Love  - strong affection, desire, or devotion

Love - Jesus Style
 

Words often have different meanings for people coming from diverse backgrounds. I recently read about a prominent person who had died leaving behind his girlfriend and their baby. Prior to this relationship, he had fathered a child with another woman. That five-year-old child is going through life without the daily love of her father. He might have told his child that he loved her, but for him, it did not mean being there for her when she needed him most. His and my father’s understanding of fatherly love were quite different.

What is the definition of love? Can it be defined or must it be proven?

Using the word love in an abstract way does not mean much, because we do not know how the word is being used. To understand what a person means when he says I love you, calls for action. Jesus teaches this when he says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). This is love – Jesus style. Let me point out three characteristics of what Jesus means when he says I love you.

When we love someone, we are sensitive to their needs. Mark writes, “People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these’” (10:13). Our Lord was sensitive to the needs of those mothers who wanted Jesus to bless their children. The disciples, however, were completely insensitive to their feelings and about to send them away. I imagine our Lord did a little teaching on the subject of love when he was with the disciples around the campfire that night.

When I tell my wife I love her, I must remain sensitive to her feelings. I can greet her with a warm embrace and say I love you. However, if I speak critically and harshly to her five minutes later, I am not showing her much love. Sensitivity is characteristic of love.

Another quality of love is being willing to forgive. Do you remember the woman who was caught in the act of adultery? The Pharisees were anxious to stone her. Jesus did not condone her lifestyle, but instead said, “I do not condemn you. Go and sin no more.” He was willing to forgive her and give her another chance. In other words, he is saying to her out of love, You cannot continue to live this immoral lifestyle. It will destroy you. Go and leave your life of sin.

Like Jesus, when we love people, we are willing to forgive them. This does not mean we condone their sins or condemn them. Rather, we help them get started anew. This is the meaning of love – Jesus style.

Calvary’s cross is Jesus’ manifestation of love. The loving person is willing – sometimes even anxious – to make sacrifices for the person he claims to love. We see beautiful pictures of this in everyday life. A server in our retirement center works one regular job and another part-time job to assist her son financially as he attends college. I am sure her bones are sometimes weary. Yet she receives strength in knowing why she is not home on the couch, but instead is serving an evening meal to twenty-six of us. Our sacrifices are minor when compared to Jesus’ supreme sacrifice. Yet they add meaning to the words I love you – a statement often filled with emotion, yet lacking substance.

Understanding the meaning of love is much easier when we immerse ourselves in God’s love each day. Only then can we see how different love is – Jesus style – from Hollywood-style love in the secular world today.

Rev. Homer Larsen