How to love like God

92 How to love like God
 
Important words are used in ever widening contexts and in the process their original meaning tends to be softened or, in some cases, lost. Love is such a word. At one time its meaning was basically limited to the affectionate relationship between a man and a woman. Now we ”love” a pretty dress, a good day on the golf course, and even a clever remark. The word has been stretched by use (and that is not necessary bad), but in the process has lost much of its original meaning and impact. I believe you would agree that God the Father’s love for his son, Jesus, would be a good example of what the word originally conveyed. So let’s look at how Jesus used it in a section of his Farewell Address (John 15:9-17).
       esus tells his disciples that his love for them was the same as his Father’s love for him. Reflect on that for a moment.  It’s safe to say that we cannot actually grasp the enormity and sincerity of such a love, yet that is how we are to love one another. The text reminds us that genuine love calls for obedience. It is safe to say that a “love” that has no regard for the desires of others doesn’t qualify as love. It is by obeying his commandments that we remain true to God’s love for us” (v. 10). What else could two people do when they are in love with each other! By definition, love is complete commitment to the welfare of the other.
       Some might think that love and obedience don’t belong in the same vocabulary since the one is soft and gentle and the other hard and demanding. But that would be true only in an uninformed (or misinformed) mind. Any sort of “obedience” that tries to win the love of another is fraudulent. Genuine obedience is the willing response to the presence of love. We don’t obey in order to receive, but because we have received. There is always confusion when the cart gets in front of the horse. Keep obedience as a result, don’t try to make it a cause.
       Then Jesus tells his disciples that the result of our obedience is that we are “filled with joy “ (v. 11). When we think of obedience as something we have to do, then the result is anything but joy. But obedience as a response to love leads to joy. You cannot get the best of God. Here is the true sequence: He loves us, we respond by obedience and then he fills us with joy. It all begins with God and the fact that “in the beginning” he loves us (present tense: there is no real time in God’s world). That love is now met with obedience and rewarded with joy
       Another question has to do with the limits of love. We can understand that in normal circumstances we respond favorably to God’s love. But is there a point at which that response would no longer be appropriate? And Jesus’ answer to that is – No, not between friends. The ultimate proof of a person’s love for a friend is his willingness to sacrifice his life for him” (v. 13). Love “covers another’s back” as we say.
       It is when we live in obedience to all that Jesus requires that we demonstrate what it means to be a friend of God. Our friendship here on earth is defined by the divine example. The accomplishments of faith are not due to what we have done but because God has chosen us. And he didn’t choose us without a specific purpose in mind, and that is his desire that go out and bear fruit, not any kind of fruit but the “fruit that lasts” (v. 16). What a remarkable plan on God’s part. I can see him as he sits in heaven asking himself what would it be like if my children on earth loved each other as I, the Father loves Jesus, my Son? The answer to questions like that is, “Let’s show Him!”