The Measure of Love

There are more zealous souls than can be counted who are seeking for the ‘faith’ to operate in various spiritual gifts and capacities of the holy Ghost. I wonder how many however are seeking with top priority to live the totality of their lives in 'faithfulness.’ When it’s all said and done that is what the Gospel is all about. David spoke with grief of the overwhelming lack of faithfulness that he witnessed in his day: “Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men” (Psm. 12:1). Solomon found the same malady among God’s people in the next generation: “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?” (Prov. 20:6). Faithfulness is the root of everything God is about, and the same should be said of ourselves as believers in Jesus. After all, it was Jesus that the following was written about: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war” (Rev. 19:11). Every human relationship of every kind goes back to the original relationship between God and his Son, who were related to one another before anything or anyone else ever existed in heaven or earth (Prov. 8:22-30; Col. 1:16-18). Not one shred of any kind of unfaithfulness has ever at any time existed between Jesus and his Father. Their confidence and trust in how they feel about each other and what they will do for one another is so complete that it takes a good deal of faith to believe it. Nonetheless it is irrefutably true. That trust in one another was manifested in the greatest magnitude when God sent his Son to this world to live in absolute holiness and to suffer and die for fallen man. The Father trusted Jesus to fulfill his mission here to absolute perfection, and the Son trusted his Father to raise him from the dead and bring him back home. They both did exactly that, and as a result we now have the availability of the power of God’s Spirit and nature to work the same faithfulness in our hearts.

Any and every heart that has been purified by the power of God’s Spirit through faith in his Son Jesus, has been purified unto the capacity of being faithful to God and to one another. Jesus made it clear that it is indeed that capacity that he has appointed us to, and requires us to live in: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, AS I have loved you” (Jn. 15:12). In other words our calling is to love one another in the same exact way that Jesus demonstrated his love to us. And in the very next verse he let us know what that means in its fullest measure: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Jn. 15:13). It was not convenient for Jesus to lay down his life for us, but he was faithful unto death. He was faithful to his Father to fulfill his will, and he was faithful to us to make the way for our redemption. It was not convenient for God to send his Son here to suffer and die for us, but he was faithful in the love that motivated him to create us to begin with. Unlike God, a lot of folks have a love that is based on convenience and partiality. They will 'love’ you if it is convenient to their own purposes, but they will basically forsake you if they find something or someone that provides some seeming greater benefit to them personally. That is not the love of God, and the apostle Paul instructed us away from that kind of 'love:’ “Let love be without dissimulation [insincerity]” (Rom. 12:9). Jude described the condition of those who had fallen away from the love of God in his time: “These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage” (Jd. 1:16). Again it is not the love of God to show favoritism to someone for the sake of procuring something for your own personal gain.

The meaning of love to many people is scratching someone else’s back so that they will scratch theirs also, as it has been said. But the heart of the faithful loves because that is what it is about, even as it is what God is about (I Jn. 4:7-9). Faithfulness is a thing of the heart, and whatever the state of the heart is, the rest of the person will do. That is why the scripture exhorts us with the following admonition: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues [goings forth] of life” (Prov. 14:23). The heart that is kept truly pure will not lie to someone else, because that heart is faithful. The same goes for practicing any kind of sin. Any relationship among people where sin is found, simply cannot be a totally faithful relationship because retaining sin constitutes unfaithfulness toward God. And if we are unfaithful to God we will also be unfaithful to others, given the opportunity. For instance, it is not a faithful marriage relationship where someone does not commit adultery but secretly fantasizes about doing so. That is only a feigned faithfulness, and there is no feigned faithfulness between Jesus and his Father. If we want to be found faithful we must continue to “purify [our] hearts, even as he is pure” (I Jn. 3:3). We also need to compare our relationships to the relationship between God and his Son, who are faithful to one another in all things at all times. It is certain that being faithful is a matter of the greatest importance because only the faithful will be among the friends of Jesus when he returns: “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Rev. 17:14). Amen.