I’ve been studying the nature of Christian love recently. I try to study where my knowledge is insufficient or personal character is lacking. It has been difficult for me to love others the way Jesus loved others. I still have a long way to go. Other people can be unlovable, and threats are to be dealt with! This is the perhaps one of the more common baselines of human thought.
Jesus calls us to transcend these primal dispositions and pursue a truly selfless love. We have many obstacles to overcome in our pursuit of the kind of love Jesus shows. The idea of “love of self” has been perverted by the world. We’ve all seen a saying that goes something like, “You can’t love others unless you love yourself.” While the underlying motive behind that saying may have been pure, it has been used to justify narcissistic tendencies or excuse bad behavior.
But what if I genuinely don’t love myself? How can I love my neighbor like I love myself if I don’t feel anything (or very little) positive about myself? Our understanding of biblical love may need to change a little. In all of scripture (and even in apocryphal and pseudepigraphal writings), love for our neighbors almost always translates to providing for their needs.
A person may not love self, but they will not starve their bodies out of hatred (remember, an exception by its nature is not the rule; a rule is something so often true that it is reliably predictable). They will not neglect the basic functions of being just because their view of self is not completely perfect.
Love does not necessarily have anything to do with how we feel about a person. It is sometimes called “the strongest emotion” but this is not completely accurate. There is an emotional aspect to love, often described as σπλαγχνον (splanknon, compassion) or οικτιρμος (oiktirmos, heartfelt pity), though this is not exhaustive. But αγαπη love is a decision to help another person, despite how we might feel about them.
What does biblical love look like? If we love our neighbor, we’ll feed them when they’re hungry, encourage or give affirmation when they need it, help them financially (anonymously, if we want to avoid God’s judgment), give grace to their weaknesses and mistakes, and overlook hurtful actions done to us.
Who are our neighbors? Our enemies, our friends, and everyone else who lives on this planet. More realistically, any other human in our proximity. If we see a need and have the ability to help, godly love compels us to help. When Jesus comes back he will ask, “Did you take care of my people?” So much more could be said about this, but next week we will look at the kind of love God wants us to have for him.
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