The Process of Love (Part Two)

 The Process of Love (Part Two) As we saw in Part One, there is difficulty involved in the process of exercising godly love. The intent of our heart must be correct for a word or deed to be godly love, yet Jeremiah 17:9 asserts that our heart is "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." God asks, "Who can understand it?" implying that we cannot—only God can. Thus, we can do good works, believing we are doing them for the right reasons, yet be deceiving ourselves. The human nature remaining in us can give us answers that sound good, but that nature, highly resistant to honestly examining why we dowhat we do and say what we say, would rather lie to itself than do the painful work of seeing itself for what it is. But without acknowledging the defilement in us, in whatever form, we will produce no spiritual growth. Jeremiah17:10 says that the Lord searches the heart and tests the mind for its true condition, which is similar to Hebrews 4:12: For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. This verse's subject could be one of two things, and commentators and theologians cannot agree on exactly which is meant. We know that "the word of God" can refer to "what God says," specifically to His written revelation. But we also know thatthroughout the Old Testament and in several places in the New, "the Word of God" (or "word of the LORD") indicates the Creator. Thus, Jesus Christ is living and powerful and cuts to a matter's heart. He discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart, just as He says in Jeremiah 17:10. This idea continues in the next verse, where Christ is undeniably the subject: "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." In practical terms, then, because of our heart's inability to give us an honest answer, the only way to understand why we do and say things is to take the matter to the One who searches the heart and tests the mind. We must ask Him to discernthe thoughts and intents of our hearts for us. If we sincerely want to know, He will show us. If He reveals that our aims and motivations are not about outgoing concern and glorifying God, but we genuinely want them to be, we can ask Him to create a cleanheart in us. And over time, He will. Throughout this sanctification process, He will strip away our impurities, defilement, and self-centeredness so that our goals and desires begin to match His. Colossians3:12-14 similarly shows that godly love is not as simple as the world would have us believe: Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. Verse 14 reads "above all these things," a phrase which in Greek connotes that everything before it comes first. It is better translated as "upon all these things," indicating an order not only of importance but also of procedure. In other words,tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance, and forgiveness all set the stage for godly love. Godly love is the capstone—the final brick on top. Again, as with I Corinthians 13, even though all these actions are typically virtuous, a person can do at least some of them for the wrong reasons. We can be longsuffering in a human fashion, entirely without godly love. We can forbear withanother out of compulsion rather than love. We can forgive grudgingly and out of fear that God will not forgive our sins if we do not. So, even as we add these attributes and actions into our relationships, we must still take on or put on godly love becausethese things are not complete without it. We find a similar instruction in II Peter 1:5-9: But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord JesusChrist. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. These verses show a progression—a process to go through. Godly love stands at the end. Notice, though, that the first step is faith, another of the three great virtues. Hebrews 11:1 describes it as "what stands under everything we hope for," and verse 6 adds that "without faith it is impossible to please God." We also understand that saving faith is a gift from God and that "not all men have the faith." Thus, without God'sinitial gift of faith to build on, we cannot possess any true virtue or knowledge and so forth, let alone love. Faith is the initial building block to which we must add all these others. At the other end, the culmination of these qualities is godly love. Much could be said about each quality and action found here and in Colossians 3:12-14. For our purposes, we must recognize that a great deal goes into producing godly love. Faith is a major item. Forgiveness is crucial. Receiving God's Spirit is an additional prerequisite because love is also a fruit of His Spirit. But to grasp the magnitude of what it means to have godly love, we must begin with God's statement in Genesis 1:26 that God is creating us in His image. We often attach the word "character" to the word "image," which is certainly not wrong because character defines one's essential nature. However, we must also combine it with the apostle John's words inI John 4:8: "God is love." This short sentence could be clarified as, "God, as to His nature, is love." Love motivates all He does. As we grow into full members of the God Family, love becomes our nature, too. In John 13:35, Jesus tells His followers, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." Despite this being a "simple" statement, we have seen that a great deal goes along with it. Just from the few verses covered here,we realize that this love will contain and be demonstrated by keeping the commandments, along with faith, virtue, spiritual knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, mercy, humility, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance, and forgiveness.Not only that, if it is real godly love, all of these will also be done for the right reasons and from a pure heart. Finally, notice I Thessalonians 3:12: "And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we also do for you" (Holman Christian Standard Bible). Paul prays Christ would increase their love for one another becausesomething as complex and humanly impossible as godly love must come from God and be developed in us by Him. In a way, the Beatles had it correct: "All we need is love." However, they missed altogether what that love is and how it is produced. The love we needis the motivating, relational core of the Creator of the universe, which is produced only through a relationship with Him. As we walk with Him, get to know Him, and submit to Him, His way and nature become ours, and in time, this process teaches us to love as He loves. - David C. Grabbe