Love means different things to different people. Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment (Oxford illustrated American Dictionary 1998 & Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary)
In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all human kindness, compassion and affection. Love is central to many religion as in the Christian phrase, “God is love” or Agape in the canonical gospel (Deus Caritas Est, Roman Catholic encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI).
Love may also be described as actions towards others (or oneself) based on Compassion. From Eric, “The Art of Loving”, Harper Perennial (1956), Original English Version, ISBN 978-0060958282.
The word “Love” can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure, for example (I loved that meal) to intense interpersonal attraction (I love my partner). Love can also refer specifically to the passionate desire and intimacy of romantic love, to the sexual love of Eros (cf. Greek words for love), to the emotional closeness of familial love, or to the platonic love that defines friendship, to the profound oneness or devotion of religious love.
Love could be divided into four types namely: Charitable Love, Friendship Love, Erotic Love and Unconditional Love.
It is sometimes referred to as security love. This love is the love that everybody needs to survive. It is that feeling of being cared for and nurtured. We express this love when giving money, food, help, etc to people in need. It means showing kindness and sympathy towards others.
Friendship love or brotherly love or platonic love is derived from the Greek word Philia which means love between you and someone who is totally honest, open and comfortable. It is affection free of sexual feelings.
Erotic love is derived from the Greek word Eros which means sexual desire or feeling. It is when you see a person for the first time and he/she makes your knees go weak or gives you butterflies in your stomach i.e. “Love at first sight”. Many people don’t even love the person they think they are in love with. They fall in love with the idea of being in love. This is more of a lustful kind of love; it wears off after a while and sometimes leads to deep hatred.
This is the real, true or sincere love, the love that lasts forever. Nothing can destroy unconditional love. To love someone unconditionally means that you love the person exactly as he/she is, exactly as he/she was before and exactly as he/she will be in the future because people change all the time. If you love a person unconditionally, you will love them even if they become something you disagree with.
Unconditional love is self-sacrificing, unconditional love is more of a spiritual thing. It’s not bound by physical things, like blood relations and the desire to procreate. It has nothing whatsoever to do with sex.
Unconditional love could be called Agape, a Greek word which means Love, the love of God. Paulo Coelho defines it as “the love that consumes” i.e. the highest and purest form of love, one that surpasses all other types of affection.
Agape is love which is of and from God, His very nature is love itself. Saint John the Apostle affirms this in 1John 4:8 thus:
God does not only love, He is love itself. Everything God does flows from His love. But it is worthy to note that God’s love is not a sappy, sentimental love such as we often hear portrayed. God loves because that is His very nature and the extreme expression of His being.
God loves us so much, even sinners, not because we deserve to be loved, but because it is His very nature to do so and He must be true to His nature and behavior. God’s love is displayed most clearly on the cross at mount Calvary, where Jesus Christ the Son of God, a King and a Priest died for the unworthy creatures of the world who were dead spiritually and in sins. See Ephesians 2:1-10 and Romans 5:6-8.
The object of Agape love never does anything to merit His love. We are the undeserving recipients upon whom He generously gives that love. His love was demonstrated when He sent His Son into the world to “seek and save those who were lost” (Luke 19:10), and to provide eternal life to those He sought and saved. He paid the ultimate sacrifice for those He loves.
One may ask: “does God love everyone or just Christians?” The word of God gives the answer thus:
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1John 2:2 NIV)
In the above sense, God loves everyone in the whole world. This love is not conditional – it is based only on the fact that God is a God of love, see 1John 4:8 and 16. God’s love for the whole world results in the fact that God shows His mercy by not immediately punishing mankind for their sins. Romans 3:23 and 6:23 explain thus:
For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
God’s love for the whole world is manifested in the fact that He gives people the opportunity to repent:
However, God’s love for the whole world does not mean He will ignore sin. Mind you, God is also a God of justice. Sin can not go unpunished forever. 2Thessalonians 1:6 and Romans 3:25-26 explains better:
For God sent Christ Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to end all God’s anger against us. He used Christ’s blood and our faith as the means of saving us from His wrath. In this way, He was being entirely fair, even though He did not punish those who sinned in former times. For He was looking forward to the time when Christ would come and take away those sins, and now in these days also He can receive sinners in this same way, because Jesus took away their sins.
But isn’t this unfair for God to let criminals go unpunished and say that they are innocent? No, for He does it on the basis of their trust in Jesus who took away their sins.
The most loving act of eternity is described in Romans 5:8. Anyone who ignores God’s love, who rejects Christ Jesus as saviour, who denies the Saviour who bought him/her will be subject to God’s wrath for eternity. See 2Peter 2:1 and Romans 1:18-19 for further explanation.
What a loving and caring God we have. If only we knew how much He loves us and cares for us, we would rest in His love and cast all our cares on Him.
When God created the world, He made all that was required; there was nothing He didn’t create which should have been created.
God’s loving and caring plan for man before the fall was that He made man to live forever, He made us in His image and likeness meaning that we were made members of His family, a royal people i.e. princes and princesses and the Angels were to serve us and provide for our other needs. See Romans 8:17.
We were created to always be in His presence, not bordering ourselves to work much because all had been provided for. When you feel hungry, you go to any tree of your choice and eat. The trees were created to work out our food and serves as healing from aging. See 2Esdras 7:123, Revelation 22:2 and Ezekiel 47:12.
Do you know that God created vehicles for various means of transportation for man?
The vehicles God created for transportation was the horse, ox, donkey, camel, ostrich, etc. See Job 39:18-24; Numbers 22:22; Genesis 24:61; Exodus 4:20; Zechariah 9:9. They were created perfectly to the extent that you hardly have any accident and if at all there is an accident, you won’t die.
For flight, we have the Angels, Chariots of fire, etc. See Psalm 91:11-12, 2King 2:11 and Acts 8:26-40. For Sailing, we could construct an Ark, Ship, etc, according to God’s specifications. We could make the sea water to create a passage by forming a wall of water at the left and at the right and then ride through on dry grounds or better still walk or ride on the water. See Genesis 6:14-16, Exodus 14:21-22, 2Kings 2:8 and Matthew 14:25-31.
That was part of how God lovingly planned the world. He was to be our King and we are to be a royal member of His family. But man disobeyed and power and authority over the earth moved from man to satan. Initially, we had the power and authority to do the above; we were given control over the world until when we fell. Ever since then, it had been one problem to another. Read Genesis 1:28.
Today, satan is using science and technology in disguise as a means to further take us away from all that the good Lord had already provided for.
It is true that science and technology had some good, but let’s tell ourselves the truth. Is science and technology perfect? The answer is obviously no because science and technology have in the course of trial and error; destroyed so many things in the world, knowingly and unknowingly. Remember, what seems good is not good but what is good is good.
Science and technology invented vehicles with engines, air plane, ship, guns, train, nuclear weapons, bombs, drugs, etc. But truly, at the long run have all these benefited man and the world at large? It has not because the carbon monoxide emitting from these engines is destroying the ozone layer and it is also poisonous to ones health when inhaled and which could lead to death. Some drugs have bad side effects that could lead to complications. We have even lost our loved ones to car crash, plane crash, train accidents, bomb explosions and so on and so forth.
Since we have found ourselves in this mess, the best we could do is to dedicate all we have unto the Lord for His blessings, for His blessing is perfect and causes no sorrow.
I was amazed when I discovered that a 15 years old girl in America does not know Jesus Christ. I was on yahoo messenger one faithful night, trying to chat with someone. I clicked on a particular name I saw in a chat room so we could chat but to my greatest surprise it was a 15 years old girl. I never expected it, I asked myself; “what will I discuss with this small girl?” Then, a thought came to me that I should discuss Jesus with her.
Could you believe that this girl from America (USA) does not know Jesus Christ? She asked me who He was; after telling her, she told me that science is what she believes in and that there is no God. She sees
Jesus Christ as just a man and not a God. We didn’t chat for long though then she left. Imagine how many of her kind would there be in America today.
If science and technology claims to be all or feels she could challenge the wisdom of God, she should create man using the earth without cloning or making use of sperms. She should pay a visit to the sun and walk on it; she should give life back to a dead man, etc. Science and technology is not perfect but God is. Please read Job 38, 39, 40, 41 and 42:2-3.
Science and technology should be focused on the things that are of great favour and benefit to all the creatures and created things of the world and not on things that causes pains and sorrows.
God is so loving and caring to the extent that He knows you by your name. He knows you, He knows me, He knows everybody by name and He has good plans for us all. See Jeremiah 1:5 and 29:11-13, Isaiah 45:3-4, 49:1.
God never abandoned us despite our sins; He forgives, forgives and forgives even to the point of laying His life to redeem us. The only thing He wants from us in return is to give Him our hearts and do His will and by so doing, we will see His goodness.
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. (Psalm 34:8 NIV)
Finally, God loves everyone unconditionally in that He shows mercy to everyone by not destroying us immediately because of sin. At the same time, God only has “covenant love” for those who place their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.
Only those who believe in Jesus Christ as their LORD and Saviour will experience God’s love for eternity. Does God love everyone? Yes.
Does God love Christians more than He loves non-Christians? No.
Does God love Christians to a different extent than He loves non-Christians? Yes.
God loves everyone equally in that He is merciful to all. God only loves Christians because Christians are the only ones that have His eternal grace and mercy and the promise of His forever love in heaven. The unconditional love God has for everyone should bring us to faith in Him, receiving in thankfulness the great conditional love He grants all those who receive Jesus Christ as Saviour.
This is the first of the two greatest commandments which is to love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, with our entire mind and with all our strength. What does it mean to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength?
The above bible quote is known as the shema, it is taken from the first word “Hear” in Hebrew. Modern Jews consider the recital of the shema both evening and morning to be one of their most sacred duties. It was cited by Jesus as the “greatest commandment in the law”. See Matthew 22:34-40.
This command seems to be impossible to obey. That is because in the natural state of man, it is impossible without the Spirit of God. There is no greater evidence of the inability of man to obey God’s law than this one commandment. No human being with a fallen nature can possibly love God with all his heart, soul and strength 24 hours a day. It’s humanly impossible. But to disobey any commandment of God is sin. Therefore, even without considering the sins we commit daily, we are all guilty by our inability to fulfill this one commandment. This is the reason Jesus continually reminded the Pharisees of their inability to keep the law of God. He was trying to get them to see their utter spiritual bankruptcy and their need for a saviour. Without the cleansing of sin that He provides, and the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit who lives in the hearts of the redeemed, loving God to any degree is impossible.
But as Christians, we have been cleansed from sin and we do have the Spirit of God. So how do we begin to love God the way we should? Just as the man in Mark 9:24 asked God to help him overcome his unbelief, so too we can ask God to help us in areas where we don’t love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. It is the power of God that we need to do the impossible and we begin by seeking and accepting that power.
In most cases, our love and affection for God grows more intense as time goes. Certainly, young Christians newly saved are very much aware of the love of God and their love for Him. But it is through the witnessing of God’s faithfulness during times of struggle and trial that a deep love for God grows and grows. Over time, we witness His compassion, mercy, grace and love for us, as well as His hatred for sin, His holiness and righteousness. We cannot love someone we don’t know, so knowing Him should be our first priority. Those who pursue God and His righteousness, who take seriously the command to love Him above all else, are those who are consumed with the things of God. They are eager to study God’s word, eager to pray, eager to obey and honour God in all things, and eager to share Jesus Christ with others. It is through these spiritual disciplines that the love for God grows and matures to the glory of God.
This is the second of the two greatest commandments given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. He loved us sacrificially, even to the point of death, death on the cross at mount Calvary. There He paid our debt by sacrificing His life to enable us gain everlasting live through Him.
In the same way, we are to love others sacrificially. Jesus gave the parable of the Good Samaritan as an example of sacrifice for the sake of others, even for those who may care nothing at all for us or even hate us, as the Jews did the Samaritans. Sacrificial love is not based on a feeling, but a determined act of the will, a joyful resolve to put the welfare of others above our own. Paying tithe which is used to care for the priest, strangers, orphans and widows is another way of sacrificial love. See Deuteronomy 14:28-
29. But this type of love does not come naturally to humans. Because of our fallen nature, we are incapable of producing such a love. If we are to love as Jesus loves; that love – that agape – can only come from its true source. This is the love which has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us when we become His children. See Romans 5:5.
When we become children of God, He pours His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Because that love is now in our hearts, we can obey Jesus who said in John 13:34-35 thus:
This commandment involves loving one another as He loved us sacrificially, even to the point of death. But again, it is clear that only God can generate within us this kind of self – sacrificing love which is the proof that we are His children.
From what we’ve had so far, we could deduce that: love is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, a supernatural gift from God which enables us to obey Him, trust in Him, hope in Him and to care over what He cared for as well as caring for one another even to the point of death.
The above definition shows that love which is from God is the fruit of the Holy Spirit that helps us to keep God’s commandment which He gave to us through Moses and the prophets.
Let’s see how it works. The other commandments of God as was given to us through Moses are:
1. You shall worship no other gods except God the uncreated creator of all things
2. Do not make for yourself an idol in any form. You must not bow down to any idol or worship any idol
3. You shall not use the name of Jehovah your God irreverently, nor use it to swear to a falsehood. If you do, you will not escape punishment.
4. Keep the Sabbath day holy. Six days a week are for your daily duties and your regular work, but the seventh day is a day of Sabbath rests before the Lord your God.
5. Honour your father and your mother, that you may have a long good life on earth.
6. You must not kill.
7. You must not commit adultery.
8. You must not steal.
9. You must not lie against your neighbour.
10. Do not covet your neighbour’s wife; do not covet your neighbour’s properties. See Exodus 20:3-17.
We have all in one way or the other broken the above commandments of God either directly or indirectly, and the only way to overcome sin is to love the way our Lord Jesus Christ taught us. If we love God with all our heart, with our entire mind, with all our soul and with all our strength and also love our neighbour as we love ourselves then we will not hurt them or do those things that will get them offended. Relating it to the Ten Commandments, if we love God and our fellow man, we will not bow down or worship satan and his angels or make for ourselves any idol in the form of half man half beast, half man half fish or half man half bird.
When we love God with all our heart, with our entire mind, with all our soul and with all our strength and also love our neighbour as we love ourselves, then we will not use the name of the LORD in vain, instead, we will use it to bless one another. When we love God and man, we will always remember to keep the Sabbath holy and also remind others to do the same, by resting from work and going to church, where we gather in fellowship onto God, bringing with us our love offering, thanksgiving offering and paying our tithes.
Loving God and loving our neighbour as we love ourselves will enable us to please God by showing respect to our parents, not only to our parents but also our elders and young once. Also if we love God and love our neighbour, we will not kill or abuse anyone, we will not have sexual intercourse with someone’s wife or lust after someone’s wife or fornicate. We will not steal from others, we will not lie against anybody, we will not long for someone’s wife to be ours and we will not long for someone’s properties to be ours.
Let’s reason the above this way: as much as you loved yourself, would you be pleased to disobey God and suffer in hell? Would you be happy if someone should do to you any or more of what God’s Ten Commandments says we shouldn’t do? Am very sure your answer would be “No” except if you hate yourself.
As you have answered no, it therefore means that you should tell others to obey God because you love them and would not want them to spend the rest of eternity in hell. Also since you won’t be happy if someone commits any of the Ten Commandment against you, you should as well not commit any of the Ten Commandment against anyone too. Always remember the Golden rule which says thus:
For further reading: Romans 12:9-21, 13:8-10, 1Corinthians 13, 1John 3:11-24 and 4:7-21.