…Love love love, love love love [.] All you need is love. All you need is love. All you need is love, love. Love is all you need.” (The Beatles)
“God is Love [.] Eternal love. God is Love and He enfoldeth all the world in one embrace. With unfailing grasp He holdeth every child of every race. And when human hearts are breaking [.] self-same aching deep within the heart of God…”(Timothy Rees)
Jesus commanded “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and with all your strength and love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”
So what is love?
Love is unconditional. Love is kind. Love is patient. Love is forgiving. Love is free. Love is selfless. Love is sacrificial. Love is eternal. Love is just. Love is unbreakable. Love is salvation through Jesus’s sacrifice and God’s grace. Love is a selfless act of putting others before oneself and is a defining characteristic of God’s relationship with humanity. God acts in love towards us. God’s love is clearly demonstrated throughout the whole Bible. In fact, love is everywhere in the Bible!
For instance, God instructed the Israelites to treat refugees and immigrants as natives and to love them as they love themselves (Leviticus 19). Moses taught the Israelites to listen to and love God with all their heart, soul and strength (Deuteronomy 6). Jonathan’s loyalty to David was because he loved David as himself (1 Samuel 18). The woman searching for the man she loves (Song of Songs 3). For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son (John 3:16). Paul’s letter to Corinth (1 Corinthians) describing love.
Love is the essence of who God is. So, when we learn to love in the way He loves and in the way the Bible describes love, we learn to live according to God’s character.
Jesus demonstrates this love and this way of living. Jesus gave a non-violent response to Roman oppression and religious coercion. He gave His own life to bless and heal all humanity. Jesus treated all people selflessly and with compassion (including His enemies) and this in itself shows us what love looks like.
The ultimate test of real love is how well we treat others - especially those who harm us or who cannot offer anything in return. Jesus teaches us to do good to all, including opposers, to be generous, forgiving and compassionate without preference.
He teaches us to care for the well-being of one another and this means actively caring for our neighbours’ health and well-being in the same way we might care for our own lives. This involves both attitude and action. Listening to others, remaining patient, forgiving each other’s faults and weaknesses and learning to see the inherent beauty and good in one another.
All we need is love. God is love. All we need is God. Be filled with God’s love, let it overflow into the world. Follow the example of Jesus and walk in His footsteps along the path of salvation towards eternal life and true joy.
With love, Angie.
