For Love's Sake

“Love does no wrong to a neighbor [it never hurts anyone]. Therefore [unselfish] love is the fulfillment of the Law.” - Romans 13:10 AMP. Did you ever wonder why the New Testament does not often refer to the Ten Commandments? Because “Love one another” is the basic principle of the Christian life. It is the “new commandment” that Christ gave to us. “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another.” - John 13:34 AMP. When we practice love, there is no need for any other laws, because love covers it all! If we love others, we will not sin against them.

This explained why the Ten Commandments were not referred to often in the New Testament. In fact, the Sabbath commandment is not quoted at all in any of the Epistles. As believers, we do not live under the law; we live under grace. Our motive for obeying God and helping others is the love of Christ in our hearts. The key to understanding this and other statements about love is not so much a matter of emotion as it is of doing things for the benefit of another person, that is having an unselfish concern for another, and a willingness to seek the best for another.

This commandment is one of the most important commandments given to Christians and it's even relative today for us. This is not just another command that John, Mark, or any of the disciples or Paul thought would be nice to say and do, no this is a Command that God Himself gave to Moses for His people and Jesus came and He reminded the people what God commanded and the disciples and Paul wrote it down to remind us about it and God send the Holy Spirit that dwells in every Christian to help us to obey this commandment.

Paul talked about love in 1 Corinthians 13, describing what love is and that we only now partly and that love never fail but he also says even though all things will pass away there are three things that remain faith, hope, and love BUT the greatest of these three that definitely will remain is love. That's why this is the most important command for all Christians to obey. God is love and He loves us more than what we ever will realize. We take His love for granted just like we take all things for granted.

“Jesus Himself answered the Pharisees and Scribes who asked Him; which commandment is first and most important of all? O' how I love His answer to them, “The first and most important one is: ‘Hear, O I ISRAEL, THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL (life), AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND (thought, understanding), AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ This is the second: ‘YOU SHALL [unselfishly] LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” - Mark 12:29-31 AMP.

Then He quoted Leviticus 19:18, “You shall not take revenge nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor (acquaintance, associate, companion) as yourself; I am the LORD.” - Leviticus 19:18 AMP. Which emphasizes love for one’s neighbor. Jesus made love the most important thing in life because “love is the fulfilling of the law” “Owe nothing to anyone except to love and seek the best for one another; for he who [unselfishly] loves his neighbor has fulfilled the [essence of the] law [relating to one’s fellowman]. The commandments, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and any other commandment is summed up in this statement: “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor [it never hurts anyone]. Therefore [unselfish] love is the fulfillment of the Law.” - Romans 13:8-10 AMP.

If we love God, we will experience His love within and will express that love to others. We do not live by rules but by relationships, a loving relationship to God that enables us to have a loving relationship with others. “By this everyone will know that you are My disciples if you have love and unselfish concern for one another.” - John 13:35 AMP. The disciples’ responsibility was to love one another just as Christ had loved them. They would certainly need this love in the hours to follow when their Master would be taken from them and their brave spokesman, Peter, would fail Him and them. In fact, all of them would fail, and the only thing that would bring them together would be their love for Christ and for each other.

How many times did we fail Jesus? Every day in our life-journey we fail Jesus and our neighbor because we all are so concern about our own lives that we don't see when someone is in need of some love or a smile. We fail to obey the most important, simplest, and even easiest commandment to love one another as you love yourself that's not so hard to love, love comes naturally when you love Jesus and is in a relationship with Him. It's the love for Jesus that makes us able to love another as we love ourselves. It is love that is the true evidence that we belong to Jesus Christ.

“The one who loves and unselfishly seeks the best for his [believing] brother lives in the Light, and in him, there is no occasion for stumbling or offense [he does not hurt the cause of Christ or lead others to sin].”- 1 John 2:10 AMP. It is easy to talk about Christian love, but much more difficult to practice it. For one thing, such love is not mere talk. For a Christian to say (or sing!) that he loves the brethren while he actually hates another believer is for him to lie. In other words (and this is a sobering truth), it is impossible to be in fellowship with the Father and out of fellowship with another Christian at the same time. This is one reason why God established the local church, the fellowship of believers. “You can’t be a Christian alone”; a person cannot live a complete and developing Christian life unless he is in fellowship with God’s people.

The Christian life has two relationships: the vertical (Godward) and the horizontal (man-ward). And what God has joined together, man must not put asunder! And each of these two relationships is to be one of love one for the other. When true Christian love flows out of our hearts, we will have a greater understanding and perception of spiritual things. This is why Paul prayed that our love may grow in knowledge and perception, “And this I pray, that your love may abound more and more [displaying itself in greater depth] in real knowledge and in practical insight, so that you may learn to recognize and treasure what is excellent [identifying the best, and distinguishing moral differences], and that you may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ [actually living lives that lead others away from sin];” - Philippians 1:9-10 AMP.

A Christian who loves his brother is a Christian who sees more clearly. Christian love is a practical thing; it applies in the everyday affairs of life. to love other Christians means to treat them the way God treats them—and the way God treats us. Christian love that does not show itself in action and in attitude is spurious “Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]. Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening].”

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 AMP.

The commandment “Love one another” becomes new to us in our own day-by-day experience. It is not enough for us to recognize that it is new in emphasis and say, “Yes, love is important!” Nor is it enough for us to see God’s love exemplified by Jesus Christ. We must know this love in our own experience. The old commandment “Love one another” becomes a new commandment as we practice God’s love in daily life. It is a life of active love in Christ. This means forgiveness, kindness, longsuffering. But it also means joy and peace and victory. The love life is the only life because it is the life that is real! Love one another. Be blessed Shalom.