CHARLES HARRIS: Loving as Jesus did identifies Christians

Nothing is more important than loving God and loving other people. Without love, you cannot fulfill your purpose in life, you become empty and you gain nothing. If love is that important, then you ought to learn what love is and how it behaves. Notice some observations:

First, love warms a cold heart. The opposite of love is not hate but apathy or indifference. A cold heart can walk on by and never get involved. Negative and hurtful experiences can dull the heart, can depress the spirit and can drive away compassion. Love warms your heart up, makes you alive and causes you to feel and to act. 1 John 3:16-18 says, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion against him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” Love starts in the heart but it doesn’t end there. Love doesn’t merely talk about doing something. Love acts.

Second, love sacrifices its will and itself for another’s best interest. Love is never self-seeking or self-serving. 1 Corinthians 13:5 says that love “does not seek its own.” Love puts itself last and others first. Love seeks to please more than it seeks to win. Love tries to understand by seeing things through another’s eyes. God urges us in Philippians 2:3-4, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”

Third, when problems and conflict arise, love seeks reconciliation. The Bible says in Romans 12:18, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” God has always wanted His people to have a compassionate and understanding heart. Philippians 4:5 says, “Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.” We need a gentle spirit, one that is reasonable rather than one that stays angry and grows hateful.

Fourth, love knows how to forgive. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:31-32, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Knowing that God had enough love to forgive us of our many, many sins, we should be willing to forgive others of their few sins. God’s Word simply says in 1 Peter 4:8, that “love covers a multitude of sins.” Love allows us to put offenses behind us and to go on. 1 Corinthians 13:7-8 says that “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” Love never quits.

Fifth, love will tell you what you need to hear not what you want to hear. God’s Word says in Proverbs 27:6, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.”

The very best thing you can do for a friend is to introduce him or her to Jesus Christ and the gospel. The gospel is good news of salvation and hope. And people need the gospel story of Jesus Christ. They need to know that He died on the cross for their sins, He was buried, and He rose again on the third day. They need to know about His loving grace and His call for them to repent and obey.

The Lord Jesus said in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you love one another. And by this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” The Lord wants us to love each other the same way that He loves us. How has He loved us? Well Jesus said in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” The Lord Jesus loved us with a great love; He died for us.

Now when we love one another the way Jesus loved us, people see Christ living in us. Loving others like Jesus did identifies us as Christians. It’s not the only mark of a Christian, but it’s a necessary one. Are you kind to others? Do you forgive others or hold grudges?Are you compassionate or do you have a closed heart? Do you seek peace or do you get even? Do you try to resolve conflicts or do you gossip and slander others? Do you love like Jesus?

The Beattie Road Church of Christ meets at 1731 Beattie Road in Albany. Our times of services are Sunday: 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 6 p.m.; Wednesday: 7 p.m. If we can assist you in your spiritual journey, contact us at (229) 435-2193 or (870) 500-5535. You can also visit us online at beattieroad.com.