What is Love?

A number of recent conversations with members of the church and in working with some in the community have prompted some spiritual musings on the nature of our love as Christians.

Paul spoke to that nature most profoundly in 1 Corinthians 13. "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. Love never fails."

I find it interesting that in speaking of love, Paul focuses almost exclusively on how human beings are to love one another. So many in our "religious" culture prefer to focus their loving attention God and then when they get around to it on their fellow human beings. This, of course, has led to a level of self-righteousness that stands in sickening contrast to the love that Jesus lived.

God's design for the church is to be a family of love (see Acts 2:42ff). This family gives and shares, learns and prays, it submits and sanctifies. The family is a family of life - not distinctive because of its righteous adherence to man-made codes of religious law. But distinctive, as Tertullian observed at the close of the 2nd century, as a family that replaces the physical family with bonds of relationship infinitely more powerful and life-giving. Tertullian wrote that the main draw of the early church was that they were a family who loved each other.

And there you have it. It's no mistake, then, that the family gathered each day in people's homes and in the temple for fellowship.

How are we to be loving? We love by considering what is spiritually in the best interest of another as we discern it in prayer with God. Someone recently told me how he needed to show someone else some "tough love." But tough love is still self-giving and always compassionate. It is still gentle and kind. It is most of all patient and long-suffering. In an age of quick fixes and disposable relationships, these qualities are too often cast aside to achieve rapidly one's desired end result.

The more I experience in this church planting project known as the Promise Church, the more I realize that above all, God has called us to be patiently loving with each other and within our community. Our community thirsts for steadfast relationships of love formed in the image of Christ's relationship with the church. Those who wear the name of Jesus wear that name best when we live within sight of 1 Corinthians 13.

I'm proud of the fact that one of the qualities we experience most profoundly at Promise Church is love and openness toward each other. This can only be attributed to how dedicated we all are to being led by the spirit no matter the cost. The best way for those we come in contact with to understand the truly profound life-change available to them through Jesus is to show that same love toward them. Again, without counting the cost. It is then that we best exemplify that name above all names.