LOVE

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is LOVE – 1 Corinthians 13:13

…and to brotherly kindness LOVE (2Pet.1:7b). Here is the Apex, Pinnacle, and Zenith of the “Add to Faith” Series! Becoming a child of God means to be born again spiritually (Jh.3:1-5). A spiritual babe, like a physical one, must grow: “as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby” (1Pet.2:2).  2 Peter 3:18 enjoins: “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.” We grow spiritually by developing a spiritual appetite in order to hunger and thirst after righteousness, and by feeding upon the word of God (Mt.5:6; Acts 20:32). This month’s key passage – 2 Peter 1:5-11 underlines the necessity and nature of such growth.

These are Steps to Spiritual Maturity. “Virtue” is the determination to do right. “Knowledge” is knowledge of God's Word, being the only source of what is right. “Self-control” is the application of that knowledge in your life using it to govern your thoughts and actions. “Perseverance” is remaining steadfast to the Lord and His cause. “Godliness” is being like God, as He would have you to be. “Brotherly kindness” is tender affection toward brethren in Christ. “Love” is devotion to God, Christ, and your fellowman which is expressed in obedience to God and service to man. If you are to be fruitful in your service to Christ, these things must abound in your life. If you lack them, you are blind as to what your life in Christ should be.

The Unfolding of Christian Character begins with Faith, and culminates in Love – the greatest (1Cor. 13:13). God has done so much for you: through His divine power, precious and magnificent promises, He grants you everything pertaining to life and godliness. Therefore, you must do your part with all diligence in ensuring the supply of these qualities. You must step out in the direction of developing these marks of maturity. As faith, excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness and brotherly kindness become the marks of your life, they will reflect the sacrificial LOVE of God in all areas: seeking what is best for others (brotherly kindness), showing piety in how you live (godliness), enduring through life’s trials (perseverance), setting aside selfish desires in submission to God’s will (self-control), increasing your understanding of God (knowledge), in order to fulfil the ultimate purpose of your existence (excellence)!

The Marks also represent the outworking of Faith in the form of Fruitfulness. If these qualities become the marks that characterize you and you continue to grow in them, then you will not be idle, useless or unfruitful. That is, you will be useful to God and you will produce good fruit, the kind the came from the intimate, experiential knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Essentially, that fruit would is the Fruit of the Holy Spirit described in Galatians 5:22-23: LOVE, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. God has done His part. You and I have to be diligent to do our part which mainly boils down to a life lived in obedient trust in God. Thus, faith, when understood as a deep contentment in the promises of God, always works through love. The way to become a loving person is to set your hope more fully on God and delight more fully in the confidence that whatever is encountered on the path of obedience is for our good.

The Love of 2 Peter1 is the same of 1 Corinthians 13 and of 1 John 4. The Greek word here is ‘agape’ – God’s kind of love. This is the type of love that God shows to us – an unconditional love. It is not just loving the loveable, or loving those that will love you back. No, it is a ‘no strings attached’ love; the kind which you also have experienced from God. The evidence of Love is devotion: you can tell what a person loves by what he devotes himself or herself to most passionately. What a person values most is reflected in his or her motivations and actions. Beloved, let Love become your Chief Motivation in Life!