The Love that demands death

Jesus answered them saying "The Hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour." "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify You name." John 12:23-28

I suspect that one of the most misunderstood and potentially misleading subjects in the christian church is that of Love. It probably ranks as the most used word in both the christian church and the secular realm. And if indeed, it commands so revered a place in our christian experience, the evil one will do all he can to dilute and transform the meaning of this word. This is a scary thing indeed because so many of us use the Word love but may well invest wholly different meanings into it. In that way, when we translate our different meanings of love into action when we obey commandments like " Love the Lord Your God..." it breeds fruit that turn out to be different from what Jesus had intended.

I should first confess that I had not paid as much attention to discovering a biblical meaning of Love earlier in my walk and the consequences were painful no less. My nominal notion of Love was tied to a purely emotionally charged feeling, deep seated sentimentality and fervent attraction. Since feelings could not be kept charged for extended periods of time, my spirituality appeared to wane whenever I could not keep it within me. In search of these feelings and emotions became so central to my faith that I found myself begging the Lord in prayer to just feel Him. Whether I was changed and whether I commune in His presence was secondary, I just needed to feel Love. It was a very subtle trap for a young believer like myself. Yet before we denounce emotions, I should first state that emotional delight that comes from a true love of God is a real and common experience, indeed I should have concerned myself more with the truths that gave my emotions expression in Christ. That was when I began to learn.

What I found was how the world's definition of love, that was communicated by the media had found a foothold in our understanding of divine love. Actually, I suspect most Christians actually use the media's definition of Love to shape our understanding of christian love. Rather than discovering the biblical meaning of christian Love and using that to evaluate the way the media perpetuates the notion of love, we've often allowed the world to tell us how we should view love and for that matter christian love. Yet when I returned to the Word of God, Love in a biblical context seemed to call us to something different and far deeper. Looking at John 12 carefully, we see a a fuller and more complete picture of Love as the Lord views it.

For one, true christian love is shaped by the death of its Saviour and His glory through it. More than just an emotion, it demands the mind, body, soul and strength to revel in this One great reality. That Christ died in place of mankind who deserved wrath from God, makes our understanding of God's love a whole one. This Love that is demonstrated and imparted to us, gives us a commanding worldview based upon the Gospel, leads us to a moral seriousness in our lifestyle and drives us to total and indescribable delight in Jesus. The Love based upon the Word is thus not restricted to an emotional feeling but instead consumes our mind, heart,emotion and strength through the power of the gospel. It goes far more than strong feeling.

What clearly is a fuller picture of Love brings us to the second point, that true love will hate anything that divides us from Christ. Take verse 25 and 26 for example. The mark of this transformative love/grace in our lives is a hatred for our life in this world. The aroma of wealth, fame and worldly pleasure no longer entice us and quite the contrary, our Love for God has given us a hatred for them. We're no longer bounded to them because of our devotion to Christ. In fact, we're dead to them because the Love for God has executed our attachments to them. More than just a strong emotional attachment to God, we've a strong emotional aversion to the world.

Lastly, true Godly Love will delight in following Jesus and emulate His concern for God's glory. Its true that only when we know Christ can we partake of true Christian Love. Everything else, or any other forms of love that does not stem from God is only a pale shadow. The Love that comes from God weans its possessor to Christ and the christian follows Jesus like a child. It grants a consuming joy to the christian for he is where his Saviour is. He partakes of His Saviour's fellowship and is tenderly watched by His king. Indeed, how then can he desire and delight in seeing His Shepard's name magnified amongst the nations?

This is true Love, far more delightful when founded upon the truth, yes, even far more emotional for it liberates and restores and is so much more consuming because all of a man is transformed in it. Love, in Christ, is not feeble, it executes anything that will not conform to it and transforms the christian toward a real tenderness toward His God and all around Him.