Love “And now abide faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 What is it about love that makes it the greatest abiding attribute of life? Could it be that love requires of itself that which is not required of faith or hope. Both faith and hope are conditioned upon an expected response from the object of their placement. Therefore they are highly conditional, whereas, love is not. Love is a sovereign choice on the part of the one who loves, rather than the one loved. But, we can and do place complete faith and hope in others without the slightest trace of love. In fact, we might even hate them. So it seems to me that love may or may not be the motive behind either faith or hope. They may be given without any regard to love at all. Contrarily, love by its very nature must express itself by investing both faith or hope placed in them, is never a consideration. Love expressed towards such a one is known as charity. Charity just may be the best concept we have of expressing God’s love. All of this brings me to a very troubling and unsettling contemplation about myself. Specifically who and what I truly love based on my actions. I hope you will excuse my illustration. I also suspect that you have something that is the equivalent in your life. In my life it is my motorcycle. I will tell you adamantly that I love God, family, and others as we love ourselves, and I get very upset if someone should suggest that I don’t “practice what I preach”. Will as lovingly and gently as the Lord can be, He has shown me my hypocrisy though my motorcycle (or Bike). If I understand God’s love at all, it is above all sovereign decision. Love is a choice emanating from the lover to the object of their love. Love then, would not seem to be based in some euphoric or sentimental emotion. This is not to deny that love can, and does, produce a tremendous range of emotions. Without going into a long list of possible emotions that stem from loving someone or something, let me say that in regard to emotions that I equate with love, they seem to be applied to God, family or my bike. Unlike Christ who showed His love for me by dying for me, or my family and friends who show their love by putting up with me, my bike has never “done” anything for me. All that it can do in reality, is feed my ego! It’s all an illusion stemming from my sinful pride. My desire to impress others with this world’s false standards that we call “self-image”. It has no inherent sinfulness or eternal value. It is simply a material possession. My bike has no ability to respond to my in any way at all. It has died on my, but not for me. It has never told me that it loves me, nor has it comforted, encouraged or exhorted me. My bike has not moved of its own volition to come to me, never asked or demanded anything of me. Yet, I talk to it and in many ways, treat it as if it were human. I treat it with the love due only God, my family or others. I spend much time contemplating how I can make it look and run better. I will spend money I can’t afford, to accomplish my ends. I do these things without ever having a sense of sacrifice, pain or remorse for having done them. I have never lamented- “”I have given all for you and what have you done for me?”, or “you’re not meeting my needs”. I would never admit any disappointment, but find some way to justify it. When something goes wrong with my bike, I will rearrange all my proprieties to solve the problem. I want others to admire and desire its beauty. The greatest compliment I can get is that others might want it without changing it at all! But why? What is the true motivation behind all this so called love? The terrible truth is that my love for my bike comes closer to resembling the love God commands me to give Him, my family and others, than the love and devotion I give to them. The truth about my love is that it is the love of this world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away and the lust thereof: “but he that does the will of God abides forever.” What really motivates my love for my bike is not love at all, but lust! Most of my investments in the bike are for myself, not the bike. The investments are real, but the rewards are only imaginary. The manipulating illusions of the lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and the pride of life. When I contemplate that I have not loved God, my family or others as myself, but a motorcycle, a material object, I am ashamed. Ashamed of the shallowness of my love and commitment to Christ, my family and others. Yet God has graciously lavished His true love on my through His Son, my family and others. “Father, forgive me, for I have sinned! Sinned against You and all those I profess to love. Dear Lord, I repent. Please grant unto me the grace to invest my love properly, to love You and others as myself. In Jesus name I ask it. Amen.” Love in Christ, Pastor Dave 1994
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 21:29:00 +0000
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