THE IMPORTANCE OF LOVE

                                                                                                                                                                             By W. G. Guy

          Please understand that this article is about the God kind of love, not the world’s kind of love, which is quite different and is based on fleshly lusts.

1 John 2 15-16 –  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 

          Almighty God, Himself, IS LOVE; because it His divine character and nature. 

1 John 4:16 –  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 

          Love, therefore, is the foundation of the Kingdom (the domain) of God, and is the essence of His divine presence that we are privileged to seek and receive.  Consider that the entire Bible is a love story: God’s love for mankind, created in His own image and likeness.  Love is giving, caring and sharing; just as God gave the gift of resurrection life to us though Jesus, His Son.

John 3:16-17 –  For God so loved the world (cosmos, the social system of mankind), that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

          Even the Ten Commandments are about love: the first four about loving God, and the next six about loving one another.  This is why Jesus said that love is the great commandment:

Matthew 22:36-40 – Master, which is the great commandment in the law?  Jesus said unto him, 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.

          In Book of Romans we read the same affirmation.

Romans 13:8-10 – Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.  For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

          Love is also the evidence of those who are the children of God through accepting God’s love gift of life through Jesus Christ.

1 John 4:7-15 – Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.  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. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.  No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.  Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.  And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.  Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.     

            Jesus set the example for us in how to show love to others by giving.  The most that we could possibly give is our own lives, as Jesus did for us.

John 15:13 & 17 – Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.  17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.

            At the day of judgment, one of the main things in which we will be judged for is our obedience to love fulfilling the will of God:

1 John 4:17-21 – Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is (love), so are we in this world.  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.  We love him, because he first loved us.  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.

          Therefore the greatest gift of love that we believers can give to anyone is to introduce them to Jesus Christ, so that they too can become a member of God’s loving family.  This is the importance of the God kind of LOVE.

          Remember what love (charity) does, and what love does not do:

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 – Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,  doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;  rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;  beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.  Charity never faileth:

          So how will God judge your love life; is your love focused on yourself and the things of this world, or is your love focused on Jesus, the kingdom of God, and others?

​        Great is the power of LOVE - the God kind of LOVE!