Love is more than a feeling; it’s a commitment, a covenant. Love is not merely an emotion; it involves action, seeking the best for another. If we love Jesus, we endeavor to do what pleases Him. When a husband or wife declares, “I love you,” that should mean, “I really want to do all I can for your greatest good and satisfaction.”
The outworking of that love is a 24/7 task; personal dedication to that task involves emotion, but it is much more than merely emotion. Love in action is well set forth in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Love is giving. “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand” (John 3:35).
Another component of real love is doing right because it is right. Such is expected of the one loving: “If ye love me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). And: “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (John 14:21).
For Christians this love is also manifested by the love we show for fellow believers; it is a testimony to the power of the Gospel in our lives: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34-35).
Such genuine love comes only from the Lord God. “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). To have this real love means we must first accept God’s love, that is, to take His only begotten Son Jesus, as our only Savior to deliver from our sin, death, and hell. By God’s grace, may each of you know this genuine wonderful love. (Dr. Warren Vanhetloo)
