Set Free to Love

KEY VERSE: “If we love one another God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” —I John 4:12

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: James 3:8-18; John 4:7, 12

THERE is no escaping the thought that Christian love is closely associated with sacrifice, being that motivating principle governing the heart of every follower of the Master. It is that which impels to faithfulness in the service of the Lord and of the brethren, even though that service leads to death—as indeed it must before the Christian’s walk in the narrow way is finished.

This is fully in harmony with the Master’s own exposition on the subject of brotherly love. He said to his disciples, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you.” (John 13:34) We all know the manner in which Jesus loved us. It was a self-sacrificing love, a love that prompted him to give up life itself in order that we might live. And his “new commandment” to us is that we love one another as he loved us, that our “brotherly love” manifest itself toward our brethren. It is also an impelling force which manifests itself in unselfish devotion to a great cause, that common cause of all the fellow-members of the body of Christ, the cause of sacrifice in the interests of one another, that all may receive an abundant entrance into the kingdom.

And as Jesus delves deeper into the subject of love, he uncovers another heart-searching fact concerning it, in the question, “If ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same?” (Matt. 5:46) We are loved—or should be—by our own brethren in Christ; so at first glance it would appear—although it is not actually so—that Jesus is here discounting somewhat the importance of his own new commandment to love our brethren, indicating that there is no sacrifice involved in loving those who love us.

And there is a danger that we may adopt this viewpoint, and in our hearts and minds try to separate love from sacrifice. If we do this, the next easy viewpoint to adopt is that sacrifice is not essential in the Christian life, that only love is required. Thus the reasoning of the fleshly mind supersedes that of the new mind, and those thus overtaken begin to go into spiritual decline.

But does the commandment to love one another which Jesus gave us imply that we love only those who love us? Surely not! Note, for example, his added explanation, “as I have loved you.” Our love for one another is to be the same kind of love and is to operate under similar conditions as Jesus’ love for us. When we take this into consideration the whole viewpoint of that new commandment is broadened considerably, for divine love through Christ was exercised on our behalf “while we were yet sinners,” that is, long before we were in a position to love him.—Rom. 5:8

The divine plan for the followers of Jesus whereby they would have the privilege of exercising love for one another upon the same basis as Jesus loved them is outlined by the Master himself in his command to go into all the world and preach the Gospel for the purpose of making disciples. These disciples which are to be made through the ministry of the truth are our brethren, for whom we have the privilege of sacrificing while they are still sinners, even as Jesus thus laid down his life for us.

The quality of love which reached out for our salvation while we were yet sinners is that superlative expression of unselfishness which we will need in order to lay down our lives for the brethren, to love them as Jesus loved us—that is, if we are to love all the brethren and not merely those who take a special interest in us or those whose company and association we specially enjoy. It is this quality of love that covers a multitude of sins. All this, and more, is implied in the words of our text, “If we love one another.”

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