Love In Christ
The word love is used constantly. This time of year is blanketed in all different shades of love. There are the gatherings with those we love and those God has given us who are more difficult to love. We spend hours and hours looking for gifts that other people will love or that express our love. We decorate in ways that we love. We have music and movies going on a loop that portrays and explores love. Do these applications of the word line up with scripture? What does it look like to love IN CHRIST?
In 1 John 4, John is telling believers how to discern what is from God and what is from the enemy and from the world. As a key tenant of that John expounds upon the foundational love of God and how that translates relationally for those who have placed their faith in Jesus. Verses 7 & 8 read: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God and knows God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love.” God IS love. It isn’t just something He does or gives, but He is the source. 1 Corinthians 13 famously describes this love in detail; what it is and what it is not. John tells us here that this kind of love does not happen in our own power or strength. We cannot work and will this kind of love, it is a consequence of being born of God and growing in our knowledge of and relationship with Him.
Verses 9-10 go on to say “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only son into the world, so that we may live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.” We are wrapping up advent season, a season of reflecting on the truth that God put flesh and bones on His love and sent His only son as a baby to redeem and ransom His people. This baby came soft and sweet, with that baby smell and smile that melts hearts. He curled into that precious baby ball into Mary and Joseph’s neck as they rocked and held Him. He came to suffer and to die because of His great love for the Father and for a people who would disdain and despise Him. Love in Christ is costly. Christ willingly laid down His life, and He calls those who would claim his name to do the same.
Love and value are intrinsically tied together. What we value we love, and what we love we value. That’s why Scripture makes references to making Christ our treasure. Unfortunately, as long as we are clothed in sinful flesh with deceitful hearts, we will struggle against love of self-being our default setting rather than love for and in Christ. While studying and meditating on these truths, I have considered my own relationships. These key questions help me assess whether I am loving in Christ or from a love of self.
How am I growing in my love for and relationship with the Lord? Am I wondering at the unfathomable love He has for me?
Do I want to prayerfully be a part of the work Christ is doing in those that I love, or do I just want to enjoy how they make me feel?
When my relationships get hard or I am hurt or wronged, do I respond with prayerful love in Christ rather than prideful love of self?
In the world you can find all different ideals of what love is. But love in Christ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things (1 Cor 13:7). Let us walk into the New Year beholding His love with worship and reflecting it to the world around us.
Written by: Jessica Sweatt