God must be reverent and patient with God. Like Job, we feel frustrated when our prayers are not answered as we wish and when we wish. How ridiculous and rebellious is that attitude toward our almighty, all-knowing, and loving God?! We honor Him when we discipline ourselves to cultivate deferred gratification—wait patiently for His answer.

Do you want to honor Him and do what matters most to Him? I do. Let’s run our race patiently. Let’s not lose heart. Let’s let our light shine even brighter by trusting and resting in Him. His Spirit will then bless us with more of His patience.

Thank you for continuing this journey into what matters most to God about a disciple.

© 2018 John C Garmo