Love- Part IV

Pastor Ryan Binkley 

5 minute read

There’s a story about the Disciple John that says when he was in his old age he would be led by the hand into gatherings of believers. Every week he would utter these words with delight, “Little children, love one another.” Meeting after meeting, he would repeat the same phrase, until one day a frustrated disciple asked, “Master, why do you always say this?” He replied, “Because it is the Lord’s command, and if this only is done, it is enough.”

It’s amazing how easy this is to understand – that the root of all Jesus’ commands is grounded in love. It is the highest Christian virtue, and it’s repeated over and over in the New Testament.

I believe the more we understand God’s love, the stronger our own love grows. It’s easy to separate God’s love from human love, but the truth is all love is born of God. In fact, God can’t be separated from the idea of love because God is love. We find that truth once again in the words of Disciple John:

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

1 John 4:7

So, if God is love, and we have God in us as believers, why do so many of us fail to love others? The answer is none of us, this side of heaven, are operating in the fullness of God’s design for us. None of us are perfect; not yet anyway. You see, God’s love is constantly perfecting us, and when a new crack appears in the foundations of our spirit, God is quick to appear to begin to perfect our sinful nature. We’re being renewed daily!

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.”

1 John 4:13

That verse is pretty clear, but sometimes, in my less than perfect moments, I try to find some wiggle room. God says to love one another, but who exactly is this “one another”? Is it my family, my friends, my church buddies? Whom do I have to love, and whom do I get a pass on?

Scripture makes pretty clear what God’s idea is of “one another” in the famous story of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 12. While I could simply share the passage in its entirety and call it a day, I’m going to pull out and focus on some key principles to help clear up whom exactly it is we are commanded to love.

1)    THOSE THAT YOU ARE CONNECTED TO

The Good Samaritan had no other connection to the man left injured on the roadside other than that he too was walking down that road. The only invitation we as believers need to extend a loving hand is the ability to reach the person near us.

2)    THOSE THAT YOU ARE DISCONNECTED TO

While the man who was beaten may have been physically close to the Samaritan, they were culturally and socially disconnected. The Levite and the Pharisee who passed the injured man by were the leaders of his community. They were the ones who we would think owed the injured man love. But it wasn’t they who are the heroes of this story. It is the Samaritan, who owed the injured man nothing and still showed him love.

3)    THOSE THAT YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE CONNECTED TO

Not only were the Samaritan and the injured man disconnected, but their people were not at all neighborly to one another. One could go so far as to say that they were enemies. If the situation were reversed, it’s all too likely that the injured man would’ve passed the Samaritan by. The Samaritan knew this, and still he showed divine love to another. He chose to see as his neighbor one who would have chosen to see him as an enemy. Why? Because God is love, and when we let ourselves be led by Him, we know that everyone is our neighbor.

“For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Galatians 5:14