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Celebrate Love

Tom Barnard

harlie Brown had a problem. He had a hard time talking about love. “You can’t explain love,” Charlie insisted to Lucy. “I can recommend a book or a poem or a painting, but I can’t explain love.”

Lucy said, “Well, try, Charlie Brown, try.”

Charlie said, “Well, let’s say I see this beautiful, cute little girl walk by...”

Lucy interrupted, “Why does she have to be cute? Why can’t someone fall in love with someone with freckles and a big nose? Explain that.”

Charlie said, “Well, maybe you are right. Let’s just say I see this girl walk by with this great big nose...”

Lucy interrupted again: “I didn’t say GREAT BIG NOSE!”

Charlie again: “You not only can’t explain love, you can’t even talk about it.”

We can explain it. We can talk about it. We can even demonstrate it. We know where it all began! Love began in the heart of a loving Heavenly Father, who from the very beginning of time created a plan to bring heaven and earth together in one Person—Jesus Christ, the Son of God!

Love is mentioned nearly 700 times in the Bible. Here are some of the biblical teachings about love:

·         Love began in the heart of God, and his love for us is unconditional, personal, and eternal.

·         Love took bodily form in the person of Jesus Christ, who gave his life to save ours.

·         Loving God and loving others form the two greatest commandments given to God’s children.

·         Love is not something we possess; rather, it is something that possesses us.

·         Love is active, not passive; it seeks out people and places where it can be expressed.

·         Love may even require that we lay down our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters.

·         Loving others demonstrates that we are children of God.

·         Love outlasts everything in life, because love is eternal.

For the child of God, love is not an option; it is a requirement. In Deuteronomy 6 God laid the foundation for what later became a central theme of Jesus’ teaching ministry. Moses said, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your god with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (vv. 4 and 5). In Mark 12 Jesus amplified this theme by taking it to an even higher level of morality: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength…(and) Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no command greater than these” (vv. 30 and 31).

Do we need to hear it again? Love God…love one another. Nothing in life is more important than love. Nothing! But love is not only a command to follow; it is also a commitment to a way of living. As we follow Christ in loving obedience, we commit to a new lifestyle that is quite different from those who do not know God. Their way of life is self-centered and self-satisfying. They demonstrate “love” in ways that satisfy their urges, passions, and lusts. Paul lists some of these in Galatians 5:19: “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Paul contrasted the “acts of the sinful nature” with the “fruit of the Spirit,” which includes “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”  Then Paul added an exclamation by saying, “Against such things there is no law.” And he concluded, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25).

The Apostle knew that if Christians kept in step with the Spirit, they would understand everything they needed to know about love. There are scriptures everywhere that support this emphasis. Here is one from 1 John 4:7. Are you listening, Charlie Brown? This is the answer to his difficulty in explaining what love is.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God.”