46. Love One Another
This should, of course, be first on the list of
the concerns of the saint. And most of what has been said to this point is
obviously related to love. But, as we near the conclusion of these matters, we
must make a special effort to consider love once again.
“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 Cor.
13:4-7).
God is a jealous God. He demands all our love and
attention. But because we love God the more, do we love our brethren less? Our
love for God is different from our love for another person. If we truly love
God, we will show our love for Him in practical expressions of love for others.
True divine love does not exclude human love; rather, it enhances
it.
Verses 4-7 above contain a dozen or so
characteristics of Scriptural “love”. We shall consider each one in
turn:
“Love is
Patient”
We have the example of Christ, who patiently
taught his disciples and time after time helped them when they stumbled and
lacked faith. Undoubtedly there were times when he wanted to throw up his hands
and abandon the effort altogether, for they were so slow to learn and so bent on
maintaining their own natural affections. But he loved them dearly; he loved
them despite their inadequacies; he prayed for them; and he persisted until his
efforts began to bear fruit. Can we do any less for our
brethren?
“Love is
Kind”
This English word “kind” is one of
those pale, sentimental words that just does no justice to the original. We
should say, instead, that love is considerate — showing an active,
involved concern for the needs of others, even to the detriment of one’s
own comfort. We probably all think of ourselves as being “kind”, for
we certainly are never “unkind”! Are we?
“If a brother or sister is ill-clad and
in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be
warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body,
what does it profit?” (James 2:15,16).
There are times when a “kind word” is
no more than hypocrisy, because it masks a failure to help in any practical way.
Have we ever been guilty of such an act, in a benign, “friendly”
indifference to the circumstances of others? Then we may have been courteous and
civil and pleasant, but we have not been “kind” in the Scriptural
sense, and we have not been loving.
“Love Does Not
Envy”
The divergence of gifts among the Corinthians was
a cause of envy. Likewise, envy can result today from comparisons between
brethren: “Who is the better speaker?” “Why was he elected
Arranging Brother?” “So-and-so wants to run everything. Who put him
(or her) in charge?” The person who can ask such questions does not have
at heart the best interests of the whole body.
Jealousy, or envy, is a terrible disease, and
often fatal in the spiritual sense. It destroys its originator much more quickly
than the one at whom it is directed.
“Love Does Not Boast.... is Not
Proud”
Envy and boasting are quite closely related. They
both stem from the same basic problem: love of self rather than love of others.
True love does not have to be pushy. It does not need attention. It can afford
to wait. Remember what Jesus said of the arrogant Pharisees — who did
their works to be seen of men: “They already have their reward.” Let
this not be said of us.
“Love is Not
Rude”
There is a right way and a wrong way to do almost
anything. Sometimes a gentle admonition or even a stern rebuke needs to be
administered. It is possible to be in the right — even to say the right
thing — but to say it in absolutely the wrong way. A criticism may be
correct in every particular, but if it is delivered with a superior or proud or
overbearing manner it will not achieve a good result. As always, the principle
is consideration for others: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
In short.... love.
“Love is Not
Self-Seeking”
Have you ever participated in a three-legged
race? You may be the fastest runner at the picnic, but you’ll wind up
sprawled on the grass unless you can adapt yourself to the style of your
partner. This principle also holds true in the ecclesia. We are all members of
the one body, and we must learn to function as a unit. We are “yoked
together” with our brethren in many endeavors; we cannot always choose the
way that pleases us most.
Your way of doing things may always be the best,
but it won’t always be the one chosen by the majority. Then what do you
do? Go along or “drop out”? There have been cases of members leaving
meetings because of absolutely trivial disagreements, in which they failed to
get their own way and just could not bend enough to go along with others. And
they, and sometimes their families, have paid for that stubbornness with twenty
or thirty years of self-imposed isolation.
There is an extremely illuminating passage in
this connection:
“For even Christ pleased not
himself” (Rom. 15:3).
Just six little words, but a world of exhortation
and self-examination. If even Christ did not please himself, who are we to think
that things should always go our way? Who are we to please ourselves in
everything?
“Love is Not Easily
Angered”
A person possessing the true love of God has a
peace of mind that no other has. In the midst of strife and controversy, he
maintains a calm and reasoning mind, and a disposition to peacemaking. He has
that same inner serenity that sustained Christ through his great trials.
A person in such a frame of mind cannot be
offended by others. He is not provoked to backbiting or vengeance. He relies
upon the grace of God, he knows that there is a final judgment that will right
all wrongs, and he is not concerned about what man may do to him in the
meanwhile. If God is for him, who can be against him?
“Love Delights Not in Evil, But in
Truth”
If ever a thought might be coupled with
“Let a man examine himself”, surely this is it! Don’t we all
do this? Don’t we all listen to gossip and rumors and evil insinuations?
Don’t we all — sometimes — derive pleasure from the
shortcomings of others, especially those who have previously appeared to be
models of uprightness?
We judge ourselves by the standards of others,
and when we do this we are glad to see them fall. We tend to think we are lifted
up in proportion as our brother is cast down. But when we live by this standard
we are completely corrupting Paul’s teachings of the unity of
Christ’s body and the dependence of one member upon another. These lofty
ideas lose their meaning when cooperation is replaced by
competition.
“Love Always
Protects”
We need go no further than Christ’s
example. Christ bore our sins in his body on the tree, and more than that he
bore our sorrows that he might be a perfect mediator.
The mind lingers on a picture, perhaps well-known
to many. One boy with a younger one on his back. “He ain’t heavy.
He’s my brother!” Strain is obviously there, but he bears his burden
gladly. All things are relative, aren’t they? Yes, in more ways than one!
We are willing to do for our families what seems intolerable if done for others.
Do we sit in the meeting on Sunday morning, and feel that those with whom we
break bread are really our family? Or are our expressions of “Brother
Smith” and “Sister Jones” merely a formal, stylized address?
Let us live that family relationship of which the Bible speaks so often; let us
rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Let us “bear
one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal.
6:2).
“Love Always Hopes... Always
Perseveres”
The Christian’s life of love is a joyful
existence. In the midst of sorrows and pains, he rejoices in the great gifts of
the Creator.
His eye is firmly set upon the hope that rises as
a mountain before him. There may be a valley to traverse before he reaches that
distant peak. But he never takes his eye off that glorious future; and all
life’s little annoyances and inconveniences are seen for what they are
— stepping stones en route to the Kingdom. Paul says in another
place:
“I know both how to be abased, and I
know how to abound; everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full
and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through
Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:12,13).
All that God has given us — riches,
talents, intelligence, health — diminishes with the passing of time. Man
grows old and dies. Only love remains, as a bridge between this life and the
life to come, a bridge over the chasm of eternal nothingness. Every other gift
or talent will fail, just as the Holy Spirit gifts finally ceased. The only
thing that endures is the character of man, engraven in the infinite mind of
God.
