Ephesians 5:1-2 Love is...

Ephesians 5:1-2 “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”

Is 1 Corinthians 13:3-13 an accurate depiction of what love is? "Love is patient, love is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoince in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

I would like to suggest a higher definition of love. We understand that love is not a feeling. If that were the case God stopped loving us when He flooded the earth. “And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” (Gen 6:6) But God is love and He has never stopped loving us, so we know that genuine love is not of feelings. I suggest love is a commitment, an action, a passion for someone or something that is greater than you.

Paul says it well in Ephesians 5:2 “…as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us,”

Paul doesn’t say that Christ gives himself “to us” but “for us”, suggesting the affection is aimed at God, not us. Not that Christ doesn’t love us, but He loves God more; He loves us because God loves us. We were not created to be the center of the universe.

Point: Jesus loves God more than He loves us. Jesus was passionate about one thing…His Father. So of course He was passionate about His Fathers business.

Look at 1 Corinthians 13:3-13. Was Jesus kind when He overturned the money changers? Was He provoked? Did He behave rudely? Was He kind when He ridiculed the Pharisees? What does suffer long mean anyway? Was that bearing all things? Did He parade Himself when He road into Jerusalem on a donkey? Was He seeking His own when He went off by himself to pray or rest? Was He seeking His own when He was making furniture? Someone could make a point against Jesus and His lack of 1 Corinthian 13 love if they tried hard enough. However no one can argue His love based on Paul’s definition…”be imitators of God”. Christ gave Himself up for us, for something greater than Himself, “an offering and sacrifice to God”.

Point: Christ demonstrated true, raw, passionate love, not by being kind, timid, and nice, but by giving Himself totally to the mission…God’s salvation of His creation. That’s passion, that’s love, that’s doing whatever it takes. And that's are calling as well.



Grace, MB