Love Does Not Boast
The title of this article is taken from the fourth verse of the chapter of I Corinthians, and we are continuing the study of statements made about love.
The Greek word that is translated "boast" is perpereuomai, which means, I boast or I vaunt myself. The root from which it is taken from describes a braggart or vainglorious person: a person who has excessive elation or pride over his or her own achievements1. The focus of such a person would be inward, rather than outward. Love, on the other hand, is by definition outwardly focused.
When we carry out acts of kindness for another person, these acts may be motivated by love, but they may also be motivated by a desire to gain recognition. If we find ourselves frustrated by a failure on someone's part to thank us for something that we have done, our frustration may be a sign that our motives weren't entirely based on love for the other person. In such a situation, it is very tempting to point out our deeds and the "love" that motivated them.
This is not to say that we can never speak to another person about what we have done for them. The problem comes when we are vainglorious, and the self-satisfaction we have is out of proportion to what we have done. Let's remember that when we love, we are doing so in obedience to the commands of God, and because of this, it is God that will recognize our obedience, and reward us as He sees fit, and in the time that He sees fit.
As this study continues, I've been repeating the statement that these qualities of love aren't qualities that love tries to exhibit. As with the other points that have been covered, love does not boast. If we recognize that our words or actions are designed to elicit a compliment or praise from someone, it should be seen as evidence that these words or actions have not been motivated by love. Boastfulness shows up in the heart before it is seen outwardly. If we search our hearts with God's help on a regular basis, He will make us aware of any such boastfulness. In the times that these things occur, let us remember that boastfulness is a symptom of a more fundamental problem, namely that we are lacking a facet of love.
Our hearts are the source of our thoughts, words and actions, so none of these things will show love if the love is not in our hearts. On the other hand, we can do right things simply because we know them to be right, while asking at the same time that God will change our hearts.
May the Source of love fill our hearts with love that spills out onto those around us. When this happens, it will be clear to us and to them that the love they receive is actually the love of God expressed through us. It will match His in every quality, and it will be limitless. As a result, we will love without feeling like we have been sucked dry. Instead, we will be sharers of live.
Next week we look at the phrase, "Love is not puffed up". Until then, I pray for the work of God in my own heart, and in the hearts of any who read these words. May God bless you.
1HelpsTM Word-studies copyright © 1987, 2011 by Helps Ministries, Inc.
Love is Kind
I'm continuing with the study of the fourth verse of I Corinthians 13, which states:
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant. —I Corinthians 13:4, NASV
Each of the traits of love given here deserves its own attention. We have looked at the patience of love: now we turn our attention to the kindness of love.
It is useful to consider the supreme example of love when we undertake any study of the subject. Scripture states elsewhere that God is love, and says here that love is kind. It is clear that we can see the quality of kindness in God's expression of His love for us. This is most evident in the sacrifice that He provided for our sins, where He showed kindness in taking our punishment upon Himself.
A friend of mine put it well, I think:
When we grow in love, our thoughts are kind. Our judgement of others is tempered by our love. Our thoughts, our plans, our reactions become kind because we love. This, I think, is the result of being loved. The better we know that we are dust, the greater we see God's love for us, the less we feel like being unkind.
This acknowledges the fact that the love in our hearts isn't put there by God in a way that is fully formed. We grow in love, and as we grow, the traits of love become more and more evident.
My first thought regarding kindness was that it means "not unkind". This certainly is true. If we are kind, there are words that will be left unsaid, and thoughts that won't be entertained, because they are not kind. To leave it there, however, is to omit a large part of what kindness is, and what love is. As followers of Christ, our lives are not defined by things that we shouldn't do, but by a broad range of things that we are able to do through Christ who strengthens us.
Here is a look at the Greek word for kind, as used by Paul in this verse. The word is chrēsteuetai, and is actually a verb which means, "it is kind". This word in turn is based on the Greek word, chréstos, an adjective that is defined as useful, gentle, pleasant, or kind. One who is kind, then, is someone who is taking action to provide something that is useful.
In a practical sense, a person who is kind will see the need of another, and fill that need. A common name for slaves in the Graeco-Roman world was Xrestus, which was alternately spelled Xristos or Christus1, and this name was based on this same word for kind or useful. This ties in with the idea of being a servant to the one that we love. We may need to sacrifice our own comfort on behalf of someone else in order to provide kindness, but if the kindness springs from a heart of love, then it will not be bestowed grudgingly.
As is the case with patience, it isn't a matter of love trying to be kind. Love is kind. If we find ourselves lacking a kindly disposition towards another, the first place to go to correct the problem is to the One who can fill our hearts with love. When that is done, our kindness will not be fake.
In all of this, let us remember the fact that every attribute and quality of love has been clearly demonstrated to us by our heavenly Example, and we have been commanded to love others as He loved us. Let us obey this command. Not out of a sense of duty or obligation, but because of our overflowing love for Jesus Christ.
1F. F. Bruce, The Books of Acts, 368
High Investment, Zero Yield
So far in our study using the text of 1 Corinthians 13, we have looked at verses 1 and 2. We have seen that the gifts of tongues, prophecy and faith all need the added ingredient of love. The pattern here is that Paul is using the highest examples of each of these gifts as the objects of his statements. Because of this, the reader can't come along and say that maybe more faith, prophecy or tongues would be enough to substitute for love.
Let's take a look at verse 3 now:
Even if I give away everything that I have and sacrifice myself, but have no love, I gain nothing. – 1 Cor 13:3 ISV
The things that Paul mentions here are generosity and martyrdom. In both cases, he takes each virtue to the extreme, like he did with the gifts mentioned in the first two verses. Again, I believe it is safe to say that if these things are of no value without love, the same qualities exercised to a lesser degree are also of no value without love.
The reason I mention this is because of the fact that we can lose a sense of identifying with the concept if we can't picture ourselves doing the things mentioned. To put this concept in "accessible" terms, donating to the church pantry or helping at a soup kitchen both need to be motivated by love in order to be valuable. Being a giver requires us to release something that we may otherwise have called our own, and it might seem that the act of surrender in itself will make our donation holy. The problem is, those outward actions could be motivated by a blind sense of duty, or the notion that having given, we can check one more thing off our list of obligations, and not worry about it any more. In other cases, giving can be motivated by a desire to be seen by others as generous, hoping that perhaps we will be noticed, and get a return on our "investment".
When this kind of motivation is applied to relationships, it is often accompanied by a kind of mental score-keeping, where we think: "Now that I've given you what you want, it's my turn to get what I want." If our giving is motivated by real love, we are protected from that kind of thinking.
Now, a few words on martyrdom. That word here is mine, not taken from this particular scripture. It is an interesting word, because it has taken on a little bit of a negative meaning when it is used sarcastically. I'm sure most of us have heard someone say, "Don't be such a martyr!" In the speaker's mind, the person they are addressing is making a big deal about how hard it is for them to do what they ought to do, pointing out their righteousness in fulfilling their duty. I can imagine that this kind of attitude might have been on Paul's mind as he wrote this.
Sometimes there is a physical cost involved in doing a good deed for someone else. We may be tired and sore, and push through the pain to get something done. An attitude of martyrdom, in the negative sense, would make us likely to point out our pain to the one our actions were supposed to bless. If this has ever happened to you, you understand that any blessing is stolen away by that kind of attitude.
We can look at Jesus as an example of someone who was generous and who didn't protect His body from pain. One picture that comes to mind is the times that Jesus fed a crowd. Since He was perfect, we know that He was not motivated by pride, or a desire to win some kind of popularity contest. He wasn't just looking for a way to make the disciples shut up and stop bothering Him. Instead, He had the welfare of the multitude and of His disciples in mind, and His love for them is what motivated Him to do what He did. He cared about their empty stomachs, but in addition to that, he cared about their souls. This miracle, and the others He performed were motivated by a desire to bring glory to the Father, certainly, but I think it is safe to say that He was also motivated by a desire to contribute to the welfare of those He served.
Some time ago, I wrote an article called, "Resurrection", which mentioned the fact that Christ's rising from the dead had to be preceded by His death, which in turn was preceded by His time in Gethsemane. This was the time where He had His struggle of will, asking His Father to remove the cup of suffering, if possible. As I have considered His obedience, and the suffering that followed His words, "Not my will", I have also considered the smaller sacrifices I am called to make on behalf of those that I love. I realize now that I was starting to see Jesus as a victim in this story, until a friend reminded me of Christ's words regarding His death:
No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father. – John 10:18 NASV
Yes, Jesus was obedient to His father, but He really did have the opportunity to make a decision other than the one that He did. One might say He wasn't "being a martyr". Aren't you glad Jesus isn't going to walk up to you when you get to Heaven, and say, "It really hurt when they put those nails in my hands. I can't believe you made me do that." No, His words to us will be, "Well done".
There seems to be so much more dignity in this than there would have been if Jesus had been forced to die. He actually chose it! Yes, He was commanded by God to die, but He CHOSE to obey! Through all His agony, He remembered His motivation, which was His love for us.
The Bible says, "Husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the church..." We may respond, "Ok. I guess if I have to, I will." If that is our response, then what we have isn't love, but a sense of obligation. Love is given, not taken. It may lead to actions of sacrifice, but sacrifice can be motivated by other things as well. If our motivation is something other than love, we are continually making a high investment with zero yield: to condense Paul's words, "I give ... I sacrifice ... I gain nothing".
If you are in a relationship that seems to be defined by these words, ask God to search your heart, to see if you are truly motivated by love. He sees your heart, and He knows how to repair it.
Remember, if you lack love, there is no amount of activity on your part that can manufacture it. Love resides in the heart, and the heart is something that can be changed only by the work of God. Love's only true source is God, and He knows how to make our hearts reflect the image of His heart. Remember, too, that the command to love comes with a choice. A choice to obey, or a choice to disobey. Our free will is given to us by God, and allows us to sacrifice our possessions and ourselves as an act of love, rather than out a sense of duty or self-promotion.
The three verses studied so far in this chapter have dealt with the fact that love is an indispensable ingredient in our lives. There are several verses following that will describe the nature of love. As we look at these, let us remember that all love is God's love, and that we are commanded to follow His example.
Sounding Gong, Clanging Cymbal
Introduction
Christ's love has great breadth, length, height and depth. We have looked at these dimensions of His love, but we can also look at some of the qualities of His love. This might be thought of as an exploration of the question of how His love fills up its dimensions.
The thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians is often referred to as the "Love Chapter". The first three verses identify love as being of more importance than the spiritual gifts that were the topic of discussion in the previous chapter. Specifically, it states that love is more important than the gifts of tongues, prophecy, and faith. Even generous giving and martyrdom are nothing without love.
The second section of chapter 13, verses 4 - 6, mentions some of the qualities that describe love. As we go through these verses, we have a kind of barometer that will help us to identify whether a certain action or attitude is truly love, or if it is something else.
From verse 7 to the end of the chapter, Paul speaks of the fact that much of what we know is temporary, but that this is not true of love.
In our previously mentioned exploration of Christ's love, which discussed its dimensions, we were challenged to follow the example of Christ. Continuing in this study, we are now looking at love in general. While we do this, let's keep in mind the fact that all love originates with God. As love is promoted and described in 1 Corinthians, we are still looking at the quality of Christ's love for the church: the love that husbands are commanded to emulate on behalf of their wives. I invite the reader to take a moment to read 1 Corinthians 13, and possibly to take a look at Chapter 12 as well.
A Lot of Noise
Now let's begin looking at the thirteenth chapter verse by verse. My hope here is to come away with something that will provoke thoughtful self-examination, followed by repentance where it is needed. During this process, let's remember that we cannot change ourselves on the inside: this kind of change is the work of the gospel. When we yield our will to God and allow Him to change our hearts, the evidence of this work will show in us outwardly.
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. – 1 Corinthians 13:1
Considering the fact that this follows a discussion of spiritual gifts in the previous chapter, we can clearly see that Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is stating that speaking in different languages is just noise, if there is no motivation of love behind it. As is often the case, however, we can look beyond the surface of the Scripture, and find that there is much more wealth to be found. This quote from Gills Exposition of the Entire Bible sheds some light on what the reference to a gong or cymbal might have meant to the first-century reader:
The cymbal was also used in the worship of Heathen deities, and the allusion here in both the things mentioned, is either to the tinkling of brass, and the sounding of cymbals in the worship of idols; which were mere empty sounds, and of no avail, as is a man's speaking with divers tongues, destitute of the grace of love; or to the confused clamours and noises made upon going to battle, just upon the onset, by drums and cymbals, and, hollow sounding pieces of brass ... to which confused noises the apostle compares the most eloquent speech without love.
The audience at Corinth was probably stirred to think of the pointless noise of idolatry, or the jarring noise of battle when they read this. Gill mentions "eloquent speech" in this passage, which brings me to take another look at the meaning of the phrase "tongues of men and angels". "Tongues of men" appears to be a reference to the spiritual gift of tongues, as mentioned before, but it also brings to mind the learned skill of speaking foreign languages. "Tongues of angels" seems to be a somewhat more uncertain idea. Some believe that it refers to an actual language used by the angels, but others see it as a way of describing "the most eloquent speech", to quote Gill again.
While speaking of tongues is given importance in some situations, it would seem that the trap that is more likely to ensnare us in our day-to-day lives is to engage in "eloquent speech" without love. I made this connection in my mind when a friend relayed how he was able to win an informal debate with a younger man, by using his eloquence, and his superior knowledge of the topic of debate. After the younger man left, my friend realized that he had not shown love in his conversation, only a desire to "win". To the young man, my friend must have been a sounding gong and a clanging cymbal.
To bring this home, think of the conversations that you have with those you are commanded to love. How often are we as humans tempted to prove that we are right? How often do you, the reader, give in to that temptation, ignoring the fact that some of your tactics may have the same effect as rolling over them with a steam-roller?
There can be an element of pride in our conversation if we are not careful. In some cases, we do need to provide loving correction of error, but it is very easy to say we are motivated by love, when our true motivation is actually our desire to justify ourselves, to show ourselves superior, or to put someone else down. How can we tell for sure? The motives of the human heart are subtle and sneaky, and we can deceive even ourselves. The answer is to go to God, and ask Him to search our hearts, to see if there is wickedness there. Go with a willingness to have God put His finger on pride in your heart, or any other evidence of a lack of love.
Eloquence and persuasiveness are gifts from God. The apostle Paul warned his readers not to allow the gift of tongues to be used in the absence of love, and I believe that the same applies to eloquence and persuasiveness. If you possess these gifts, use them with a loving heart, in obedience to God, and for His glory.
The Height of Christ’s Love
This is article four in the series on the dimensions of Christ's love, as mentioned in Ephesians 3:17-19. We have looked at the breadth, length, and depth of His love, and now I will offer a few thoughts on height.
In English, there are several similar but distinct meanings of height. One sense of the word is where it describes the distance from the bottom to the top of something. We might say that the height of a particular tree is sixty feet. Another sense is where the word describes elevation, or the distance of one thing above another, such as the height of an eagle above the ground. The first describes dimension, where the second describes distance.
Speaking of the vertical dimension brings to mind the depth of Christ's love again. It reached down, as expressed in the previous article, but it reaches to a great height as well, covering every level in between.
As we know, Christ's love found us all in a very low place: at enmity with God, having no means of paying our debt, and no means of recommending ourselves to Him. With this in mind, think of the heights to which His love has raised us. We are forgiven, and now we are called friends of God. It doesn't stop there, though. What does the future hold for us because of His love? The short answer to that question is "Heaven" or "eternal life", but these words in human language can't convey the height of glory and joy that we have in store for us.
Rather than trying to describe what cannot be described, I will write out some of God's promises for the future. As you read these, read them slowly, and reflect on the height to which we are to be lifted by the power of His love. Ask the Holy Spirit to impress God's love on your heart and mind in a way that you have never experienced it before.
But as it is written, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love him." – 1 Corinthians 2:9 ISV
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. – Romans 8:16-17 NASV
He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. – Revelation 3:21 NASV
The passage from 1 Corinthians tells us that the height to which we are lifted by love is beyond our comprehension. In Romans, we are reminded that we are to be glorified with Christ. Glorified with Christ! This is the Christ who is waiting for all things to be put under His feet! In Revelation, it states that Jesus will give us the indescribable honor of sitting in His presence, on His throne. In last week's article, we talked about depth, which looks downward. Here we speak of height. Allow the eyes of your heart to be drawn upwards. Up, past the clouds of doubt and fear, up to the limit of your spiritual vision. From here, ask Him to help you to see further. Allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the thought. His love is of infinite height. His love for me. His love for you.
The sense of height meaning "distance above", brings some other thoughts to mind. Johann Albrecht Bengel, the author of Exegetical Annotations on the New Testament, published in 1742, suggests that height, in reference to Christ's love, signifies its being beyond the reach of any foe to deprive us of it. This is supported in these passages:
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. – Psalm 103:00 NIV
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:38-39 NASV
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. – John 10:27-29 NASV
Thinking of height as a measure of distance as well as a measure of dimension reminds us that we are in a place of safety. There is nothing that can remove us out of that place, because of His love. It is interesting that the passage from Romans even mentions "height" as one of the things that does not have the ability to separate us from the "top-shelf" love of God.
I used to struggle with the fear of being snatched out of God's hand, even though I had read the passage that said that it couldn't happen. There came a time, however, that I was able through faith to accept the truth of God's word. I pray that fearful ones who read this will allow themselves to finally accept the height of God's love for them.
As in previous articles in this series, I would like to spent a few moments thinking about how we can follow Christ's example in extending a love that has a great height.
From the bottom to the top is where Christ's love takes us. From enmity to a shared inheritance. For us, this is a reminder to love our enemies. Many of us manage to show forbearance to our enemies: we don't carry out the vengeful things that we might feel tempted to do. Love, however, goes beyond just removing a debt. It exalts the one who is loved. To be honest, just thinking about this makes me feel like giving up. I, in my own carnal self, do not want to exercise this kind of love. It just isn't in me. And yet, because of the Spirit of God living in me, the power to love this way is there, and if I don't do it, it is because I choose not to.
Our love for others, like Christ's love for us, must also be a place of safety for those that God has particularly placed in our care. Parents, make it clear to your children that nothing will ever cause you to lose your love for them, and then stand behind your word with your actions. Husbands, you are commanded to love your wife as Christ loved the Church. Practice the kind of love for them that cannot be broken by "death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing". Humanly impossible? Yes. Divinely possible, and commanded of us? Absolutely.
The Depth of Christ’s Love
In this series of four articles, we are looking at the dimensions of Christ's love, as mentioned by Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians:
...That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.– Ephesians 3:17b-19 NASV
We have touched on length and breadth, and now it is time to look at the depth of Christ's love. When I think of depth of love in a human sense, I think of how much a person is willing to give up or go through on behalf of one who is loved. For us, that amount often tends to be quite small. We may sacrifice a little of our time, energy, or resources for a loved one, but it is a struggle to go very far beyond that on a consistent basis.
The words and actions of Jesus show depth far beyond the desire or ability of unredeemed mankind. He said in John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." We understand this to refer to a willingness to die for someone, and it does. I believe, however, that there is another dimension as well. Yes, dying for someone is a huge sacrifice, but what about laying down one's life on a daily basis? Did Jesus do this? Absolutely! I confess that I haven't given much thought about the fact that every day of His life on this earth was a sacrifice for Him. He acted as a servant, and yet the depth of this is made more real when we think of where He would have been if He hadn't loved us. He gave up his home in Heaven to come to earth. He came down, or descended to a deep place.
A quote from Expositions of Holy Scripture by Alexander Maclaren expresses this very well:
How far is it from the Throne of the Universe to the manger of Bethlehem, and the Cross of Calvary, and the sepulchre in the garden? That is the depth of the love of Christ.
Earth, from the perspective of Heaven, is a place of infinite depth, and yet our Lord descended further. The grave, from the perspective of Earth, is also a place of infinite depth. Jesus descended to this place as well. From Heaven to the grave: what incredible depth Christ love has!
It is hard for our minds to comprehend infinity, or even to comprehend things that are overwhelmingly large or profound. Because of this, it is sometimes helpful to put it in terms that are personal. Christ's love goes deeper than my worst sin. Now while this is fortunate for me, to put it mildly, what does it mean to you? Christ's love goes deeper than your worst sin. Yes, even that one that makes you cringe when you think of it.
Jesus died for our sins, but He also suffered for our infirmity. Whether it is physical sickness, emotional fragility, or spiritual weakness, no matter how profound and low our infirmity, Christ's love goes deeper. In the eloquent words of Corrie ten Boom, "There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still." When we are in the deepest pit, it can be a struggle to maintain faith in the truth of this, and yet it is true. Always.
Depth carries with it a sense of stability. The foundation of a building goes down, and prevents it from being shaken. In a sense, the building becomes part of the earth. Christ's love for us goes to the bottom of His heart, and is an inseparable part of His nature. The scriptures themselves tell us that God is love.
The depth of Christ's love, then, can be illustrated in the distance He descended, the fact that no sin is too low to be forgiven, that no pit is too deep, and in the fact that an infinite being loves us from the bottom of His heart.
Before reading on, I encourage you to take whatever time is necessary to allow these thoughts to sink in a little. Christ's love for humanity–for you–is DEEP!
After having been encouraged by the depth of Christ's love, let us be challenged by the fact that we are to follow His example. Hey! Wait a minute here, you might say. We've been looking at the infinite here. How can I, a finite human, follow an infinite example?
The answer to this lies in the fact that as believers in Christ, we have His Spirit living in us. When Paul speaks of the fruit of the Spirit in his epistle to the Galatians, the first thing he mentions is love. Love, then is part of the fruit that is borne by the Spirit of God in our lives. Since this love is borne of the spirit, it has the same nature and quality that it had when it was demonstrated in God the Son, Christ our Example. Whether this love is demonstrated or not depends on our choice. God has commanded it, and He has empowered us for it.
Our love, like Christ's, should show a willingness to descend without limit to rescue someone we love. We must be willing to die, either a physical death, or the death of our personal desires.
Our love, like Christ's, should go deep enough to cause us to show forgiveness for sins of others that have hurt us. Remember that Christ died for these particular sins, and offers forgiveness for them.
Our love, like Christ's, should conquer all: weakness, fear, pain and hate were not enough to win out over His love. These things will not win over the love borne by the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
Our love, like Christ's, should go to the bottom of our hearts and to the core of our being, becoming an integral part of who we are, just as it is for Him.
As the challenges are laid out here, consider how they can be applied in personal ways. The details will not be the same for you as they are for someone else, but there will be application. Allow God to work in you to make you willing to love as deeply as Christ loved. It will probably be painful: it was painful for Christ. He did it, though, "...for the joy that was set before Him..." I believe that as we follow His example, we too have joy set before us.
The Breadth of Christ’s Love
Let's continue to explore some of the aspects of Christ's love. In the previous article, entitled "He Loved First", I wrote about the fact that God's love for us preceded our love for Him. While this is true, we can go further, and say that God's love for us had no beginning, and will have no end. We might think of this as the "how long" dimension, or the length of His love. For me, this brings to mind a passage in Ephesians:
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. – Ephesians 3:14-19 NASV
This is a somewhat lengthy passage to quote, but I wanted to include context before focusing in on the particular point I was interested in. To paraphrase, Paul is praying that God would give the reader power to comprehend the greatness of Christ's love, in several dimensions: breadth, length, height and depth. He is praying for the Ephesians to have the power to grasp something that surpasses knowledge. How's that for audacity? I'll follow that with my audacity by tackling the subject myself. Paul, after all, was an apostle, who met Christ Himself face to face. Who am I to speak on such things?
My confidence rests in the same Spirit of God in whom Paul placed his confidence. While he recognized the love of Christ as surpassing knowledge, he knew that the Holy Spirit could teach us about it. The word that is translated "comprehend" comes from a Greek word that means to lay hold of, or seize. With this in mind, let's take a look at another one of the dimensions of Christ's love, asking for His Spirit's power to grasp it. We've touched briefly on length; let's look now at breadth.
While I'm sure that the dimension of breadth may have other possible meanings, it seems reasonable to associate it with the scope of Christ's love. To clarify, if someone loves his family members and no one else, we might say that his love has a narrow scope. It can certainly be stated that Christ's love has a broad scope.
One example is the often-quoted verse, John 3:16. "For God so loved the world..." This describes the love of God the Father, but the love of God the Son, Jesus Christ is demonstrated by His action. When Christ died, He died for sinners. He did this in spite of the fact that in His flesh, He didn't want to. Christ died for the Jews, the subjects who looked and waited for a king, but rejected Him when He came. Christ died for the Greeks and the Romans, who were bought by His blood, and adopted into His family.
Jesus loved a fisherman named Peter, a woman caught in sin, a Samaritan from the "wrong side of the tracks", and a tax collector named Zacchaeus. He died for the soldier who scourged Him, for the thieves between whom He was crucified, and for the one who swung the hammer and nailed Him to the cross. He showed His love to me when He sweat the drops of blood in Gethsemane, and for you when He said, "Not My will, but Thine be done."
What amazing love! What broad love! We are so immeasurably blessed to be the recipients of this love. If it had been just long and not broad, it might have included someone else, but excluded us. Take a moment, and allow this to sink in. Reach out with your heart and "grasp" it.
And now, as we think with gratitude on what we have received, let us remember that we are to follow Christ's example, as stated in 1 Peter 2:
For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously... – 1 Peter 2:21-23 NASV
Christ, who was perfect, suffered unjustly, and did not revile or threaten. As mentioned earlier, this is evidence of His love for all humanity, and as He showed this by His actions, He was setting an example for us to follow. To make this practical, let's look at the examples of Christ's love that were cited above, and the responses they should inspire in us.
Peter did a good job of following, some of the time, but we know that he betrayed Jesus. Love the friend who turns his back on you in a moment of weakness. The woman caught in adultery committed a sin that Jesus, being sinless, would never commit. Love the one in your life who is tempted in ways that you are not. Jews didn't associate with Samaritans. Love the person who has a social standing different from your own. Tax collectors were despised in the time of Christ. Love the people whose professions are not held in high regard in our time.
And the person who hurts us when we don't deserve it? The ones near us who are being justly punished for wrongdoing? Someone who carries out an evil plan against us? Christ loved them: let us love them.
As I listed some examples of who Christ loved a few paragraphs back, I ended with me and you. If you would, think of "me and you" as covering the people who live in your own home. I hope these people have not tried you in big ways, but even minor irritations over a long period of time can begin to weaken our resolve to love. Let us pray that God will show us how to broaden our love to include those nearest to us, those who are different from us, those who offend us, and those who hurt us.
Following Christ's example, and loving others will never pay back the debt of love that we owe to Christ, but it is a real and practical way to show our gratitude to Him for making His love broad enough to include us. Since His love is infinite, there is no limit to the growing room that we have.
Again I say, What amazing love! What broad love! We are so immeasurably blessed to be the recipients of this love. If it had been just long and not broad, it might have included someone else, but excluded us. Take a moment, and allow this to sink in. Reach out with your heart and grasp it.
Next, the depth of Christ's love.
He Loved First
With this article, I would like to begin a series exploring the nature of God's love for us. I want to understand His love for the purpose of knowing what it means to us, but also desire to gain a better grasp of what it means for us to love others. God is the source of all love, and the supreme example of what love looks like. Since the Love of God is such a broad topic, I will address some aspect of His love in each article, beginning in this article with the fact that He loved us first.
To begin, let's look at one of the familiar verses from Scripture that support this statement:
We love, because He first loved us. – 1 John 4:19 NASV
This verse makes the assertion that God's love predated ours, but it also helps to show the relationship between God's love for us and our love for Him. The relationship is that of initiator and responder, like the relationship between a suitor and the one he pursues, or the relationship between a parent and a child.
It is not uncommon for us to see ourselves as being the initiators of our relationship with God, but the fact is that even when we pursue Him, we are doing so in response to a prior action on His part. Even in the times when we are tempted to cry out and ask why God doesn't hear us, we need to know that we wouldn't be asking that question if He hadn't previously spoken to us.
Before moving to the next reference from Scripture, let's take a moment to look at what it would mean to us to have this kind of love for one another. It is a very human tendency to protect ourselves from risk, and because of this, we like to have other people show their love to us before we decide to love them without reservation. In some cases, we seem to be able to get away with this kind of behaviour, but there are times when our reluctance to go first can be damaging to relationships where selfless love is vital.
An example of this is in the marriage relationship. Marriage is often a series of mountains and valleys, and fallen human beings have the ability to betray one another's trust in small or large ways. In order for the marriage to recover from these betrayals, someone needs to be the first to extend the olive branch. If we wait for the other one to be the first, it seems safer, but if we are hoping to honor God's example of love, we will be willing to show love first.
Our reluctance to reach out to another is sometimes the result of the pain that comes when we feel we have been betrayed. This idea can lead us to another facet of the idea of God's love preceding ours:
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8 NASV
This statement shows that God's love for us didn't result from some quality in us that was sweet and lovely. We, as a human race, shoved aside the paradise that He created for us, and chose to break the only commandment given to us. After the fall, we went quickly to the situation at the time of Noah, where our thoughts were only evil continually. Even in God's wrath and sorrow, He preserved a remnant in Noah's family.
Even back at the Garden of Eden, and before, God knew what it would cost to redeem the human race. When Christ died, it was at a time when we were still in our sins. It was these sins that caused the Father to turn His face away as Jesus died on the cross. And yet … and yet in spite of the noxious stain that you and I carried, God still chose to love us.
To put this in a concise and somewhat understated way, we did not earn God's love. There is simply no way that we could have. In spite of this fact, God did love us. One result of this love was the gift of His Son. Our acceptance of this gift is the thing that cleanses us from our sin. Why would God show us such love? I feel that part of the reason is the fact that God was able to see us as we would become as a result of His love.
In a similar way, I believe that we can, by faith, look at those around us through the eyes of God: seeing them, not as they are, but as they can be. It is a fact, after all, that those that we struggle to love are recipients of God's love just as much as we are. When we love those who are easy for us to love, we are actually acting as conduits of the love of God. The same can be true for those who have hurt us or are difficult to love for other reasons. Our love for them is a miracle, it is true, but certainly no more of a miracle than God's love for us.
I would like to re-quote one of the passages above, but this time I will include the verse that follows:
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. – Romans 5:8-10 NASV
This passage, beginning with the "Much more", is one of the most comforting passages in Scripture, to me. Again, we are reminded of the fact that we did not earn the love that God has for us. As we continue, however, we are reassured that God's love is not capricious. I think of the times that I might have said in my heart, "Look what I've done now! How can God continue to love me?" And yet, He does continue to love. His love, which brought us from our place of sin to where we are now will continue to shine upon us until His work is complete.
We certainly desire to please God with our lives, but let us not fear the loss of His love when we stumble. The entire sum of all human sin was not enough to erase His love for us. He loved us first, because He chose to. He loved us before we were loveable. He will continue to love us after we have been redeemed. These truths bring glory to His name: may they also bring joy and comfort to our hearts.
Note: article 2 in this series is "The Breadth of Christ's Love".