What is (Godly) Love?

There are a lot of ideas about what God's love is and how we are called to express it.  Most church communities seek to grow through discussing what it means to show Christ-like love in their community.  Sometimes, I notice that we get lost in loving people.  The love we show for others can get disconnected or supersede the love that we show to God.  To love others in a Godly way, we must love God first.

Not Just the Warm Fuzzies

1 John 4:8 makes the bold and true statement: "Whoever does not know love does not know God, because God is love."  God is love.  But to leave that statement in its simplicity is to miss the point.  We have to think about what God's love is and how He loves us.

I think one of the misconceptions is that love always needs to be expressed as something that can light up a room, and put a smile on everyone's faces.  When I think of love, sometimes the warm fuzzies come to mind, but not always.

There is a song written by Ingrid Michaelson that reminds me of how our attitude toward love can be sometimes.  Michaelson sings:

"We hate the rain when it fills up our shoes, but how we love when it washes our cars.  We love to love when it fills up the room, but when it leaves oh we're cursing the stars."

Part of that Godly love is doing the hard things and making the hard choices.  Sometimes love is saying no to something that we so desperately desire.  Sometimes love is giving up momentary fulfillment for something greater, but farther off.  It would feel good for both the giver and the receiver if we could give love in a way that always made the other person happy.  But happiness is just temporary.  True Godly love is given as a pathway to everlasting joy.  

We can't forget that love was expressed for us as Jesus on the cross.  God gave His only son to die for our sins.  That can be a very painful image to look at and to think of,  but all the same, that was an expression of love.  I am certain that God's heart was broken when His only begotten son was nailed to the cross, but love poured out from His broken heart.  

The Greatest Commandment

I have been reading through the Gospel of Mark these past few weeks.  In Mark 12, the scribes approach Jesus and ask Him which is the greatest commandment.  Jesus tells them that the first is the greatest: Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, will all of your soul, and with all of your mind.  Why does Jesus say that the first commandment is the greatest?  Is it alright if we slip up on the other ones?

After He designates the greatest commandment, Jesus says this: "The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'.' There is no greater commandment than these." Mark 12:31

If we are keeping the first commandment - loving God with every part of who we are - we will be able to love others well.  In the same way, loving God and keeping that as a top priority will hold us accountable to all of the other commandments.  If we are loving God and seeking to live a God-glorifying life, we will choose not to lie or steal; we will honor our parents.

So we can take a look at our communities, and we can take a look at ourselves.  We can't love others because it is the cool thing to do.  We can't love others if we are not loving God first.

You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind - and when you do that, you will be able to truly love your neighbor.

~SP