What is Love?
People seem to have a vastly different idea of what love is compared to the Biblical version of love.
We use the word so often that it even loses it's meaning. In fact half the time I don't think people even know what love really is.
The purest and most perfect love is God's love. This is a sacrificial love, as we see Jesus laying down His life for us and even he testifies, "there is no greater love than that you lay down your life for your brother" (John 15:13). This essentially says, I give preference to another before I give it to myself. This love takes on the role of a servant as we see Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.
However, our definition of love seems to stop there, but it is intrinsically important that it does NOT stop there.
Love also speaks the truth, corrects, and warns. You can have a deeply unselfish love for your child, but that doesn't mean you don't warn them and tell them not to play in the street, even if the child wants to. We see that love sets boundaries and commands, for if these boundaries or commands are not followed then bad things will happen. This is why we must follow Christ's commands, because they are not set to harm or hinder us, but they are set out of love for us.
For instance, when we follow the command to not have sex outside of marriage, we know that God is telling us this for our protection, not because he is trying to hinder our "fun." A person may not be aware of all the dangers that breaking a command entails, (and the spiritual death that can follow) but that is where trust comes in. Just as the child trusts the parents not to play in the street, even if they don't know about the danger of passing cars, so we trust in all of God's commandments even if we don't always understand them.
We have gone astray when we think that God's love means that we can do as we please. I fear many Christians have adopted this attitude of "love allows me to do whatever I want." However, this is not Biblical love at all.
Biblical love also "chastens" or rebukes. ( "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent" Revelation 3:19) This is REALLY where people's definition of love diverges. Anytime correction is brought about many people cry "foul play" and "how dare you judge me."
When we cry "how dare you judge me or correct me" we are generally doing this out of a fleshy motive. Our pride is hurt, or our self-righteousness is insulted. A servant would never cry out like this to his master. A servant would receive correction. Many may object and say, " I will gladly receive correction from The Lord, but another Christian is not my master and has no right to correct me." This is not entirely true. If a Christian brings a rebuke to you BASED on the Word of God, then you are dealing with a rebuke from God's word and not the word of the Christian.
For instance, If you are engaged in course joking and sexually perverted talk and a Christian brings to you the Scriptures that say you are wrong ("Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving." Eph 5:4) then you are hearing a rebuke directly from God.
This is SUCH an important part of love. We are to rebuke the fellow Christian in sin. Do it kindly and show them the scriptures, but do not think that "loving someone" means "live and let live." We are commanded to rebuke (judge) fellow Christians in sin (1 Corinthians 5:11-13). The Bible even commands us to rebuke elders in sin on the basis of several witnesses (1 Timothy 5:19).
Hebrews 12:6 "For the LORD disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child."
We say, but "God is love! He would never punish us!" However when we hear that child screaming in the restaurant we earnestly desire the parent to punish/correct/spank the child in order to get the bad behavior to stop. We do not object to parents punishing their kids, in fact some of the worse kids we see are those who are spoiled and are never punished.
This is the same with God. How do we grow and change into Christ-likeness if we are not willing to receive the correction/punishment that God sometimes brings? "Blessed is the one you discipline, LORD, the one you teach from your law;" (Psalm 94:12). When we realize that God's punishment/rebukes are for our GAIN and not for our hurt, then we come to embrace them, even from our fellow Christians.
If you are working out in the gym and someone comes and corrects your bad form, you thank them, because bad form can cause injury. The only reason to get mad at this correction is if your pride is wounded. This applies to Biblical correction as well. Remember, this correction is a part of God's love.
I have more I might add, but I don't want the post to get too long.
Any insights or correction?
