GLORY OF THE SON – LOVE

“He who does not love does not know God, for GOD is LOVE” – 1 John 4:8

The second dimension of the GLORY of the SON, based on the analogy of the sun, is LOVE: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for GOD is LOVE. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (1 Jh. 4:7- 9). God doesn’t simply have the quality of Love – HE IS LOVE personified! Love is an intrinsic part of His Divine Essence. Like the heat of the sun, which we feel as warmth, “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who was given to us” (Rom. 5: 5). His love is dynamic and outreaching.

Also, like the heat of the sun, God’s Love is unconditional. You do not ask for it before it comes: “He makes HIS SUN rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Mt. 5: 45). Even after bestowing His love on them, many still accuse God of being uncaring and unloving, but He simply winks at their feebleness and foolishness. This is the God who “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Love is a key dimension of the Glory of God, which believers are called into in this hour – the glory that gives its best to the undeserving.

It is the display of Love through His children that will dazzle the world: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have LOVE, one for another” (Jh.13:35). The Lord Jesus declared: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (Jh.13:34). The Glorious Church is not only about supernatural signs, wonders, miracles, power, prosperity, and the spectacular. No doubt, these are legitimate attributes of the Glorious Church, but they are additional. Love is the first emblem of true Disciples of Christ. Every other virtue comes under the unadulterated banner of Love: “He brought me to the banqueting house, and his BANNER over me was LOVE” (SoS 2:4).

As fundamental as Faith is to Christianity, it works only by love: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love” (Gal.5:6). Love was the basis of Jesus’ ministry of miracles. Many times, we read of Him having “compassion” upon individuals or multitudes, which was soon followed by a flow of His healing virtue. Compassion is an attribute of love: “And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick” (Mt.14:14). The display of His healing power was not for showmanship as it is in many circles today; it was not to ‘magnify His ministry’; it was simply motivated by compassion – by genuine Agape Love. His love was expressed as He “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil…” (Acts 10:38).

The believer in this end time Church must be willing to walk the same Way as Christ – in Love. We’ve been called to walk in the LIGHT and in LOVE: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. WALK as children of LIGHT” (Eph.5:8). Our calling to glory is a calling to Walk in the Light and in Love: “And WALK in LOVE, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Eph.5:2). Walking in the LIGHT and the LOVE-WALK are key dimensions of the manifestation of God’s Glory through His people. The LOVE-WALK must permeate all aspects of our lives: marriage, parenting, family, friendship, business, ministry, and leadership: “But above all these things put on LOVE, which is the bond of perfection” (Col.3:14).