Love is Blind

Most people think that Love is blind because their eyes have been blinded and they cannot see the Love of God. People say that ‘love is blind’ to cover all the wrong decisions they have taken in their lifetime based on their own understanding.

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 

2 Corinthians 4:4

Loving Strangers

In today’s world, is it still practical to show hospitality to strangers? If we say that present days are not like earlier days and that we cannot believe anyone, then we should realize that how bad the situation was during the Old Testament times. If we show hospitality with fear in our minds that we may miss to entertain angels, then we will get into trouble. At the same time if we do so without any anticipation and with compassion, possibly we may have a chance to entertain the angels.

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

Hebrews 13:1-2

Loving Ourselves

No matter how wicked we are, we know how to love ourselves. Loving ourselves will make us proud if everything goes in our favour but it may turn to self-pity when things go wrong. With this, satan will pursue us to a point where we will even stop loving ourselves and will lure us to end our lives to embrace eternal death.

Jesus knows that we love ourselves more than we love Him and His father. For this reason, He asked us to deny ourselves and follow Him. Denying ourselves does not denote giving away everything to lead a life of a monk, but it is to shift our focus on God and His mercy.

Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.

Matthew 22:37-38

Loving Our Neighbours

In spite of mankind’s effort to convince God that we are loving Him, God knows that no one loves Him more than themselves. That is why He says that just like you love yourselves, love your neighbours too. Otherwise He would have said that just like you love me and my Father, you love your neighbours too.

And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:39-40

Instead of accepting the fact that we love ourselves more than God, the above teaching of Jesus is always diverted into deliberation on who is our neighbour? Citing the parable of the Good Samaritan, we conclude that a person who is in need, is our neighbour. When we ourselves are always in need, how are we are going to meet the requirements of our needy neighbours?

In Paul’s perspective, love is light, love is truth, love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails and it is greater than hope and faith. Love drives away fear and it is greater than hope and faith. All these are possible with God, because God Himself is the love about whom Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians.

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so, we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

1 John 4:15-16

When we acknowledge God, we acknowledge His love, because He first loved us. While we have hatred and revenge in our hearts, we acknowledge satan. Through these wrongful desires, we love satan and his evil deeds, yet we say that we love God.

We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

1 John 4:19-20

We do not see God daily, but everyday see our brothers and sisters. The argument here is that how could we say that we are loving the unseen God, while we are not loving our visible brothers and sisters? Our love is mostly reciprocal as only when people love us, do we respond to their love.

We are unable to love our brothers and sisters because no one truly loves us. People love us to derive something in return from us and once they are benefited, they don’t bother about us. Or, if we are unable to match their expectations, they hate us. Such attitude of our brethren will choke our hearts and we too will no longer love anyone.

When our neighbours, brothers and sisters fail to love us, our elder brother Jesus is always there to love us. For some people, He resides in their hearts while for some Jesus stands besides them to extend His helping hand (Psalms 34:18). Jesus is not far away from any of us (Acts 17:27) and He knocks on our door and eagerly waits for us to welcome Him (Revelation 3:20).

Love Poured Out

Jesus is not only our elder brother but also a true and genuine friend (John 15:15). He is our loving neighbour, keen to save us from the eternal death, while the thief is quenching our love for one another. When we drain out our love, God’s love is poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us (Romans 5:5). Then, we will come near to God and God will come near to us.

This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 

1 John 4:17

The saying, “Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are” is true and practical, because friendship builds on a common goal. When our thoughts are the same, our attitude will also be in line with each other. When we accept Jesus as our true friend, our thinking will be the same as of Him and we will become like Him. That is why John boldly tells us that in this world we are like Jesus. For people who do not have a mindset of Jesus, the statement “we are like Jesus” may seem like a blasphemy.

Love Made Complete

Through our friendship with Jesus, we will have a common goal of showing eagerness to save the perishing souls. Our so-called friends who have betrayed or backstabbed us, will become our primary concern as even though their attitude towards us was always negative still we would not want their souls to perish. We will join Jesus in His unceasing prayer to His father, requesting God to save their souls from perishing. God will assure our so-called friends that we are praying for them and that He is answering our prayers.

……. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” 

Job 42:17

Loving Heavenly Father,
help us to make our love complete.
We ask this in the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.