LOVE
GOD’S LOVE FOR MAN AND MAN’S LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER
John 4: 7-8, 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 1 John 3:17-19
Love has a lot of meaning. It can be referred to as “a profound and caring affection towards someone.”. God loves man and He also encourages man to love one another. Jesus when analyzing the ten commandments classified the laws into two major ones. When Jesus was asked about the laws in Mark 12:29-31, Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Everything God does or gives us is as a result of the love He has for us and He expects us to reciprocate and replicate this love.
In John 4:7-8, a woman from Samar’ia came to Jacob’s well to fetch water. Jesus, with the view to teach her to care for fellow persons, asked her to give Him some water. Jesus did that not because He was thirsty, but it was to prove that man must extend the hands of love towards one another.
Also in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, Paul teaching about love states that anything done without the right motive is valueless. In his words, he says in “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” This underscores that people can be nice with a wrong motive. He urges everyone to be driven by love even in everything one does.
Also John taught in 1John 3:17-19 that, “But if any one has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth, and reassure our hearts before him.” In his words, he states that love is practical. It is evident in actions and not in words alone. Love must be sincerely done without expecting any gratification whatsoever.
In conclusion, love is the greatest of all things. All the commandments are predicated on love. If love reigns in our hearts and world, the society will dwell in peace and our world will be a better place.
Note: Learners should give examples of how they can show love.
Unprecedented 