I was thinking this week, the
Beatles sang, All You Need Is Love. If they'd been singing about
God's love, there would have been a grain of truth in that
statement. But what usually goes by the
name love in popular culture is not authentic love at all.
It's a deadly fraud. Far from being all you need. Ephesians 5, 1-3 says this, Be
ye therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk, continuously
walk, in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, a
fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all
impurity or covetousness, in contrast to the love of God,
must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. When Paul tells us to walk in
love, the context reveals that in positive terms, he's talking
about being kind. being tenderhearted and forgiving
to one another. Is that you? Is that us? Grace
Gospel Fellowship, is that way we are here with one another? Ephesians 4.32 says, be kind
to one another, be tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God
in Christ forgave you. Wow, that's a tall order, isn't
it? Forgive one another. John 15,
13 says this, greater love has no man than this, that someone
lays down his life for his friends. Now we're starting to get some
definition of love. We use that word all the time
and have no idea what it means. Love you. Love ya! 1 John 4, 11 says, if God so
loved us, we also ought to love one another. You ever think about
loving other people the way God has loved us? Because you see,
God knows all about your black spots. All of your sins, God
is well aware of your self-centeredness. So then the model for selfless
love is Christ, who gave his life
to save his people from their sins. True love is always sacrificial. True love doesn't think about
self. It's not narcissistic. Amen. It's giving. It's self-giving. It's merciful. It's compassionate. It's sympathetic. It's kind. It's generous. And it's patient.