Love Perfected
By: Shirley
Tossed carelessly about in today's world with shallow
sentimentality, the word 'love' has become just that...
a 'word.' We have lost sight of the fact that the concept
originated with God and is a special gift from Him. God is the
personification of love...1 John 4:9-10 " In this was
manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent
His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live
through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for
our sins." I marvel at this love that
enabled God to give His beloved Son to die a cruel death for
a lost, sin-sick world. With the Psalmist, David, I can exclaim:
" Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high,
I cannot attain unto it!"
Love was perfectly manifested in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:2-3..." Be ye, therefore, followers of
God, as Christ hath loved us, and hath given Himself for
us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a
sweet-smelling savor."
No one has ever 'given up' as much as Jesus. He left His
home with all it's joys to come to earth to experience
it's sorrows. He came to identify with man, in the flesh,
laying aside His deity, to accomplish His goal and to
fulfill the will of the Father. John 1:14..." and the
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us."
The word 'dwelt' in this verse means; " to pitch a tent."
He did not come to spend the night or to visit for a while;
He came to live as one with the people. He lived as they
lived, worked as they worked.
Our Lord suffered rejection; His chosen ones deserted
Him. He was tempted by Satan, not yielding but saying...
"it is written." He was beaten until He was
unrecognizable, mocked and scorned. He was forced
to carry His own instrument of death, a cross He bore
on His back. His hands and feet were then nailed to
that cross. Yet, even in the midst of all that pain and
suffering, His thoughts were for others. He prayed;
" Father, forgive them , they know not what they do."
Those words were the purest expression of the self-
sacrificing love He had for man, for the very essence
of love is self-sacrifice.
Christ is our example in all things, and He has
instructed us to love others as He loves us! John 15:12
says: "This is my commandment, that ye love one another,
as I have loved you." This is a commandment, not an
option. John tells us in 1 John 4:7-8..." Beloved, let
us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone
that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that
loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love."
We see that God is the main focus of Christian love, thus
it's expression is obedience to His command to love. He
instructs us to have 'unfeigned' love...meaning a sincere
love, without pretense or play-acting. Love, therefore,
is the fruit of the Spirit operating in the Christian.
How can we love someone who has hurt or wronged us?
Perhaps many times, over and over? This is possible
because love is not merely a 'warm, fuzzy feeling'
or an emotion, but an act of the will, just as trust
and forgiveness are acts of the will. We must allow
God's Spirit to so control us that His love flows
through us to others, allowing God to be Himself
(love) in us.
There is real freedom in knowing we are so love by God,
thus enabling us to show forth that love. Without
love, there can be no real freedom...real freedom
comes with the experience and practice of genuine
love....thus freedom thrives and survives in the
atmosphere of 'giving' love. To be made perfect in love
enables one to cope with the pain and sufferings of
life. 1 John 4:17 says:
"Herein is our love made perfect."
Those who abide in God are possessed of the very
character of God, as the Scripture says: "As He is,
so are we in this world."
1 John 2:5 tells us...
" But whoso keepeth His word, in Him verily is the love
of God perfected: Hereby know that we are in Him."
The wore 'perfected' in
this verse meaning:completing, fulfilling the
love of God. The giving of the God-kind of
love is always possible because the Bible says He
has 'shed abroad His love in our hearts." He has
implanted His love in our hearts, ensuring that it be possible
to love...even the 'unlovely' even the
ones that have hurt us, and yes, even our enemies....if
the life of God Himself, in the Person of the Holy Spirit,
be permitted to love in and through us. Yes, it
is possible, for " with God all things are possible."
LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER!
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