Godly Living: Love
As we began to discuss several weeks ago, we as Christians are to be like God in our lives. Of course, there are many things about God that we cannot imitate, but there are other attributes in which we share to a much more limited degree. We talked about holiness and the fact that we are to be holy— as holy as God.
Anybody could tell you that Christians should be loving. They should put others ahead of themselves. But what does it mean to love others? And how loving should they be? We find the answer in the book of Ephesians. Paul says, "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour" (Eph 5:1–2).
Paul says that we must be imitators ("followers") of God. We ought to be like God by living in a loving way ("walk in love"). An important aspect of godly living is love. The world and many Christians talk a lot about love. They say that love is important and that we should all love each other, but how do we know if we are really loving?
The verse continues with the ultimate example of love: Jesus Christ's sacrifice of himself for us. We ought to live in a loving way, just like Christ loved us and gave himself for us. He died in our place as a sin offering for our sin. He did not deserve to die— we did. He had not sinned— we had. But Jesus loved us and offered himself up as a sacrifice to propitiate God's righteous wrath.
Loving is giving ourselves for others. If Christ loved us and gave Himself for us, how much more we should be giving ourselves for one another! The standard for being loving is Jesus Christ; it is not "I'm more loving than most people" or "I'm loving most of the time" but "I need to be as loving as Jesus Christ."
How does this look in our daily life? We're all familiar with the previous verse to this passage, Ephesians 4:32: "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you." We must be imitators of God, and that means we must be loving one another, forgiving them when they have wronged us, just as God forgave us because of Christ's loving sacrifice.
Anybody could tell you that Christians should be loving. They should put others ahead of themselves. But what does it mean to love others? And how loving should they be? We find the answer in the book of Ephesians. Paul says, "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour" (Eph 5:1–2).
Paul says that we must be imitators ("followers") of God. We ought to be like God by living in a loving way ("walk in love"). An important aspect of godly living is love. The world and many Christians talk a lot about love. They say that love is important and that we should all love each other, but how do we know if we are really loving?
The verse continues with the ultimate example of love: Jesus Christ's sacrifice of himself for us. We ought to live in a loving way, just like Christ loved us and gave himself for us. He died in our place as a sin offering for our sin. He did not deserve to die— we did. He had not sinned— we had. But Jesus loved us and offered himself up as a sacrifice to propitiate God's righteous wrath.
Loving is giving ourselves for others. If Christ loved us and gave Himself for us, how much more we should be giving ourselves for one another! The standard for being loving is Jesus Christ; it is not "I'm more loving than most people" or "I'm loving most of the time" but "I need to be as loving as Jesus Christ."
How does this look in our daily life? We're all familiar with the previous verse to this passage, Ephesians 4:32: "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you." We must be imitators of God, and that means we must be loving one another, forgiving them when they have wronged us, just as God forgave us because of Christ's loving sacrifice.
posted by Mark Perry at 7:19 PM
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