Love Expressed
There are various definitions in dictionaries, and many things written that capture the essence of love so beautifully. However it is you choose to describe love we can all agree that it is beautiful and probably feels good to the skin, warm like a beautiful spring morning and as gracious as backyard dew. Love is a beautiful gift given to us by God. It is what He commands to do. He is kind. It is who He is and the only Source of it. He is love enough to love the whole world thoroughly and individuals uniquely and still has enough love to pour to the individual to love Him back. His love cleanses us and allows us to love just like He does.
This is God’s purpose for us, to love Him then our neighbours as we do ourselves – this is the basis of His law and prophecy.
In this first lesson we will tackle the foundation of love which is wisdom for fruitfulness then in lessons to follow we will teach about how we can apply these principles in our relationships.
God is a Triune God – He is three in one. He is a God of unity. He has called us Christians to be one in Him and joins us by His blood. No one, in Christ, can be joined with anything or anyone that is outside of Him. God commands us to be equally yoked in Him; to choose friends who love and serve Him. He does not mean we cannot associate with those who do not know Him but if we are to bring anyone into close proximity with us they are to be in Christ.
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14 (NIV)
This helps us to obey God’s law of living at peace with one another – to live with like-minded people who understand our convictions and encourage us to live godly lives. It helps us to be sacrificial and covenantal in love without fear of being used or deliberately hurt.
This is how we are called to love – to live like Christ and God gives us the grace to love like this and God’s wisdom guides us into whom we let into our spaces. When you give of yourself to people who are unavailable to you you are left broken but when that love is reciprocated it can be wholesome.
God’s love is sacrificial
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13 (NIV)
When our relationship with God was broken and man self distracting in His ways, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sin and restore relationship with the Father. There is not a man on earth who has ever loved like this neither will there be one to sacrifice himself like this for someone else and yet God calls us to esteem others better than ourselves. His grace is sufficient for us.
God’s love is covenantal
“and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” Ephesians 2:16 (NIV)
God reconciled us and put us together within ourselves then with each other. He healed our ailments – both physical and spiritual; mended our relationships with God so that our relationships with each other could be whole. He desires to live in us individually and corporately. He lives in our hearts and joins us together, founded on Him as the Chief Cornerstone, to be His Holy temple that He resides. We are to be like-minded, in love with each other.
Remember that everything we do we should do it as though done for the Lord – it should be filled with excellence and clothed in His glory for the end result of everything should be God’s beauty displayed. God is intentional about everything He does and His instructions are beneficial for us and have a significant role in His grander vision. So let us love as we have been taught by Christ to.