What's Love Got to Do With This?

What's love got to do, got to do with it?

We like to think of what love looks like in happy moments. Moments of laughter, a joyous embrace with butterflies, puppy dogs and unicorns. After all -

what’s love, but a second hand emotion?

But when Jesus states, in John 13:34, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another", I don't think he's imagining any puppies or unicorns. Jesus knows this is a difficult command to keep. If it was easy we wouldn't need to be commanded to do it - we would do it automatically. Jesus knows we are not always easy to love. In Colossians 3:12-14 it states:

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

Bear with - we don't have to bear with easy people. Maybe it would be easier if we could separate the person from the things they do. Maybe it would be easier if we remembered that others have to bear with us as much as we have to bear with them.

What’s love got to do, got to do with it?

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 is a very popular passage:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

How do we measure up against this standard of love? How often are we impatient or unkind? Maybe we do alright with not being envious or boasting, but then there’s pride. How often do we let bad feelings grow because someone disrespected us - “Oh, she forgot who I was!”, “Don’t let me have to remind him who he’s talking to!”? How easily are we angered? And the list of wrongs can just grow and grow. Even when we try not to let past behavior affect a present relationship, with the right spark we can let loose with that list and recall things from years ago that this person did, and why they are not worth the air it takes to speak their name! Love does not dishonor others - oops. How do we always trust that person who has been untrustworthy? How do we always hope and persevere when we’ve been let down repeatedly?

What’s love but a sweet old fashioned notion?

In Genesis 45, Joseph has not just survived the ill-treatment from his brothers, he has thrived. He has become the right-and-left-hand man to Pharaoh, and he says to his brothers:

7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. (Gen. 45:7-8)

We can condemn wrong, and love the wrong-doer. We can depend on God to help us do what God is calling us to do. We can depend on God to remind us that we, too, have fallen short, and bring us to a point of humility where we can see ourselves honestly, and see others as struggling just like we are. And we can remember Romans 5:8:

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

When we remember how much God loves us, and how much we don’t deserve it, we will realize that we can only do this with God’s help. 1 Peter 4:8 says:

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Even the sins we don't want to see covered, even when we'd rather use our hurt to hurt others, even when "love" is not the answer we want.

What’s love got to do, got to do with it?

Everything!