What is Love?

What is love? There was a pop song by Howard Jones that asked the question, 'What is love, anyway? Does anybody love anybody anyway?' It is a question that I have had to grapple with as a Christian. In western culture, the word love tends to be associated with romantic love. In America, young women used to wear a T shirt saying, 'Jesus is my number one (boyfriend.)' If the love of God is simply understood as a romantic feeling, this is unhelpful. Love is not always easy. It was love that compelled Jesus to die for us on the cross. In spite of being the creator of the universe, he humbled himself and died on the cross. To go to the cross in those days would be like going to the electric chair. Not a dignified death but the execution of a criminal. Philippians 2:5-11. This is not the same kind of love as two teenagers being out on their first date. This changes our perception of the character of God. There is an English Sunday school poem, 'Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, look upon this little child.' Jesus wasn't meek and mild, anymore than anybody else. He was capable of being gentle but knew when to be firm or even angry. He rebuked Peter for telling him that he wouldn't die on the cross and called him Satan. Matthew 16:21-23. Jesus overturned the money changers' tables in the temple because they were swindling people. Matthew 21:12,13.

In the Jesus Army, we had a slogan, 'Love, Power and Sacrifice.' Love was about giving all your money to the poor, living very simply and travelling the country preaching the gospel. But the Apostle Paul said, 'If I give all I have to the poor and surrender my body to the flames but have not love, then I am nothing.' 1Corinthians 13:1-3. Love may compel me to do these things or they may be done out of a sense of duty. They could even become a burden. When the churches in Macedonia gave generously out of their poverty, they were told that people should give what they had decided in their hearts to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. 2Corinthians 8,9. Love, power and sacrifice are fine as long as they're a happy experience and people are doing things out of love but not if they're doing things out of duty or guilt.

Love is not all about service and sacrifice. Love is also an attitude. Love is patient, kind, not proud, arrogant or bossy and not easily angered or rude. 1Corinthians 13:4-7. It doesn't say that love never becomes angry, it just has a very long fuse. If you have an electrical device, you want it to blow a fuse if something absolutely terrifying happens but you don't want it to keep blowing fuses all the time. There must be peace and harmony in the body of Christ and there must be no tension and stress between Christians. 

We have been born again of the Holy Spirit and the promises of God and have purified our hearts with a sincere love for the brethren. 1Peter 1:22-2:3. Love doesn't come from inside us, as if by our own efforts, it is a reflection of God's love. In the same way, the moon has no light of its own but reflects the light of the sun. We love because he first loved us. God's spirit is living inside us. God is love. God's love is physically living inside us. 1John 4:7-21. We have no power to change ourselves. A man was asked, 'Are you a Christian?' He answered, 'I try.' He was told, 'Try to be an elephant.' If you try to be a Christian, if you constantly try to improve yourself, it is just too difficult. As human beings we love the people we like. We love our friends and hate our enemies. Jesus called us to a deeper love. To love our enemies. To be patient with people we find difficult. To forgive people who have wronged us. Matthew 5:21-48. This is impossible without God's help. Corrie Ten Boom gave a public talk about how she had met a guard from a concentration camp who had mistreated her. Many years later, the man had become a Christian and she met him in church. She didn't want to shake hands with him. She asked God to give her the grace to forgive him and to shake his hand. The man leading the meeting said, 'Wouldn't the world be a much better place if we could all be like Corrie Ten Boom.' Corrie Ten Boom was angry. The whole point of her story was that you couldn't possibly be like her.

Love is our Christian witness to the world. All men will know that we are Jesus' disciples if we love one another. John 13:34,35. Love holds the church together. In the words of a hymn, 'Bind us together with cords that can not be broken, bind us together with love.' Many churches double in size in only a few years and then collapse suddenly. We haven't got the strength of relationships that will hold people together. If we had brotherly love, we'd have friendships built in that church that lasted a lifetime. Our growth would be retained.