The Bible maintains consistent emphasis on love. In its purest form love emanates from God in a special meaning, partly perceived by mankind, and partially practiced in natural life. (1 Corinthians 13) From God’s love we learn to initiate the command to love. Lasting love in a Christian is the offspring of God’s love. Human love tends toward reciprocity, implying mutual benefit and rights. Christian love emanates from the lover no matter what the object of that love is. So Christ would have us love our enemies. There is activation of will over emotions. Emotions are not primary in love but include them. In this we know that God has feelings.
The Apostle Peter commands Christians to love deeply. Implication is that one may love at various levels. If not, the command to love one another would stand alone without modifiers, like words deeply or much. The Apostle notes the concept specifically in context (1 Peter 4:9) that refers to loving little. Some quotients are low, followed at the convenience of the lover. Love is present, but lacks features of deeper love. Deep love has respect in it; care and politeness in it; patience and long-suffering in it; and, sacrifice and forgiveness in it. It is gentle. One can tell something of the depth of love in presence, in sounds of voice, in looks of eyes, in turns of gesture. It is highly detectable in an unselfish spirit of self-giving. We know deep love from the sacrifices of the loving person, and the maintenance of a high love quotient against all odds, even rejection. Deep love does not have common calculations in it, such as fifty/fifty. If, you go half way, I will go half way. This 50/50 mutuality may sometimes be invoked, used deliberately on the way to achieving good purpose, but it may also point to the context of deep love. It enters one’s nature.
The Apostle relates the point to a larger context than we might have anticipated. If the love is deep enough it reduces some of the negative impact of whatever is wrong, even sinful, in one’s life. He makes a startling statement that such love hides a multitude of sins. (4:8) Deep love of a mate helps heal infidelity reducing the impact of wrong on all parties. The deep love of a parent for the prodigal achieves a solution where no other solution for healing may be found. (The prodigal’s brother in Scripture loved, but not with the deep love of the father who welcomed the prodigal back with a feast, even honors.) Without the deeper love of God the human race would have nothing of salvation. A non-loving God would simply erase a broken system and create another. Such an approach is efficient in concept, and far less troublesome than bothering with repair of a loved but broken creation – which burden God has taken on.
When deeper love takes over, lovers become servants. These are driven to do good things for others. They want their love to live in others, to make them better persons. This service is generated from Christ by regenerating persons to love others. So, from God, the Christian becomes a conduit for God’s love (deep and much) to accomplish God’s purpose and will. There is hospitality without grudging, gifts of consequence to persons, words of meaning for solutions and comfort – which honor God in all. It has humility in it. In God’s grace, there is unmerited favor given. If I love in this way, I love because I am a loving person. A loving person needs no excuse for loving, but that love is so miraculous that it must be generated by God. So it can be, and will be, if the Christian seeks love’s greatest dimensions. Love deeply. It will make us the persons God wants us to be, and respects God’s nature to blessing. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020