For Starters

God is easy to love. Just look at who He is, what He is (His attributes), what He's done and continues to do for us! But loving Him includes more than just warm feelings for Him; it must be demonstrated! Love will always show itself. Today we'll talk about what else that means.

So, What's the Story?

Love for God will be demonstrated not just in worship, praise, and thanksgiving, but also in obedience to love others. In Matt. 24 Jesus tells a story of judgment and a criteria of that judgment, whether we have served Him by serving others.

Christianity has realized from the first that love is critically important in pleasing God. Why? Consider what Paul says to the church in Corinth as he describes to them love and its obligations:

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 Corinthians 13:4-7, NIV).

Love is, in other words, the fulfillment of the law of the Lord,

"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow-man has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbour as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10, NIV).

Such a love is more than warm feelings for the world or humanity. Love demonstrates itself in deeds for individuals--serving them (Matt. 25) and not doing them wrong (Rom. 13:8,10)--even the ones that are unlovable.

The root of this comes from God, of course, who has loved and serve us in an infinite way. Paul challenges us to consider "so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God"2. Loving others is, in the truest sense, being "holy for I am holy".

One last thought about love for others with major implications to our lives-- 1 John 4:20,21 tells us, "If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."

So What?

* What implications does 1 Jn. 4:20,21 have for Christians? Is it possible to hang onto grudges? Hurtful words? Gossip? Hate? Jealousy? Envy? If we hold onto them, can we continue to hold onto God, too? What are we giving up when we harbor hard feelings, bitterness, or resentment for others?
* How important does 1 Cor. 13:1-4 say love is? What thing(s) can we do without love for others that God will approve of? Anything at all?
* For personal thought: Since love is such an important standard in judging my Christianity, how do I stand before God? remember, you have to have more than warm feelings for the human race in general; love demonstrates itself in deeds for individuals, even the ones that are unlovable.