Love

             In a 1985 Grammy award-winning song written by Terry Britten and Lyle Graham, as performed by Tina Turner, took the airwaves by storm … “What’s love got to do, got to do, got to do with it? What’s love but a second-hand emotion.” i can remember when i first heard it on the radio … i was in Charlotte, N.C., riding somewhere in the heat of the day tapping my foot to a tune with a catchy lyric and beat. In my mind jumped the thought, “What do they mean, “what’s love got to do with it? It’s got everything to do with everything.” i remember thinking that surely someone with a bitter and disappointed heart must have written those lyrics in order for them to think love was a secondhand emotion. Maybe that was the point.

If you buy something “second hand” you’re buying used goods. But maybe another angle on what the song is talking about is, feeling something you’ve felt before, nothing went right, and it’s not so special anymore. Or it’s possibly saying, for women who are abused, what does love have to do with letting someone treat you like that? Many women stay in abusive relationships claiming that they “love him”, yet they keep being there where the other person is causing emotional and physical harm….what’s love got to do with the decision to stay in something like that? i wonder, is that really love as God intended it as a fruit of the Spirit … just something which keeps you chained, or only something you felt before and now it’s not so special? Nope, that’s not the Lord’s heart at all.

Today, i think to myself, “second hand emotion? Really?!” Is that all it is to so many, just an emotion, feelings … nothing more than feelings? What a silly idea to think love is just a bystander at a bus stop somewhere and then has to sit at the back like some insignificant thing … a secondhand emotion only worthy of minor mention when nothing else is going on.

Fruit of the Spirit. Love … is it really a secondhand emotion, and more importantly… is it just an emotion? How can something which is sometimes considered “second hand” according to worldly standards, be a top priority with God and necessary for the repair of the universe?

The three fountains of God’s heart are love, joy, and peace. He oozes all three at a steady rate throughout the universe, consistent and repeatable, forever.

We all want love, need love … always looking for love, and when we find it we drink it in like greedy, hungry souls. We want to talk about love but often can’t find the words to feel as though we’ve expressed ourselves well. For some “Love” is a form of money paid for work or service that apparently justifies treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work. Love in our society is another English word that we’ve used everywhere, so often, it seems to have lost its value.

i want to know what God has to say. i think it’s more important than anything else in the universe and more valuable than all important worldly things combined.

Come go with me and let’s see what God has to say about the first fruit of the Spirit, thereby readjusting our hearts to match His.

People the world over love all kinds of things. Isaac loved savory meats in Genesis 27:4, some love pleasure according to Proverbs 21:17, yet others love silver, money, gifts, and attention. Hollywood has proven, that to many, if people give you their attention it must mean they love you, and all that attention is such an addiction, many will do anything for it. Some even say they love death. Santa Muerte is not holy. Not. God alone is Holy, He alone is worthy of prayer and our affections and not another.

There are righteous things to love also … Love the Lord with all your living, breathing, and feeling, love righteousness, justice, the truth, and peace to name a few. In Psalm 45, the writer says God loves righteousness and hates wickedness, and in Psalm 52, David accuses another man of loving evil more than good and loving lying rather than speaking righteousness.

Some say they “love”, what they call “their work” because it pays well, it’s emotionally satisfying, and pleasurable. For others, the goal is not to find work they “love”, but to make enough money to not have to work at all, then, yes then they will love what they do. Maybe.

We love a multitude of things in this world. For me … i love to chew, i just love good food and good conversation. i love the smell of fresh cut grass, cool evenings, sunrise and sunset, the deep woods, the smell of freshly turned soil, fragrant flowers, my wife, giggling children, little girls’ eyes, April showers, and the turning of the seasons, yet they are not in the least competitive with my love for God. Even though i love them all, does my use of the word “love” actually mean the same thing as “love” in the sense of loving God? It’s just a four-letter word in English, and as i said, we throw it around like we’re fertilizing the lawn, but often, it does not mean the same thing twice.

i must ask myself then, what do i love, and what exactly is this thing God calls “love” and tells us in Gal5:22 it is the fruit of our life in Christ, one of the elements of how we know we are in the fellowship of the saints? Is it the same love for the rising sun as it is looking at the sunlight in my wife’s hair … is it the same as loving Jesus for my salvation?

i believe we must be clear on what love actually is or else we will find ourselves lost in the pursuit of it, thereby losing our resolve. You know, we can pursue something so ardently for so long, we actually lose sight of what we’re doing it all for, if you know what i mean. When we chase after something without understanding what it is we are chasing, it easily loses substance and effortlessly morphs into other pursuits … some would call that rabbit trailing. Many times the Lord uses “love” as a verb, but my friends, it is more than a verb… to God, it is also a noun. To only leave it as an action item is a dangerous oversimplification in that if we reduce love solely to something we feel, we will miss love for what it is…. at its source. i don’t know this, but i suspect by love only being made a verb, it will likely make us Pharisees … meaning we can talk and act loving without actually loving … like kindness without compassion is duplicitous, love without devotion, mercy, and grace is deceit.

1 John 3:18, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” We can appear to be fulfilling that scripture without actually fulfilling that scripture, that’s what i mean by saying, “It will likely make us Pharisees” if we only see love as a verb.

The kind of love the Lord is and speaks of is glory, the radiant weight of His presence. As Viktor Frankl stated when in the middle of an exceptionally difficult external situation, “… even the angels are lost in the perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory.”

1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Love, as the fruit of the Spirit, is the core standard. It is God’s core standard, and all His operating procedures springboard from His love, and if we are in Christ then it must be our core standard also. i realize the world has a pretty different idea of love … i guess almost everyone has their own tailored version of what they think love is. But let’s be honest, as long as the idea of love is up to us, based on our experience, it’s always going to be just another worldly definition. Friends, we need a better standard than our own self-determined idea of what drives the universe. Romans 5:5, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

That He poured love out on us makes the Lord the right standard. God owned love before anyone else which, to me, makes its very essence exclusively His to give.

1 John 4:10, “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.”

i don’t believe that we would love anyone or anything if the Lord didn’t love us first. Oh sure, we may have some big-time feelings about someone or something, but the real deal, deep abiding, living love toward God would not have been possible without Jesus Christ. If He didn’t love us, then we wouldn’t be able to love Him. Because He gave it, then we get it, and if He didn’t give it, then we don’t get it. It’s pretty simple i think … Jesus is the answer, He is always the answer, and there’s never a time He’s not the answer, which is why all things come to rest at the feet of the Son. The love of God, as demonstrated by Jesus, is the crown of everything. His love is universe changing, demon defeating, earth re-polarizing, disease healing, and relationship repairing, Jesus is love and love is the answer of all answers, Both noun and verb altogether.

The world says love is an intense feeling of deep affection, but oh, how short sighted that is. Again, the world’s definition is from a worldly point of view and leaves God out of the picture. But when we add the Lord into the picture to get a better view, the world’s idea falls drastically short.

Everything our society does seems to be based on right and wrong, and then, ultimately, someone wants to debate what is right and what is wrong. Just like every other fruit of the Spirit, we must look above our feelings, over the top of the pulpit to see God Almighty as the standard and definition.

i recently heard a man say we need to change our thinking from the basis of right and wrong to being near God or far from God … when we are near the Lord He influences all we say and do, but the farther we get from Him the more the influence of a fallen world inserts itself, like a subtle, in opposition to God whispering campaign. Love is not a narrow legal system of right and wrong. All our conduct and decision-making need to be God-based righteousness, not judgment-based right and wrong. As long as we do all things based on right and wrong we are still doing the Law. Does that make sense? i mean, i get it, but i’m not sure i’m saying it well enough.

Either way, with God in the picture, love, as a noun and verb, is like medicine given or taken to counteract a particular poison, and to me, that poison is iniquity, transgression, sin, and death. Too many seem to think love is contractual … a list of agreements, do’s and don’ts, but once again it is much larger than that.

Look at the actual word itself because we really need to better understand what it is we’re chasing after.

The root Hebrew word for love is a verb and is used 208 times with its first mention in Gen22:2 of Abraham’s son “whom he loved”…it means to have affection for someone such that we breathe after the object of our affection, with that breathless devotion and kindness being like fragrant flowers whose bouquet fills the air of every breath we take. That is SO important, here it is again: Love, from God’s perspective, is to have affection for someone such that we breathe after the object of our affection, with that breathless devotion and kindness being like fragrant flowers whose bouquet fills the air of every breath we take. Now, you’ve gotta admit, that is a long, long way from Merriam-Webster Dictionary. More than a few times in my life i’ve been in the weighty presence of God and smelled intense flowers, grapes, and vanilla….we all smelled it of those who were there. Jesus is love – love healed the sick and lame, love raised the dead, love was kind to the desperate and the leprous, and gave His face to mankind … looking us right in the eyes for the first time ever. That says to me, with love as a Fruit of the Spirit, we should be a sweet fragrance everywhere we go … it should be the way we are, not just something we do or feel. Love isn’t an event, it’s a life-style. Like God, we must be both noun AND verb altogether because Love from God’s perspective is both a noun AND a verb, at the same time. The Father gave us the door of the cross to enter into His love. The first three letters of the Hebrew alphabet tell the story of love: The Father (aleph) sent His Son (beit), and by means of the Holy Spirit (gimel), makes an appeal to the poor and needy to receive the Love of God.

Isaiah 38:17, “… But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.” Interestingly, Isaiah uses a different word for love than in other places.

His word for love literally means that with God-love in our hearts and as expressed to others, it is not bound by law, but is free to walk in and out, filled to running over with divine grace and holiness … and right in the middle, in the belly of the word, is a prayerful rainbow. Love crowns us with the sword of the Spirit and decides it is fitting to be generous to run after the poor; it is uninterrupted and thrives in perpetual faithfulness. Love is more than feelings of affection, it is a covenant word. Love is the sound you make before you make a sound, it is giving of ourselves to others, reflecting kindness, compassion, and grace all through the house. And hidden in the Hebrew word for Love is mercy, grace, and hope for there is always the opportunity to return.

As a verb, you can see the action is in our heart posture toward God. The action of the verb is to reflect love. As a Fruit of the Spirit is about character and action, so is the heart of the Father about character and action. The noun for love is the same spelling except there is the Hebrew letter hei added at the end, meaning loves’ intent of grace makes opportunity for those who have wandered off … to come home. That’s so good i want to say it again, and maybe you could say it with me so your ears can hear what your mouth is saying … loves’ intent of grace makes opportunity for those who have wandered off, to come home.

Do you have real love in your life? If not … remember, the longer we walk with Jesus, the more apparent He becomes, and the more apparent He becomes the more we become like Him.1 John 4:17, “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.”

Stop arguing with your lack and turn God’s love loose to flow where it will. As long as we try and control how God applies His love, where and to whom, we will be the encumbrance against revival and renewal we so desperately look for.

Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

It is the motivation of Love to lift the burden of those who hoist the white flag of surrender and persuade those who have not yet abdicated their fortifications to come home singing the songs of returning to God. The source of love isn’t dependent on the loveableness of the one loved but on the one doing the loving. God’s love is not performance-based, we can’t be obedient or good enough or tithe enough to deserve it or obtain it.1 John 5:12, “So, whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life.”

We can’t “good” our way into Heaven, no more than we can “bad” our way into hell. The position of mankind and eternity is based on our acceptance or rejection of the Love of God. The Lord gives it and it’s up to us to receive it, letting Him live His standard of love right out loud.

Love sets forth a vision of the ideal life which is characterized by mercy, grace, and hope. Did you know that the three elements of hope are direction, goal, and purpose….well….love possesses the same three attributes…and how is that?….because the word for “hope” is hidden within the word for love. Love visits and heals the sick, gives to the poor, and offers hospitality to strangers. You know, i believe the Lord is the most hospitable person in the universe … He is, Himself, THE definition of love, He is Both noun and verb altogether. i believe, as Christians, we should be the most hospitable people on earth because of who first loved us. Love buries the dead as a mercy, and makes peace between God, ourselves, and others; Love is the ultimate reason for conflict resolution … and man, do we have lots of conflict which needs resolving.

A quote from John Piper’s book “Desiring God” … “Love is the overflow of joy in God that gladly meets the needs of others” Now right there … that is something we can get our hands around. An overflow of joy in Christ that gladly meets the needs of others suggests love is so much more than just intense feelings of affection. Everything the Lord does is right— the trademark on all his work is love, and according to Romans 13:10, love IS the fulfillment of the law, not abolished, fulfilled. Here, i’m going to draw a very distinct line …1 John 4:8, very plainly states that the person who does not love does not know God, for God is love. The Lord our God IS, once again, the very best definition of love.

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

The key phrase there is “God so loved the world, that”.

Just today i read something along the same lines in my thinking of love as not only a verb, but also a noun, THE noun of all nouns.

Even for those who feel they have no hope, God’s love can enter in and persuade that person to realize their lives are not ones of no consequence. The Love of God says “You matter, you are important, so much so Jesus died for you.” If we need to be more important than that, we delude ourselves that we need MORE … that God’s love is somehow not enough which is never true. The Lord is SO confident in His ability to love us back from the brink of destruction, that He staked the life of Jesus on His confident love. Amen, and think about it.

John 13:34, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

Ok, so check it out! A little lesson in grammar is to follow. Don’t let it throw you, just roll with it.

Jesus is speaking, as seen in “I give”, which is 1st person singular, present, active, indicative….meaning there is only one person speaking, the time is in the now, the Lord is the one taking the action, and what He’s saying is a fact, so pay attention.

The next important phrase is “you love one another”, which is plural, present, active, subjunctive, meaning not just a few but all of you, the time frame is in the now, you yourselves are the ones taking action, and in your action of love there are possibilities and potentials born. Let’s take the next important phrase, “I have loved”, which is aorist, active, indicative…aorist, meaning the time frame is without regard to past, present, or future, Jesus is saying He is the one who took action, and again, He’s stating a fact that He Has Loved Us with no regard to the past present or future and it’s a fact… forever. Lastly, we come to “love one another”….which is plural, present, active, subjunctive, meaning not just a few but all of you, it is now, now, now, we are the ones doing the action, and it is filled with possibilities and potential. Do you get it? What Jesus is telling us is that if we will love everyone else as He loves us… giving of ourselves with passionate reckless abandon, breathing after others as He pursued us, if we’ll do it every day in the now, now, now, now … there are windows of endless opportunities, grace rainbows, and fragrant mercy flowers of potential and possibility that will come out of it all, we will be blessed and God will be glorified.

Do you get it? Play that again and get your head around that. It is huge and life-changing.

1 John 4:16-17, “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.”

i love that, “…as He is so are we in this world”. You know, i think many folks just think that’s too good to be true. We’re so stuck on being no better than just an old sinner, we seem to never rise above being a sinner, and we spend our time thinking and worrying about being a sinner … regardless of what God says about us. Ok, you can be a sinner if you want, but what about the rest of what God says? Sadly, i think most of us know more about what we are not, what we don’t, won’t, and can’t than about who God says we are, what He says we do and will be. i have spent so many years of my life being less than the Lord says i am, and honestly, it hasn’t gone well. Friends, as Cody says, “i didn’t come this far to only come this far!”

In light of that fact, i’m going to try seeing myself like He does…. “as Jesus is, so am i in this world.” If the one who abides in love abides in God, then i’m going to believe i’m abiding in Christ, whether i feel like it or not, after all, Jesus is abiding in the Father, and as He is so am i in this world; Love has been perfected among us, Jesus is love and He is abiding in the Father, then as He is so am i in this world. How would your life be different if you tried not working your way to Heaven and simply took the Lord at His word? God went to a LOT of trouble to make a way for you and i, all the way to the shedding of His blood, maybe it’s high time we take Him up on His love that He’s extended to us. Do you get me? Amen.

The Holy Spirit is seen as a dove in Luke 3:22, then on each wing, there are nine primary feathers … nine fruits of the Spirit on one wing, and nine gifts of the Spirit on the other, and this has been the first of nine feathers on one wing of The Dove.

The topic is love, God’s love that has been shed abroad in our hearts, He is both noun and verb altogether, the breathless passion who pursued us all the way to Calvary. His love is the fragrant fields of singing flowers, the long harmonizing notes of the wind in the tree tops … maybe God’s love in your life is rising, like the early morning light … at first, it’s barely noticeable, but as it brightens, shadows give shape to the landscape until Love blinds you like a spotlight.

Thanks for joining me, drive carefully, let God’s love do what it does best, truly… love has everything to do with everything since the beginning. Amen.