Love is the Heart of the Matter

When Jesus spoke to the rich, young ruler He emphasized the last six commandments, which were summed up by Moses long before: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Leviticus 19:18. This man's conduct toward his neighbors was an outward sign of his lack of love for God. His selfish nature kept him from sharing his wealth with those less fortunate. He didn't seem to realize it is the Lord who prospers a man. God gives some the ability to acquire riches. In reality, everything we possess belongs to our Maker, and He expects us to use it to glorify Him. The rich young ruler refused to do this.

"And thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." Deuteronomy 6:5. The principles set forth by Jesus in the gospels were in the old testament writings of Moses. Why are they considered changed under the new covenant in the gospel of Christ?

Jesus came to show the Jews a way which seemed new and strange to them, because they had wandered so far from God's original plan for their salvation. Through the Messiah to come they were to be saved from sin. The sacrificial system was designed to point them forward to the spotless Lamb of God. His plan for their restoration was the same as it is for us--faith in God's power to save and keep us from sin.

“. . . Man needs a power outside of and beyond himself, to restore him to the likeness of God, and enable him to do the work of God; but this does not make the human agency unessential. Humanity lays hold upon divine power, Christ dwells in the heart by faith; and through co-operation with the divine, the power of man becomes efficient for good.” Desire of Ages Page 296.

The words of Deuteronomy 10:12 speak to all of us: "What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, and to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul."

When Jesus summed up the law in the two great commandments--love for God and love for man (Matthew 22:37-40), He didn't belittle the ten precepts written by God on tables of stone. They were placed in the ark in the Most Holy Place of the earthly sanctuary, and now reside in the heavenly sanctuary, according to the book of Revelation. God also writes them in our body temples--our hearts and minds (see Hebrews 10).

The fruit of love is revealed in the way we treat others. "Love worketh no evil to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." Romans 13:9, 10. Love is not shown by a little charity now and then. Motives for kind deeds can be selfish. But when a heart is overflowing with love for God, it will reveal a humble, meek spirit and result in warm, heartfelt love toward others. Yet, it is possible to show TLC without genuine love, to gain our own selfish goals, perhaps without fully understanding our true motives.

"Love (KJV--charity) suffereth long, and is kind, love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all thing, hopeth all things, endureth all things." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

Love is not based on emotions. Love is a principle that will be shown in the life of a genuine Christian no matter how he feels. It is practical in its application. It isn't turned off when someone treats us badly, for the love which God wants to put in our hearts will lead us to love even our enemies.

The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22, 23 begins with love, which is tied in with all the other fruit. Love is progressive--we grow in love. Our capacity becomes greater and our understanding richer. Our goal is to reflect Christ's image fully, and when we do, we will have the compassion for men He always possessed. The light of heaven will shine out from us.

“Love is the basis of godliness. Whatever the profession, no man has pure love to God unless he has unselfish love for his brother. But we can never come into possession of this spirit by trying to love others. What is needed is the love of Christ in the heart. When self is merged in Christ, love springs forth spontaneously. The completeness of Christian character is attained when the impulse to help and bless others springs constantly from within--when the sunshine of heaven fills the heart and is revealed in the countenance.” Christ’s Object Lessons Page 384.

Self must die before Jesus is able to show His love through us. Then the law of love will control us. A humble, contrite spirit will compel us to glorify God and not ourselves. We will give to Him the credit for everything good we might accomplish. We'll not take a particle for ourselves.

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with the fulness of God." Ephesians 3:17-19.

The fullness of God's love in our lives and hearts is something worth yearning for. It's worth any sacrifice we need to make to obtain it. In fact, the only thing God requires of us to give up is our carnal or sinful natures and those pet sins, which are harmful to us anyway. His love will fill us with peace, joy, and satisfaction. What else could we need to be happy?

Our Saviour loves us so much He is willing to do the hard part in helping us to gain salvation. The risk He took by coming to earth, living a sinless life by faith in His Father, and dying for us, reveals His willingness to do everything necessary to save us from our sin. Christ loved the church, "and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water, by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Ephesians 5:25-27.

When Christ dwells within us there is a "work of faith and a labour of love" (1 Thessalonians 1:3) flowing out from our hearts to others. We cannot force such love, but the nearer we draw to Christ, through study of His word and prayer, the more natural this love will become. We need the "divine nature" of Christ mentioned in 2 Peter 1:4. When we truly have His nature in us, He guides every impulse to love others in an unselfish way. This life completes Christian character.

“‘The prince of this world cometh,’ said Jesus, ‘and hath nothing in Me.’ John 14:30. There was in Him nothing that responded to Satan's sophistry. He did not consent to sin. Not even by a thought did He yield to temptation. So it may be with us. Christ's humanity was united with divinity; He was fitted for the conflict by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And He came to make us partakers of the divine nature. So long as we are united to Him by faith, sin has no more dominion over us. God reaches for the hand of faith in us to direct it to lay fast hold upon the divinity of Christ, that we may attain to perfection of character.” Desire of Ages Page 123.

"And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you. To the end He may stablish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints." 1 Thessalonians 3:12, 13.

Peter's ladder shows us the height of God's law of love as written in our hearts. "and beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity (love). For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:5-8.

John tells us, "But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him." 1 John 2:5. Perfect love cannot exist where the carnal nature rules. If self is alive to any degree, we cannot be perfect in love. Love fulfills, the law, because pure love shows self has died.

This does not mean we won't take care of our own needs and we won't care what happens to us. Since we are to "love our neighbor as ourselves," we will love ourselves. But not in a harmful way. A compassionate love for others is not self-destructive. It's just the opposite. We take care of ourselves with the motive of glorifying God and blessing others. In the process we are blessed. We will be blessed, healed, made happy by reaching out to others. God's Spirit controls the higher powers of the mind. Thus, we have control over our carnal natures, which destroy us when we allow them to control us.

Satan has too many people believing they know what's best for themselves. Only God who made us understands what is for our best good. He wants us to know and possess His love for others, and we gain this by loving Him with our whole being.

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." 1 John 2:15-17.

Love of self cherishes the temptation the world offers. Our desires for food, drink, sex, possessions, recognition, and knowledge are often perverted and sinful. Satan knows how to use our personal weaknesses to drag us down to death. But Christ gives us the victory.

"But this we know, we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and His commandments are not grievous." 1 John 5:2, 3. God wants to write His law in our hearts. And He will if we surrender to Him day by day, filling our minds with His word, communing with Him, listening to the prompting of His Spirit.

God's commandments can be kept, no matter what men may say, if we let Him write His law of love in us. Then will His love be revealed through us. The last message of mercy to a dying world is a revelation of God's love, revealed through the compassion of His remnant people. "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus." Revelation 12:17. This testimony will bear witness to God's boundless love.

Copyright 2000, Kathryn D. Search