God's Love

Christ Became Poor

Almost anyone can “love” people in the abstract. But when it comes time to express that love—by lending a helping hand or writing a check—one can quickly determine the sincerity of a person's love for others. That was Paul's point in 2 Corinthians 8:8–9. To illustrate it, he used the ultimate model of tangible love—Jesus Christ.

Christ became poor in order to make us rich. Consider what He gave up when He left heaven and took on a human body:

He left His Father, whose immediate presence He would not enjoy again for more than thirty years. How long would you be willing to be away from your closest companion and friend in order to help a group of people—especially if you knew that most of them would reject and despise you, and might even kill you?

We can imagine that He left a joyful crowd that included Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the angelic hosts, and all the redeemed saints who were worshiping Him, glorifying Him, and having fellowship with Him prior to His incarnation. He left those who loved Him to come and be misunderstood, rejected, scorned, hated, and scourged by most of those He came to help. Would you leave a position of honor and adoration to go help people who would by and large reject you?

He left a heavenly home that far exceeded in splendor, majesty, and comfort the physical environment of His earthly life. Would you give up the best accommodations this earth has to offer in order to help needy people in a bad neighborhood?

He left His pre-incarnate existence in the form of God, without limitations, to take on a physical body subject to fatigue, aches, and pains. Would you accept hunger, thirst, fatigue, pain, and limited physical abilities to help people who didn't even care whether you came or not?

The statement that Christ became poor puts into perspective Jesus' command to the rich young ruler to sell what he had and give the proceeds to the poor (Mark 10:21), and His instruction to the disciples to sell what they had and give alms, providing themselves treasure in heaven (Luke 12:33). What Jesus asked them to do, He had already done—to such a degree, in fact, that their obedience could never equal His selflessness.

He Did It for You!

To what extent have you ever sacrificed for someone else? Sacrifice can mean giving up something you really want in order for someone else to have it. But an even greater sacrifice involves taking on something that you really do not want so that someone else will not have to bear it.

That is what Jesus did when He was “wounded for our transgressions” and “bruised for our iniquities” (Is. 53:5). He took on Himself the “chastisement”.or punishment, that we deserved for our sins so that we would not have to bear it. He did not want to suffer, but He submitted to suffering because of His great love.

Hundreds of years before Jesus came, Isaiah described in remarkable detail how the Messiah would suffer on behalf of others.

• He would be exalted (Is. 52:13; Phil. 2:9).
• He would be disfigured by suffering (Is. 52:14; 53:2; Mark 15:17, 19).
• He would make a blood atonement (Is. 52:15; 1 Pet. 1:2).
• He would be widely rejected (Is. 53:1, 3; John 12:37–38).
• He would bear our sins and sorrows (Is. 53:4–5; Rom. 4:25; 1 Pet. 2:24–25).
• He would be our substitute (Is. 56:6, 8; 2 Cor. 5:21).
• He would voluntarily accept our guilt and punishment (Is. 53:7–8; John 10:11; 19:30).
• He would die on behalf of transgressors (Is. 53:12; Mark 15:27–28; Luke 22:37).
• He would be buried in a rich man's tomb (Is. 53:9; John 19:38–42).
• He would save those who believed in Him (Is. 53:10–11; John 3:16; Acts 16:31).

In what ways can you follow Jesus' example of servanthood—even if it involves suffering (1 Pet. 2:18–25)?

Justice to the Gentiles

Imagine if you were suffering unjustly at the hands of ruthless, godless people. They have stolen your property, slaughtered your relatives, and threatened your own life. You have cried out to God for help, and now the Lord's reply comes: He promises to bring justice into the situation. However, to your shock, His justice will be not only for you, but for your oppressors as well!

This was the surprising message that Isaiah delivered to the people of Judah in his prophecy concerning the Servant of the Lord (Is. 42:1–9). The prophet said that God's Elect One was coming “to bring justice to the Gentiles” (Is. 42:1). This must have been a rude awakening for the Israelites! Yet throughout Isaiah's prophecies, the Lord said again and again that they were not the only people whom He cared about, and who fit into His plans. He was seeking the salvation of the Gentiles, too—even though many of the Gentile nations abused and oppressed His people.

The New Testament reveals that the Servant of the Lord predicted by Isaiah is Jesus Christ (Matt. 12:17–21). He came to establish justice for the whole world. He would open blind eyes and free prisoners (Is. 42:7; 61:1–3; compare Luke 4:16–30). In carrying out this mission, He encountered hostility from His own people as well as Gentiles.

From the beginning of creation, God has had the whole world in view as the object of His love, mercy, and salvation. What a wonderful hope this is for all people of all nations! Is this a truth that affects the way you deal with people who do not know God, especially if they are from cultures and backgrounds different from your own?

Describing God's Love

John has been called the apostle of love, and 1 John certainly offers plenty of evidence to show why. For example, he writes that one way to know that we are born of God is that we love Him and keep His commandments (1 John 5:2).

But what does John mean by love? People say they “love” all kinds of things today. One minute they “love” peanut butter and in the next they “love” their spouse. Likewise, they “love” pets, food, sports, vacations, cars, children—whatever!

Thankfully, Scripture defines love for us by describing God's love, using both nouns and verbs. As we examine various passages, we find that God's love is:

• Lasting (Ps. 136; Rom. 8:28–39; 1 Cor. 13:8).
• Sacrificial (John 15:12–13; Rom. 5:8; 2 Cor. 5:14–15; Gal. 2:20; 1 John 3:16–17).
• Reconciling and healing (Matt. 5:38–48; Luke 6:27–31; 2 Cor. 5:17–19).
• Mutual between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matt. 11:27–30; John 14:31).
• Effective; it involves not just emotions or words, but deeds that benefit people (1 John 3:18–19; 4:21; 5:1–3).
• Fearless (Rom. 1:16; 1 John 4:18).
• Discerning (1 Tim. 1:3–7; 1 John 2:15–17; 4:1–7).
• Accepting, not condemning (Luke 15:11–32; 18:10–17; John 3:16–17; Rom. 8:1).
• Generous (Luke 10:25–37; Rom. 5:8, 15–17; 6:23; 1 Cor. 2:9; 1 Pet. 3:8–9).

Perhaps the best summary of true, godly love is 1 Corinthians 13, “the love chapter”.in which Paul describes the love of God as it needs to be among the believers at Corinth. Likewise, the ultimate expression of God's love is Christ, who offered Himself up for the sins of the world (John 3:16).

In what ways does your love need to develop? Have you grasped the dimensions of God's love for you? How can you cultivate Christlike love and make it more tangible in your life, work, and relationships?

Prodigal Wife, Prodigal People

Perhaps you are familiar with Jesus' story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32). Hosea describes the real-life stories of Gomer, his prodigal wife, and of Israel, the Lord's prodigal people.

Hosea's marriage was extraordinary in that he was called to marry “a wife of harlotry” (Hos. 1:2). Gomer's exact background is unknown, but it may be that she had been unfaithful to a previous husband, or she may have been a known prostitute. It may also be that she was one of the temple prostitutes believed to have been part of the idolatrous rites then being practiced in Israel.

Whatever Gomer's background, she was a powerful symbol of Israel's spiritual adultery against the Lord (Hos. 2:2). The nation had departed almost entirely from worship as prescribed in the Law. Instead, the people had adopted the religions of the cultures around them, particularly the Canaanites, Phoenicians, and Moabites. Canaanite religion was essentially a fertility cult in which ritual sexual intercourse with prostitutes is believed to have played a major role.

God utterly rejected these Canaanite practices, calling them what they were—“harlotries.” The Lord, not the Canaanite god Baal, was Ruler over the land and Israel's faithful Lover and forgotten Provider of bounty (Hos. 2:8).

Like Israel, Gomer left her loving husband and returned to her life of harlotry. Apparently she ended up in the slave market, where Hosea redeemed her for fifteen shekels and some barley (Hos. 3:2). This was a fairly minor cost in terms of value, merely the common price of a slave (compare Ex. 21:32). But it was a great sacrifice of love on Hosea's part. The prophet was mirroring the love of God for His prodigal people, and symbolizing the reconciliation that would someday take place (Hos. 3:4–5).

Spiritual adultery is still a danger for God's people today. The New Testament likens the relationship between believers and Christ to marriage (Eph. 5:25–33). When Christians turn away from Christ and adopt beliefs, values, practices, and rituals that are unworthy of Him, they commit the same sort of “harlotries” as ancient Israel committed against the Lord (2 Cor. 11:2–4).

The Two Arms of God

The two arms of God—a strong right arm (Is. 40:10) and a tender left one (Is. 40:11)—together embrace His people with the “tough love” of power and comfort.

God's strong right arm rules with sovereign might. It can act like a powerful army to protect, defend, or (as in the case of Judah in Babylon) deliver hostages from captivity. In a similar way, it can protect, defend, or deliver people from the power and bondage of sin.

On the other hand, God exhibits tender sensitivity. He is the Good Shepherd who faithfully feeds His flock and makes sure that the little lambs are nursed. He watches over the vulnerable, the weak, and the innocent.

He is the God of power and comfort. How greatly we need Him today, as anyone who works with children can appreciate. Mothers, fathers, school bus drivers, day care workers, teachers, street crossing guards, child welfare workers—anyone whose job it is to nurture, protect, and advocate for children can look to the Lord described in Isaiah 40 for the personal and spiritual resources to carry out the task.

For more on this topic, see ADULTERY, “David in Sin”. FORGIVENESS, “Two Sides of the Coin,”; SECOND CHANCE, “Forgiveness Unlimited,”.

Love

Love Is a Choice

Popular culture often describes love in terms of passion, sexuality, or blind devotion. By this measure, love is little more than an uncontrollable attraction toward another person that ebbs and flows unconsciously. This sort of “love” looks only for its own gain and can walk away if its demands and needs go unmet or unsatisfied.

By contrast, God called Hosea to pursue a radically different kind of love, one based on a conscious choice to be committed to someone else for her benefit, regardless of her response to that gift (Hos. 3:1–3). That was how God was committed to Israel. Hosea's marriage was an illustration of God's marriage to the spiritually adulterous nation of Israel.

Lessons on True Love

Are you in love with love? Solomon was intoxicated with the love of his bride (Song 4:10). What is your understanding of this powerful force in human life?

Unlike our own culture, the Bible exalts genuine love. It invites us to discover love's true nature by portraying love from many angles. The Song of Solomon describes in vivid imagery the sights, sounds, and sensations of romantic love. This poem is one of several major treatments of love in Scripture. Other passages from which we can learn a great deal are:

• Moses' call to the Israelites to learn and practice the love of God toward all (Deut. 10:12–11:22; 30:6–20).
• Psalm 45, a “Song of Love” that praises the marriage relationship.
• The Book of Hosea, in which God calls the prophet Hosea to seek out, rescue, and lovingly restore his adulterous wife.
• Jesus' teachings on love, including: loving our enemies (Matt. 5:43–46), loving the Lord (Mark 12:30–38), and the love of God the Father and the practice of that love among believers (John 13:34–15:19).
• Paul's teaching on love between neighbors (Rom. 13:8–10), love among fellow church members who are experiencing competition and conflict (1 Cor. 13:1–7), and love among spouses, families, and other believers (Eph. 5:25–6:24).
• John's teaching concerning love among believers and how that love should operate in a hostile world (1 John 3:1–5:3).

The Bible invites us to discover what love really is. The love that our world promotes tends to be a distortion. People use it to make money, to hurt others or oppress them, and to gratify themselves. But following the love of Christ opens up a whole new world as we receive God's love for us, learn to love our neighbors, and obtain a healthy love for ourselves.

Love Is Tough Work

First Corinthians 13 has been called the Love Chapter because of its powerful description of love. However, in reading this passage, keep in mind that it's easy to talk about love; it's much harder to do the tough work of living it. Love as God intended it is more than just passion, romantic feelings, or sentimental expressions. It involves commitment, sacrifice, and service—the kind of things that benefit both the giver and the receiver.

Here is a summary of the characteristics of godly love:

• Does not rival for attention (“envy”).
• Does not brag on itself (“parade”).
• Does not inflate its self-view (“puffed up”).
• Does not tread on another's feelings (“rude”).
• Does not take another's things (“seek its own”).
• Does not take offense easily (“provoked”).
• Does not keep a record of wrongs suffered (“no evil”).
• Does not make unrighteousness its object of rejoicing (“rejoice in iniquity”).
• Does celebrate others' achievements in righteousness (“rejoIces in the truth”).
• Does keep all things in confidence (“bears all things”).
• Does know what God can do (“believes all things”).
• Does hold out holy ambitions for others to achieve (“hopes all things”).
• Does survive under every condition (“endures all things”).

Where do we learn to love like this? John wrote, “We love… because He first loved us”.referring to Christ (1 John 4:19). We receive this magnificent kind of love from Christ Himself. Would you like to be loved as 1 Corinthians 13 describes it, and then be able to love others in the same manner? It starts by accepting Christ's love for you, and then committing yourself to expressing that kind of love in your life and relationships.

Ways to Love

Are you ever in doubt about what you should do in a given situation? One rule of thumb that always applies is, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you (Matt. 7:12).

This “golden rule” is universally recognized. It summarizes the principle of love as an ethical cornerstone for life. In fact, Jesus taught that the greatest commandment was to love God with all of one's heart, soul, and mind, and the second greatest was to love one's neighbor as oneself (Matt. 22:37–39). Likewise, James called love the “royal law” (James 2:8), and Paul wrote that of faith, hope, and love, love was the greatest; it never fails (1 Cor. 13:8, 13).

We also see this in Hebrews. Having summarized the vast changes brought about by the coming of Christ, the book's final chapter begins with a clear statement about one thing that has not changed, love. Love among believers must continue (Heb. 13:1). The writer goes on to list several ways in which that can happen:

• Hospitality toward strangers; in our day these might include immigrants, the homeless, and people of a different race than we are (Heb. 13:2).
• Remembrance of prisoners; it would be just as easy to forget them, but the principle of love says we ought to treat them as if chained with them (Heb. 13:3).
• Faithfulness to our marriage; this goes beyond sexual fidelity to active enrichment and development of our partner (Heb. 13:4).
• Contentment regarding money and possessions; this is a severe challenge in modern culture (Heb. 13:5–6).

Christlike love is very practical. It seeks expression toward a wide variety of people. Is that love “continuing” in your life?

The Power of Love

Human history and literature is filled with stories of the challenges and failures of people in love. Love has produced great tragedies, as well as great achievements. The Bible speaks extensively about the great power of love:

• It can be “better than wine” (Song 1:2).
• It is “as strong as death” (Song 8:6).
• It is greater even than faith or hope (1 Cor. 13:13).
• It is the root of great evil when its object is money (1 Tim. 6:10).
• It “covers all sins” (Prov. 10:12).
• Perfect love “casts out fear” (1 John 4:18).
• The love of Christ “passes knowledge” (Eph. 3:19).
• It is the only debt we ought to owe each other (Rom. 13:8).
• It “does not envy” (1 Cor. 13:4).
• It makes believers capable of blessing those who curse them, and doing good to those who hate, spitefully use, or persecute them (Matt. 5:44).
• It is the essence of the commandments of God (Rom. 13:9; Gal. 5:14; James 2:8).
• Its absence is evidence that one does not know God (1 John 4:8, 12, 20).
• It empowers people to give their lives for someone else, even as Christ did (John 15:13–17; Eph. 5:25–28).

God is the source of love. Sinful human beings have often twisted and abused it, and even reduced it to destructive fits of passion and lust. But God wants to help us rediscover love, so that we bring restoration and healing to ourselves and everyone we touch. This is basic to the message of Christ.

The Test of Love

A key test of our commitment to Christ is our love for other believers (John 13:31–35). It is not just our words that express our love, but our attitudes and actions as well. Jesus did not say that others would know we are His disciples by what we say, or how we dress, or what we know, or the label of our denomination. He said, “as I have loved you” (John 13:34). Shortly afterward, He laid down His life for those first believers.

What Kind of Love Is This?

“Love” is a very confusing concept these days. People use the word “love” to describe very different relationships: people “love” their dog… a certain type of car… a brand of pizza… a sexually intimate partner… another person for whom they have deep feelings. What can “love” possibly mean if it applies equally well to dogs, machines, food, sex, or close companions?

The Bible is not confused or vague about the powerful concept it calls love. Greek, the international language of Jesus' day and the language in which the New Testament was written, had four distinct words for love, each with its own shade of meaning:

• Eros denoted the relationship between male and female, including physical desire, craving, and longing. That word for love is not used in the New Testament.
• Stergos described affection and was applied especially to the mutual love between family members. It is not used in the New Testament either.
• Philos reflected the care and concern that friends have for each other, what we would call brotherly love. Peter spoke of this kind of love when he and Jesus discussed his future task of serving others (John 21:15–17).
• Agape described a unique type of supreme love involving a conscious and deliberate choice to do good for another, a commitment based on the willful choice of the lover, not the qualities of the person receiving the love. Agape love is perhaps best seen in God's love for the world (John 3:16) and in the love that God calls believers to display (1 Cor. 13:1–13).

When Jesus recalled the greatest of the commandments, both of which had to do with love (Matt. 22:34–40), He was calling for agape love, a sustained and conscious choice to graciously serve God, neighbor, and self, expecting nothing in return. Followers of Christ learn this kind of love as God loves them first. He then commands us to live in the same way toward others (1 John 3:11–24). God's love empowers us to love by choice rather than just emotion or senses, and to sustain our love even in the face of hostility or rejection.

God wants to deliver a new kind of love—agape love—to families, workplaces, and communities through His people. Who around you needs that kind of intentional touch of compassion and grace?

For more on this topic, see RELATIONSHIPS, “Love God, Love People”.