Loving for a Reason or Reasonless Love?


A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 13:34-35

In the movie Bhagyadevata, Jayaram who plays the lead role as a cable operator named Benny, In order to become rich,, marries a girl expecting a high dowry from her father. But his dreams are shattered when her father fails to keep up his word. When things don’t go as planned he leaves Daisy (played by Kanika) at her home. There is a twist when Daisy wins a big lottery and now Jayram again shows her love to gain her back.

This movie reveals the attitude that exists about love in our society. Many, many people show love when they have a reason or when they feel like it. Love is greatly misunderstood in our society. We have created a kind of pseudo love.

When love is treated like something we feel or something that is fleeting, at best, we lose some of the essence of what love is and redefine love as something it is not. Love becomes attached with sentiment and endearment that can be applied to whatever, whoever, whenever, wherever, and however we please. When we do this we make love fickle, shallow and powerless. Love becomes nothing more than flowery talk. Isn’t there more to love than this?

Jesus says  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

If love is merely an emotion or sentiment, how can it be commanded? How can anyone, even God, command us on how to feel? There must be more to love than just feelings and emotions. There are two defining facts about love.

1. Love is a matter of choice.
2. Love is a matter of conduct

The ancient Greeks had a deep understanding of love and they used four words to express the deeper reality of love.

1. Eros: This love rises from infatuation or sexual desire. This term is never used in the New Testament

2. Storge: This love rises from natural affection and relates to family love. This term is used in the New Testament to describe a parent’s love for a child

3. Phileo: This love rises from deep friendship or deep emotional affection. This term is used in the New Testament to describe personal relationships or “brotherly love”

4. Agape: This love rises from God. It is a complete love that includes the mind, reason and will of a person. This type of love is primarily a product of choice. This term is used in the New Testament to describe God’s love and how Christians are to love one another and others

The disciples are so distracted by Jesus’ impending departure that they miss the significance of this instruction. The OT commanded love for God, and for others in the community. But why this commandment was new was that it was related to the new covenant, not the old. The standard that was given made it new. They were instructed to love “as I have loved you.” Jesus having just washed their feet (a task that no one of status would do), said I have given you an example. 

Love in the bible is an action verb, and it always is associated with some expression or action in demonstration of that love. This self-sacrificing, self-giving, selfless, valuing others more than yourself love is the “new” command.

Dear Friends The more we recognize the depth of our own sin, the more we recognize the love of the Savior; the more we appreciate the love of the Savior, the higher his standard appears; the higher his standard appears, the more we recognize in our selfishness, our innate self-centeredness, the depth of our own sin.

This Lenten Season may we realise that the new command is simple enough for a toddler to memorize and appreciate, profound enough that the most mature believers are repeatedly embarrassed at how poorly they comprehend it and put it into practice.

God Bless you.

Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The King with a Difference

If anyone asks you, why you are doing this? Say the lord needs it and will send it back here shortly. Mark 11:3 Today we celebrate as Palm Sunday/hosanna wherein we take time to remember Jesus’ Triumphal entry into Jerusalem to the shouts of   “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest! ” (Mark 11:9-10).  Today we think of “Hosanna!” as a word of celebration and praise. We consider it to mean something like “Hallelujah!”, “Wonderful!”, or “Way to go!” But “Hosanna!” wasn’t just a word of praise. “Hosanna!” was also a prayer for help. The Hebrew word originally meant “Save us, we beg you!” or “Save Us now and looking at the conditions today a much needed prayer for us St. Thomas Aquinas , a thirteenth-century theologian, once said, “ In order to be saved, you must know what you believe, know why you believe, and know how to act upon it.” If Christ is Lord of our hearts an...
Read more

Fight or Reconcile?

21  “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 23  So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24  leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25  Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26  Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. Matthew 5:21-26  We have entered into yet another Lenten Season. Lent represents the 40 days Jesus...
Read more

River or Canal Faith?

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.   Hebrews 11.17-19 A J Reimer in his book Trusting God - Why His Plan Is Better Than Ours , that we, as humans, go through seasons in our lives as God works, grows, and teaches us. This is a book which makes us understand the importance of trust and all that it entails. A J Reimer speaks about river faith and canal faith. This is how he speaks about them, "Have you ever seen a straight river? Canals are straight, but all rivers seem to be crooked. We call it “meandering.” Why are rivers crooked? Because the natural tendency of a river is to take the easiest way around any obstacle. So rivers are always crooked, and they always run downhill...
Read more