From t-shirts to coffee mugs to inspirational stickers, Christians are constantly reminding themselves to love. Trying to separate themselves from the Bible thumpers and fire & brimstone preachers of the past, modern Christians advocate a love-centered lifestyle. They say to “hate the sin but love the sinner.” Or to boil down Christianity into two simple commands: “love God and love people.” I don’t think there’s anything wrong with believing “love is the answer.” However, with this Christian saturation of love-centered living, I fear that we may think love is all we need. It’s not. Let me explain myself. Biblically-Based LoveFirst off, this “love-movement” is completely based on Scripture. Jesus Christ himself said, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34-35). In these verses, Jesus commands us to love other Christians so much that it becomes Christianity’s defining characteristic. I John 4 says “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” The “love God and love people” simplification is also Bible-based (Luke 10:25-28). So there’s nothing wrong with preaching love. After all, it is the primary Christian characteristic. But let's see what else Scripture says about love. Starting in II Peter 1:3, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.” As we know more about God, His power gives us all we need to become more like Him. Basically, we have no excuse to grow spiritually. So what do we do? “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love,” (II Peter 1:5-7) This list is a hierarchy of attributes. To grow your faith, you supplement each attribute with the next. Supplement is the key word. When you take supplements, you, by definition, complete or enhance your body. In the same way, faith is completed or enhanced when you intentionally add virtue. Virtue is completed or enhanced with knowledge and so on. What’s interesting is that love is at the bottom of the list. It’s the last supplement you take. Does that mean it’s the least important? Definitely not. We know from the previous verses that love is the essential Christian characteristic. So why is it mentioned last? With this list, Peter exposes the problem with what I’ve termed the “love movement.” How many people cover a lack of knowledge about God by saying “all you need is love?” How many Christians have conflicts with other Christians but they still say “love God and love people?” How many Christians defend their sinful habits by saying “hate the sin but the love the sinner?” The truth of the matter is we see love as an easy answer to everything, when love is actually hard to obtain. We skip over virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, and brotherly affection and go straight to “love God and love others.” But love contains all the previous attributes. It’s a deep and wide attribute of God. Why are we foolish enough to think that the essential Christian characteristic is an easy thing to do? So yes, love is what we need. But this love can’t be the cheap coffee mug or #Instagram type of love. This love needs to be rooted in Scripture. This love has to reflect the reality that God’s simplest commandment is also his most complex. Related Content
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About MarkI create stories and lift things up and put them down. All for the glory of God. Archives
January 2018
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