Christ like Love.htm

Christ like Love

It is difficult to say that love is life, when the love of Christ demands that you place a higher value on the lives of other people. The least one can say is God desires that you have change of mind regarding the way you treat other people. Among those changes are honoring one another above yourself, being meek, forgiving, patient, kind, and keeping control of your anger. Yet, life without love would certainly turn you into a hermit with no desire for human relationships. The majority of people want to make a difference in the world or at least leave a mark on those living around them. However, to make the world a better place for your children to live in, you need to develop relationships with other people.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

Having a relationship with God is necessary as he works in you to produce fruit in your life so essential to Christian living. Love is a choice to exercise consideration for the needs of God and other people. Therefore, the fruit of the Spirit is produced over time with experience as you follow the footprints of Jesus Christ. Your relationship with God affects the way you think and gives you a desire to obey God which overtime produces the fruit of love.

Loving God and obeying him go hand in hand.

"If you love me, keep my commands. John 14:15

Love is also a two way street in that love given and be returned for it to have any value. Look at the third commandment to see the importance of good relationship with God. The children of those who hate God are punished but God demonstrates his love to a thousand generations of those who love and obey him.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand [generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments. Exodus 20:5-6

The second commandment shows a different kind of love affect by how you love God.

You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:3

What if your spouse loved another person more than you. Wouldn’t you feel betrayed and question their loyalty and wouldn’t your feelings for them change radically in a split second? Any betrayal on the part of your spouse demolishes your love enough to completely reverse the choice to love them altogether. In a split second the choice to love changes radically and like Amnon son of David made a rash, but passionate choice to hate Tamar more than he loved her.

Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her. 2 Samuel 13:15

The same is true when you promise to serve God the rest of your life, but worshipping other gods tells God that you love another god. Loving another god is a demonstration of your affection that will put a wedge between you and God and will lead to separation. Divorce is the dissolving of relationship you have and ultimately destroy your faith in a close friend. Divorce is often treated like treason in which you make war against your spouse betraying the trust and intimacy you once had .

Love turned to hatred changes the attitude for the welfare of another person to a choice demanding justice for your pain and suffering. More often hatred gives you the desire to make others feel your pain several times over. On the other hand Love bears the pain, suffers the wrong and endures the struggle to survive together. God shows his concern over man’s well being in the plans he has for mankind.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Christians that understand God’s plan of Salvation are also acquainted with God’s plan to dwell with men and has prepared a place for them in the next life. Christians hold God’s plan as the hope of Glory and based on faith expect to inherit eternal life and to be able to walk on the streets of Gold. Eternal Life gives us a hope and a future to look forward to rather than having no hope at all.

The plan of salvation was initiated before time began which included Adam and Eve when sin entered the world through them. His plan became evident as he spoke to the serpent saying,

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." Genesis 3:15

God was revealing his plan to send his son to reconcile man to God. It is also written;

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Again God that he has man’s best interest in mind through the revelation that anyone who believes in his son will not perish. Man has been given a way to be reconciled to God through accepting Jesus Christ as their savior. However, God demands justice against the sins of the world and has devised a plan to resolve the sin issue.

Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him. 2 Samuel 14:14

God sent his son to take our place, to pay the price with his blood, to ransom our soul, to proclaim good news and give freedom to prisoners. He was sent, to recovery of sight of the blind, to set the oppressed free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. God demonstrated

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

God chose to forgive your sin and have a change of heart for those wanting to be forgiven. When one seeks forgiveness from God, he or she is also seeking to restore a broken relationship. Everything the sinner did in the past that affects their relationship with God has been put aside and forgotten by choice. Loves chooses to endure the pain of broken relationships for a new and deeper relationship that understand you have no intention to harm them in the future. Keeping your relationships intact demands forgiveness when you know that you will live forever.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:13-15

Love is demonstration of your commitment to serve the well being of other people. This is particularly true in a personal relationship that God is seeking with you. Love is a commitment of trust that both parties share in the relationship. However, love is fragile in every relationship that can easily break the relationship apart with mistrust. Actions speak louder than words. The damage that tears relationships apart seldom brings harm to the flesh. The pain goes much deeper to strike the heart that controls personal pride, thought and behavior.

Love is built around the characteristics you admire the most, honesty, sincerity and truth. Actions that deprive the love of your life of these qualities affect how they react towards you. Once you lie about your partner, he or she will have a change of heart about you that affects their behavior towards you. Forgiveness is the only way to rectify the relationship but even then it still takes time for the wounds to heal.

Jesus gave mankind the golden rule to follow as an example of what love is. In its simplicity we are to do to others what we want them to do to us. This rule is similar to sowing and reaping in that what you sow is what you reap. We need to remember that we need forgiveness occasionally due to our sin nature and that we are inherently selfish. We don’t always consider our actions before we implement them and hurt other people.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

The characteristics listed above are found in Jesus Christ. God’s love for mankind is a controlled love that has made him a slave to those who love him. Love can not be forced on to anyone because it is as much a choice to receive as it is to give. From this point of view you can understand that even though God loves the person that wants nothing to do with him, granting him his wish is a demonstration of his love.

However, there is another side of love, one that doesn’t reach outward, it seeks it’s own welfare. No one appreciates those who want to be the center attraction. When they associate with you all you hear about are what they want from you. This is an self-centered love. These people treat you in such a way that you wonder if you are there to serve their needs.

In a nutshell Paul is giving you a list of things you can do and develop to effectively love one another. Developing the qualities of love listed in the passage above is critical to keep and preserve strong relationships which demonstrate the love you have towards other people.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Matthew 16:19

Among the keys of the kingdom of heaven you will find the greatest command of God to love. Love is also the thoughtful attention you give another, an appreciation of affection and the esteem and deep regard you have for one another. Love is a relationship that binds people together and develops respect for another person. Love commands respect and trust due others, but also seeks ways to sustain and nourish a sound reason to love everyone. In conclusion love is a relationship that binds you to God and God to you.

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