24 May 2017
What Real Love Really Is
Romans 12:10
Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.
Love each other... The times we are currently living in show that a lot of people have no idea what “genuine affection” really is. Loving each other doesn’t mean that we agree on every single point or force others to endorse a certain point of view. Loving with genuine affection is how Jesus loves us – he just loves us anyway.
For Believers, our love for others is certainly genuine. We do not want anyone to die in their sins. There is no one that we strenuously disagree with or hate so much that we wouldn’t want them to know Jesus and be saved. This is what genuine love is. Pray for and encourage those in the faith to remain faithful, and pray for and encourage those who refuse to realize their need for it. Genuine affection has absolutely nothing to do with agreeing, endorsing, or making nice. Those things are superficial. Real love means that in spite of a person’s perceptions or actions, I want them to really know Jesus and experience how much he love us.
I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. (John 15:9-12)
Take delight in honoring each other... What does that mean? Honoring each other is a reflection of what Jesus’ kind of love looks like. We show others (whether we agree with them or not) that we love them as perfectly described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7...
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance...
Just doing one of these things is loving and honoring to another person. I’m so glad the “always hopeful” part is there. We discuss this in our Women’s Bible Study all the time. When people express resentment towards us, we are thankful that an option that we have to love them is just being hopeful that they turn to Jesus and get restored. If we don’t hope the best for others, then our affection is not genuine and does not reflect a desire for everyone to know Jesus and enjoy a relationship with him which is what real love really is.
Dear Lord Jesus,
Thank you for giving me the desire and the equipment to genuinely love others. I pray for our nation right now that is deceived and teaching young people that we all have to agree or we can’t get along. Thank you that we are not restricted to such a small way of thinking. Thank you that we can be with anyone and hope they seek you with all their heart and discover for themselves that love has nothing to do with agreeing with each other but everything to do with knowing you and being forgiven and loved by you. You are so good to me, and I just can’t thank you enough. And I love you, and I pray in your name, amen.
What Real Love Really Is
Romans 12:10
Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.
Love each other... The times we are currently living in show that a lot of people have no idea what “genuine affection” really is. Loving each other doesn’t mean that we agree on every single point or force others to endorse a certain point of view. Loving with genuine affection is how Jesus loves us – he just loves us anyway.
For Believers, our love for others is certainly genuine. We do not want anyone to die in their sins. There is no one that we strenuously disagree with or hate so much that we wouldn’t want them to know Jesus and be saved. This is what genuine love is. Pray for and encourage those in the faith to remain faithful, and pray for and encourage those who refuse to realize their need for it. Genuine affection has absolutely nothing to do with agreeing, endorsing, or making nice. Those things are superficial. Real love means that in spite of a person’s perceptions or actions, I want them to really know Jesus and experience how much he love us.
I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. (John 15:9-12)
Take delight in honoring each other... What does that mean? Honoring each other is a reflection of what Jesus’ kind of love looks like. We show others (whether we agree with them or not) that we love them as perfectly described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7...
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance...
Just doing one of these things is loving and honoring to another person. I’m so glad the “always hopeful” part is there. We discuss this in our Women’s Bible Study all the time. When people express resentment towards us, we are thankful that an option that we have to love them is just being hopeful that they turn to Jesus and get restored. If we don’t hope the best for others, then our affection is not genuine and does not reflect a desire for everyone to know Jesus and enjoy a relationship with him which is what real love really is.
Dear Lord Jesus,
Thank you for giving me the desire and the equipment to genuinely love others. I pray for our nation right now that is deceived and teaching young people that we all have to agree or we can’t get along. Thank you that we are not restricted to such a small way of thinking. Thank you that we can be with anyone and hope they seek you with all their heart and discover for themselves that love has nothing to do with agreeing with each other but everything to do with knowing you and being forgiven and loved by you. You are so good to me, and I just can’t thank you enough. And I love you, and I pray in your name, amen.
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