Warriors of Love
Blood dripping down from the pierced brow, hands, feet; the wounded mangled back. Water gushing from holes in His sides. This is love. This is the "deep magic," to borrow from CS Lewis.
By too much common usage, we have elevated "like" to the status of "love" and thereby diminished the power and depth of love in the minds of humanity. "I love your hair; I love your outfit; I loved that pizza; I loved that movie;" on and on ad nauseam.
There really is no comparison between the two words, and I pray that we can fully grasp in our hearts and minds what love really means; what the "deep magic" really is.
God's word contains hundreds of references to love and what it means. Jesus demonstrated and told us what love is. In John 14 Jesus is patient with the disciples when it is clear that they still did not have a grasp on Who He truly was.
Jesus was so kind to so many people on so many occasions. Children flocked to Him because they are drawn to kindness. An instance that stands out to me is in John 4 when He meets the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. She, like myself, was a woman of many sins, but in His loving kindness He taught her and offered her His living water.
Jesus was not envious of power and fame. He saw through the false sense of security what those bring. He is the King of Kings and has no need of any earthly accolades. He only desires our hearts. Instead of being born in a palace, He came in humility as a little helpless babe born in a manger to be raised by a young carpenter and his wife. A couple of no extraordinary distinction in their culture.
When being flogged, ridiculed, and questioned by religious and governmental authorities, Jesus chose silence to some and civil straightforward answers to others. Never rude or condescending.
He could have called 10,000 angels to rescue Him when Satan tempted Him. He could have decided that the cross was too much to bear. Instead He said, "Not my will, but thine be done."
What were Jesus' last words to the adulterous woman in John 8? "Neither do I condemn thee, go on your way and sin no more." And what were the words of His prayer on the cross recorded by Dr. Luke? "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."
The NLT Study Bible has a commentary on 1 Corinthians 13:
"Jesus speaks of loving one's neighbor as the second most important of the Old Testament commandments (Mark 12:31 ). Love summarizes the entire OT law (Matthew 7:12; Matthew 9:9-13; 12:1-13; Romans 13:8-10 ). Jesus criticized the Pharisees for their failure to show love (Matthew 9:13; 12:7; 23:4). Love is the mark of a true follower of Jesus (John 13 :34-35 in ) and of an authentic experience of God (1 John 2:9-11; 3:11-18; 4:7-21).
For Paul, love is more important than any of the spiritual gifts and the most important virtue. Love "binds us all together in perfect harmony" (Colossians 3:14). Without love, ministry has limited value (13 1 - 3). Paul summed up the whole of the Christian ethics as "faith expressing itself in love" (Galatians 5:6). Love is the central ethical expression of Christian faith, the primary fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22), and one of the most important motivations for ministry.
The most important thing for believers to value and seek is to become a faithfully loving person.
Who was the greatest warrior in all of civilization's history? Jesus of course! He conquered death and hell and He did it because of His great love for us. Love was the motivating power behind that phenomenal victory! We are called to follow Jesus and emulate Him. Therefore, we are mandated to be Warriors of Love!
Lhea Beach
