Marriage during Biblical times was not about affection, it was a transaction about money and raising children. Yet the Bible speaks boldly about love. Not just the agape love that God has for us, it speaks of love in relationships: the love we have for our family, our friends and in marriage.
Scripture describes how Christ is the Bride Groom and we are His bride. Through this bond, we have great, sacrificial love for one another. Though marriage was a transaction, it was still a partnership and through partnership comes commitment. Out of commitment comes companionship. Companionship leads to compassion. And, because of compassion for one another, we can rejoice in love. As you read the Bible it’s impossible to miss love. You can’t avoid love when you look to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is only natural that God would create a human bond that earthly emulates their bond to one another so we can more greatly understand God and His affection for us.
With God, love is a non-negotiable. Therefore, people without love in the church are an oxymoron. They don’t make sense. They’re not being a true reflection of God’s character. This actually makes them dangerous to the church. They become like wolves in sheep clothing. Christ followers are called to love genuinely, yet we are incapable of doing so. But, we know we are loved unconditionally. We have the ability to learn to love because of how God loves us, and we are also able to let God love others through us, not out of our own effort, but His. Therefore, we can let God do His thing because we can’t. We must get out of the way so He can. This is true of any form of love, in any relationship.
Romans 12:9 says, “Hold fast to love.” We belong to love. We belong to Jesus; therefore, we belong to love. He is love. When we develop a faithful relationship with Christ, He pays the ransom for our sin. We are no longer slaves to sin, but become daughters of the King, therefore, we are His.
Christ paid for our sins with His death on the cross. It becomes essential to treat one another as though we have all been healed by Christ’s blood, especially those who don’t yet fully accept Christ. We don’t live in a vacuum and we will get hurt if we don’t learn to love in this manner. If others are treated as if Christ has healed them, then we can trust that Christ will mend our hurt and broken heart as well as theirs. It’s His healing that allows us to step out of the way and reveal our true nature to others. Our ability to love out of obedience eliminates our need to lust or to love selfishly.
The first act of faith is to believe that God loves you. Out of His abundant love, we can learn to love others in a way that is beyond our capability. God established a relationship as Father, Son and Holy Spirit as an example of how we can relate to and love one another here on earth. We will never reach such capacity, but God provides many beautiful opportunities for us to engage and develop such love.
Love in the Bible Download
