As God speaks to us, we realize that we must have more love. There are many Scriptures, especially in I Thessalonians and I John, which show us the character and the nature of the love that God wants us to have. A careful study of these Scriptures will reveal seven keys to more love.
At a time of crisis, you see how much love you actually have. You find out how quick you are to judge someone for what he lacks or to blame someone else for something that happens.
A church sometimes goes through a sifting which is actually not as necessary as people think. Often it does not really matter what the issues appear to be, for the whole situation could be changed if there were an overwhelming amount of love on the part of even one person involved.
Either we will sink to a low level of picking at small things and magnifying them, or we will have enough love to magnify the Lord and see everything else shrink down appropriately, until a difference has no significance as an occasion of stumbling. Glorifying the Lord and moving in love will overwhelm every bit of opposition.
Paul’s first Epistle to the church at Thessalonica reveals much truth about the love that we are to have. In I Thessalonians 1:2–5 we read: We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father. (Notice the similarity to I Corinthians 13:13: “Now abide faith, hope, and love, these three.”) Knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you; for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power…
Throughout I Thessalonians Paul was reminiscing about how the Word had come to them, how they had received it, and what they were doing with it. In verses 6–8 he continued: You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything.
In chapter 2, Paul reminded the Thessalonians, “Our coming to you was not in vain” (verse 1). At Philippi, Paul and Silas had been beaten and mistreated. Then they went to Thessalonica to preach the Word, and much fruit came forth from it. But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having thus a fond affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.
You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. And for this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God’s message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work (the King James Version says, “effectually worketh”) in you who believe. I Thessalonians 2:7–13.
It is very important that we see how they moved in love. In chapter 3 Paul wrote: And may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all men, just as we also do for you; so that He may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. Verses 12–13. We are to increase and abound in love.
Each time the Scriptures refer to love, we see that it is not an inflexible or static quality; it is something alive. It cannot be manufactured by a human being, but it can be increased by a believer at will. It is something you can put on and appropriate. The more we reach into it, the more we realize that we do not yet know even the simplest things about the workings of this love that God wants to bring to us. We still confuse it too much with human love and its limitations, and with the course by which love generally comes.
I Thessalonians 3 paints a picture for us, showing how the apostolic ministry in Paul really functioned. In verses 1–7 we read: Therefore when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone; and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow-worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, so that no man may be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. For indeed when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction; and so it came to pass, as you know. What intense love and concern Paul had for that church!
For this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor should be in vain. (Paul simply could not bear to think that some might have fallen away.) But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always think kindly of us, longing to see us just as we also long to see you, for this reason, brethren, in all our distress and affliction we were comforted about you through your faith.
Paul was not too much concerned about their financial state or their problems. Instead, he was inquiring about their faith and their love. Paul’s ministry was not an organized program designed only to “put out brushfires” and solve the people’s problems. He wanted to know the state of their faith and their love, how these qualities were growing.
For now we really live, if you stand firm in the Lord. Verse 8. Their faith was the thing that fed his spirit. He really lived if those to whom he ministered were standing strong. For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God on your account? Verse 9. He was asking, “How am I going to thank God for all the joy that I receive because I see these people walking with God?” He was not worrying about a place or an organization or a kingdom of his own. His only concern was their faith and their love.
Paul once referred to the Philippians as “my joy and my crown of rejoicing” (Philippians 4:1). His rejoicing came when they stood in the presence of the Lord. How many things we have to learn about God! How little we understand about His joy! Many believers still think that the creature comforts bring them joy, and that they will be miserable if they do not have money or possessions; yet that actually has very little to do with joy.
I am sure that Paul was not receiving the greatest of financial blessings when he wrote the epistles. Furthermore, whatever he did have, he gave away. He knew how to have nothing, and he knew how to have everything (Philippians 4:12). That was never a problem with him. He grieved for those whose faith was wavering; but there was great joy and rejoicing in his heart when he saw that the people were moving on in faith and love.
After speaking of his thankfulness and rejoicing for the Thessalonians, he continued, As we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face, and may complete what is lacking in your faith.
Paul was never really concerned about anything except bringing forth the saints to the point that their faith was truly complete in God. That was his great ambition. Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you; and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all men, just as we also do for you; so that He may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. I Thessalonians 3:10–13.
How do we learn to love? I Thessalonians 4:9–10 tells us, Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for any one to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. We do not need classes to teach us how to love. If we are in the flow of the Spirit, God will teach us how to love one another. For indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more. Even though the Thessalonians were filled with love, Paul urged them, “Excel still more!” The same applies to us. We may be filled with the love of God, yet we must excel in it more and more. We must move into a deeper and deeper flow of love for one another.
In John 15:12, Jesus told His disciples, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” Disciples are commanded to love. This is important to remember.
Colossians 3:12–14 teaches us more about love. And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against any one; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
This passage shows us what the well-dressed disciple wears. After you put on mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, then you put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. It is the last piece that goes on. If you want to be a well-dressed disciple, you must put on love. This sheds a different light on what love is. Not only is love an obedience to a command; love is also something you appropriate from God. You can put it on.
I John 4:7–5:3 gives an excellent definition of love and shows us the way that this love can come. Beginning with verse 7 we read, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and every one who loves is born of God and knows God. Weigh this very carefully. At least in a measure, this divine love is part of the nature that comes when you accept Christ as your Savior. The spiritual birth begins with a measure of love. If you do not have any love, then you do not know the Lord at all. If you know the Lord, then you must have at least a little love in your heart, because it is part of the nature of God.
Verses 8–13: The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (Romans 5:5 tells us that God shed abroad His love in our hearts.) Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. If we are born of God, then that quality of love is within us.
No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. Beholding God is talking about His full glory with our physical eyes. we can see the similitude of God and we see him in our brother’s and sister’s. If we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
Continuing with verse 16 we read, And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. These are loaded statements. John is saying that we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and when we abide in that love, we are abiding in God and God is abiding in us.
By this, love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. Verses 17–19. God beamed His love to us and we simply reflect it. It is not a matter of our deciding to love Him with some of our own love just because He loved us. Rather, we reflect His love.
The play on words revealed in the passage in John 21:15–17 helps us to see the difference between human love and God’s love. Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love Me?” The Greek word He used was agapao—God’s love. Peter replied, “Yes, Lord, You know I love You.” But he was referring to human love. He used the word phileo, from which comes Philadelphia, “the city of brotherly love.” Peter was saying, “I have brotherly love for You.” However, Jesus was talking about His love. Once again He asked Peter, “Do you love (agapao) Me?” Once again Peter replied, “I have a deep affection, a brotherly love for You, Lord. I go that high, but I cannot say that I am able to love You with that perfect love.” A third time Jesus asked him, “Do you love Me?” But this time He came down to the level of the word Peter had used: phileo. Then Peter was grieved. He had been evading the question that Jesus was really asking him.
Do you see what Jesus was asking Peter? He is asking you the same thing. “Do you love Me? Is your love human love or divine love?” It is not enough just to have human love. Let this statement be real to you: “We love because He first loved us.” Open your heart for God to love you. Reach in for the revelation that John had. He said, “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us.” Say in your heart, “Lord, You love me; and therefore, I love You. It may not be perfected and it may not be what it ought to be yet, but Your love is in my heart.”
In everything that God does, He imparts of Himself. If He speaks a Word to you and you receive that Word, then you have received Him. He said, “My words are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63). Whenever God speaks something, He puts Himself in the Word. When God loves you, He puts Himself in it, because God is love. If God is in your heart, then love is in your heart. You have it. God never does anything without imparting Himself in it. We love, because He first loved us.
If some one says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. The only way you will see God is to see Him in your brother. You may see visions and images, but the true concept and revelation of God comes as He indwells His Body. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. (If you love God, then you also love every brother who is born of God.) By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. I John 4:20–5:3.
This collection of Scriptures on love clearly establish seven truths that we can use as keys to more love. If we apply these keys, we will find ourselves growing in God more than we ever have before.
1. Love begins as an imparted nature. Do not say, “I don’t think I can love this person.” You can, because God put it in you. When Christ came into your heart, His nature was imparted to you. Do not say that you cannot love!
Many times people are in deception. A husband and a wife may come in for counseling, saying, “I just don’t love my wife anymore. I can’t love my husband anymore.” However, the Scriptures command, “Husbands, love your wives. Wives, love your husbands” (Colossians 3:18–19). They can decide whether or not they will love, and so can you. You can do anything you want to do. If you do not want to love, you can begin to hate, thus giving way to death. Every relationship starts to die when you refuse to bring God’s love into it. Love begins as an imparted nature.
2. Love grows in obedience to a command. Determine to obey the Lord. Determine to love. If God tells you to do something, His grace is available for you to do it. Not one member of the Body of Christ is such a miserable mess that I cannot love him. Likewise, not one member has such a great problem in his heart that he cannot love me. When God commands it, you can obey it by His grace. God does not give you one Word that you cannot obey, because He will help you to obey it. It is God who works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). If you do not want to love, then He will work it in you to want to, to will and to do of His good pleasure.
Love grows in obedience to a command. Is love a discipline? It surely is. If God tells me to love you, I can love you. Do you see how this will lead to more love? If you believe this truth, you can walk in all the love you want. You can walk in all the love that He tells you to walk in. With the command, He gives you the grace to do it.
3. Love matures as an exercise of our will. This third key is very closely related to the second. We must set our hearts to love. All of the Scriptures we read indicate that our will is exercised to love. There is no question about it; we are going to love one another, because that love is a dedication which God works in our heart. He does that for us so that we can love one another. Often our problem is the fact that we forget how long-suffering God’s love for us is, and we become impatient with situations, circumstances, and other people. However, we are to love as He loved us. It is an exercise of our will.
4. Love is appropriated by faith. You start with an imparted nature of love, but then you must draw more. God has great reservoirs of love which you can appropriate. You can obtain from God as much love as you are willing to believe for. Whatever you believe for, that is what you will receive. It would be marvelous to have a meeting in which all of the husbands and wives could come together and appropriate love. The homes would be transformed immediately. Do you have a complaint about the way your husband or wife does certain things? You would be surprised how many things would change if your home were truly full of love. Reach in for that love! It is appropriated by faith.
5. Love is a focused, intense expression of faith. Galatians 5:6 tells us that in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith which works by love. Behind everything which comes forth in the will of God is faith that works by love. Do you have a problem? You can count on it that there is not enough love or faith in the situation. You do not move in love simply because everyone is congenial and the situation is conducive to it. You love because God puts it in your heart to love, in spite of all the problems.
Love is a intense expression of faith. In your intercession, it is easy to become excited about bringing down mystery Babylon, the great harlot. But you must become equally excited about the positive side—seeing the Bride of Christ come forth with perfect love. Determine to be filled with love in your intercession. If you are not, you will find yourself on a low, negative level. It is one thing to hate what God hates, but it is quite another thing to love what God loves. We will love with an intense, focused love because we believe God. There are absolutely no limitations on the amount of love or the quality of love that we can have.
6. Love is a reflection from God. Because God is love, we love. He shed abroad His love in our hearts, and the love that is in us is a reflection. God beams it into our hearts, and if we open up to His love, it will beam forth from us, too. We love because He first loved us. He loved us, and so we reflect it.
Our love is a reflection from God. It is not a human quality that we manufacture. It is not a philosophical acceptance of situations. It is not a congenial situation that exists between a few people. Our love is a reflection from God. God reflects His love through us. Jesus said, “By this will all men know that you are My disciples, because you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Where does it come from? We love because He first loved us.
7. Love is a transferable, transmissible attribute of God. John said, “God is love.” This means that love is absolutely part of the very nature and being of God. People in the world may say, “This is my philosophy: God is love, and so we just love everyone.” But what they call love is not at all what God calls love. What they are talking about is only a philosophical idea on a human level, and that is not what God calls love. We are dealing with divine love. God is holy; God is righteousness; God is love.
John 1:1 tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Each of His attributes—the qualities and qualifications of His very being, the sum total of His personality—is forever, eternally linked to His very nature. His attributes are different than those of a person on a human level.
On a human level, a person cannot create as God does. Human beings can reproduce themselves only one way. What we call “procreation” means that the female brings forth a child with the characteristics and heredity of the father and mother. However, God creates in another way. He speaks a Word and brings it forth, because He Himself is the Word. He brings forth Himself by a Word, by His nature. He beams love toward you and you appropriate that love. You take it into your heart. That is why John was so caught up in this revelation: “Do you love? Then you are born of God. God is dwelling in you. He is living in you. When He put His love in you, He came in too.”
God is eternally attached to all of His attributes, but each one of His attributes is transferable and transmissible. He can take His righteousness and put it on you. You can put on compassion and love, the bond of perfectness. Where do you obtain that love? It is not a garment that you find in a store; it is God Himself. God is saying, “Put Me on. Let Me wrap Myself around you. Let Me become a part of you and you become a part of Me. Let Me transfer and transmit what I am to you.”
You receive from God what you see in Him. The woman who had been hemorrhaging for twelve years knew that if she could touch Him, she could get what she was seeking. When she touched Him, Jesus felt virtue go out of Him (Mark 5:25–34). The whole crowd was pushing up against Him, but they were not reaching for anything. Because she was reaching for something, she received it when she touched Him.
You received God’s nature when you accepted Christ. Now you can drop off some of the human qualities by being swallowed up in God, by appropriating more of Him. When you see Him and begin drawing from Him, you will be changed into the same image, from glory to glory, because His nature is transferable. It can be transmitted to you. You can get anything you want from God, once you see in the Word that it is yours and you realize how simple the process is. Do not be saddled down with human limitations. Appropriate His unlimited nature!