The Word - April 13, 2012 - THE LOVE YOU DON'T NEED

"Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do. Live your lives in love, the same sort of love which Christ gave us and which He perfectly expressed when He gave Himself up for us in sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 5:1) Phillips.

"All you need is love." So said the Beatles. If they were singing about God's unconditional love, their song would have had a grain of truth in it. But what goes by the name of love in our popular culture, has nothing about it which would identify it as love at all; in fact it is a deadly fraud.
Far from being "all you need," it is something you desperately need to avoid.

The simple command of our Scripture, (walk in love as Christ loved us) sums up the whole moral obligation of the believer in Christ. After all, God's love is the single, central principle that defines our entire duty.

In other words, true love is always sacrificial, self-giving, merciful, generous and patient.These and many other positive, benevolent qualities are what the Bible associates with divine love.

But notice the negative side as well, also seen in the context of our Scripture. The person who truly loves others as Christ loves us must refuse every kind of counterfeit love. Paul names some of these satanic forgeries, which include immorality, impurity and covetousness.

Immorality is perhaps our generation's favorite substitute for love. Paul uses the Greek word "porneia", which includes every kind of sexual sin. Impurity is another devilish perversion of love. Here Paul employs the Greek term "akatharsia", which refers to every kind of filth and impurity. Specifically, Paul has in mind filthiness, foolish talk, and crude joking, which are the characteristics of evil companionship.

God's love is not like that. Remember, the supreme manifestation of God's love is the cross, where Christ "loved us and gave himself up for as as a fragrant offering to God. (1 John 4:10). That, beloved, is the kind of love we are called to walk in. It is a love that is pure and peaceable. It also honors our Savior and our God!